Glory in Golem saw the 43-year-old Englishman successfully defend his title and earn a return to the iconic Crucible Theatre for the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship.

A field of 78 players embarked on the Grand Blue Fafa Resort for the individual Seniors event, organised by the European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA), and Steadman made a strong start to his title defence with a clean sweep of victories over Shane Gorman, Olivier Pechenart and Olsi Hysa.

The Englishman, who faced Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Crucible Theatre during his professional career, then overcame Marcin Nitschke (4-1), Kevin Hanssens (4-2) and Gary Thomson (4-2) to set up a semi-final meeting with Wales’ Philip Williams.

Steadman started strongly with visits of 63 and 65, but Williams hit back to restore parity at 2-2 with a break of 60.

Two scrappier frames followed but it was the Englishman who was able to take them and join fellow countryman Joyce in the title match.

Joyce had beaten former world number eight Darren Morgan in the semi-finals and showed excellent scoring form in the final as he made breaks of 110 and 117.

It was Steadman, however, who took home the title after taking the opener with a break of 83 and then never falling behind as he went on to secure a 5-3 victory.

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The 42-year-old Englishman came through a strong field to secure the prestigious continental crown for the first time in his career. The success means Steadman will return to snooker’s most iconic venue in May 2025, ten years on from facing Ronnie O’Sullivan there in the first round of the 2015 World Championship.

The tournament was staged as part of the European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA) European Championships at the Vidamar Resort in Albufeira, Portugal and saw 77 cueists from 19 countries competing for glory.

Steadman, who compiled a top break of 113 during the six day event, stormed through his initial group phase with a clean sweep of victories while dropping just a single frame against opposition from Finland, Netherlands, Malta and Poland.

A whitewash win over Malta’s Frans Mintoff in the last 32 then saw the eventual champion set up a meeting with fellow countryman and former World Seniors Snooker (WSS) world number one Stuart Watson.

Steadman stormed into a 3-0 lead to move one away from victory in the last 16 contest, but Watson rallied to force a decider with breaks of 62, 44 and 70.

The former ranking event semi-finalist was ultimately able to get over the line, however, before overcoming Northern Ireland’s Declan Lavery 4-1 to reach the final day.

The semi-finals featured three Englishman and Steadman faced Lee Stephens, his fellow countryman and teammate in the European Seniors Team event, in the last four – coming away a 4-1 victor to reach the title match.

Wayne Brown was his opponent in the final after he had defeated James Darcy, Sean Gray, Peter Bullen and Brendan O’Donoghue in the knockout stages.

A high quality final saw at least a half-century compiled in each of the first six frames, with Brown scoring the tournament’s high break of 124 in the second, as the two players went blow for blow at 3-3 in a race to five.

Brown moved one away from victory by taking the seventh but, fittingly, the contest would be settled by a decider after Steadman won the eighth with help from a contribution of 40.

A 49 break in the decider was then enough for Steadman to complete the victory and book his place in the flagship event of World Seniors Snooker.

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