Mark Selby v Luca Brecel live stream | World Snooker Championship Final preview

Mark Selby and Luca Brecel will battle it out for the right to be crowned 2023 World Snooker Champion in an unmissable final at The Crucible.

A two-day date with destiny sees a stalwart of snooker’s greatest stage and a ferocious raw talent collide for the £500,000 top prize and the sport’s most sacred silverware.

Selby has continued his prolific record in Sheffield by charging into his sixth world final and now stands on the cusp of becoming only the fourth player in history to lift this title on five occasions.

World Champion in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021, Selby has dominated this event over the past decade, and fifth crown would take him ahead of John Higgins and leave him behind only Steve Davis, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry in the modern era.

The Leicester cueist has not lost a World Championship final since his defeat to Higgins in 2007 and his overall record in ranking final is equally as prolific, with 22 wins from 32 appearances.

His route to the final has been typically hard-fought, starting with a 10-8 win over Matthew Selt, before gaining revenge on Gary Wilson with a 13-7 success in the Second Round.

The 39-year-old then dispatched his 2007 nemesis Higgins by the same score-line in the Quarter-Finals, before fending off a late-night revival from Mark Allen to seal a 17-15 victory at 12.40am on Sunday.

Brecel, meanwhile, is in dreamland after reaching his first World Championship final having failed to win a match in five previous appearances at The Crucible.

The Belgian trailblazer has already made history on numerous occasions in this iconic Theatre, becoming the youngest player to compete in the event at the age of 17 back in 2012.

He pulled off the greatest comeback in the history of the tournament from nine frames down to defeat Si Jiahui 17-15 in the Semi-Finals.

Brecel has also become the first player from mainland Europe to reach the world final and guaranteed a place in the world’s top four as a result.

A fairy-tale run to a seventh career ranking final began with a nail-biting 10-9 win over Ricky Walden in Round One, before narrowly overcoming three-time World Champion Mark Williams 13-11 in the Last 16.

Brecel then staged a first remarkable fightback from 10-6 down by reeling off seven consecutive frames to dethrone defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and create global headlines.

At 14-5 down to Si in the Semi-Finals, his hopes of a maiden world crown looked to be in tatters, but another sensational burst of brilliance paved the way for a memorable comeback.

A winner of three ranking titles, Brecel is now vying to become only the fourth non-British World Champion, after Canada’s Cliff Thorburn, Ireland’s Ken Doherty and Australia’s Neil Robertson.

The pair have met on eight previous occasions, with Selby winning five of those encounters, most notably a 9-6 success in this season’s English Open final.

The final gets under way from 1pm BST on Sunday April 30 for a total of eight frames, resuming at 7pm, before being played to a finish from 1pm and 7pm on Monday May 1 over the best of 35 frames.

How to watch Selby v Brecel live stream

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1) Go to Bet365.com via this special link

2) Register an account, place a £10 first bet and get £30 in Free Bets* (18+ only, T&Cs apply)

3) Once registered, go to the sports homepage and select ‘Snooker’ from the left-hand menu

4) Select the play icon next to the match in progress and the stream window will appear

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The match is also available to watch live at Skybet. To watch, simply:

1) Go to Skybet via this special link

2) Register an account (18+)

3) Get £30 in Free Bets when you place ANY first bet*

4) Go to the Snooker menu and select ‘Watch Live’ next to the match in progress

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