1980 World Snooker Championship 1980 World Snooker Championship The 1980 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1980 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 22 April and 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Cliff Thorburn won in the final 18–16 against Alex Higgins. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: Numbers in (parentheses) indicate seedings. Source: There were 11 century breaks at the championship. Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis shared the high break prize when
World Snooker Championship attempt. At Higgins was the youngest world champion. Previously only Joe Davis had won the title while under the age of 30, being when he won in 1927. The 1973 Championship marked a change in format, with the tournament played over two weeks at a single venue rather than over an extended period. 16 played in the first round, the 8 winners playing 8 seeded players in the second round. In the semi-finals, defending champion Alex Higgins lost 23–9 to Eddie Charlton while Ray Reardon beat John Spencer 23–22. In the 5-day final Charlton led 7–0 after the opening session