World Surf League releases 2025 Championship Tour schedule
The World Surf League (WSL) 2025 Championship Tour (CT) calendar will feature 12 stages, two more than in 2024.
The professional surfing circuit returns in 2025 with a competitive format similar to previous years, despite pleas from fans to make adjustments.
If you’re expecting Pipeline to close the season, you’d better wait at least another year. The mother of all waves will, once again, open the season.
The idea of eventually crowning world champion surfers in December ended in 2019.
Simultaneously, the decision generated confusion among those who saw the event as part of the Triple Crown of Surfing because it is no longer.
So, with Banzai Pipeline putting pro surfers against the ropes right at the start of the season, there are only three additional changes in the schedule.
The first is the inclusion of professional competitive surfing in the Arab world, 8,500 miles (13,800 kilometers) away in a straight line from the Hawaiian gem.
The Abu Dhabi saltwater wave pool powered by WSL’s Kelly Slater Wave Co. technology comes right after the Pipe barrels and replaces the original WSL wave pool site in Lemoore, Central California.
Then, after Supertubos in Portugal and Punta Roca in El Salvador, there are three back-to-back Australia stops: Bells Beach, Snapper Rocks (which returns to the calendar), and Margaret River.
No Spectators at WSL Finals
With the conclusion of the seventh event, the mid-season cut, another highly debated and controversial topic, narrows the CT roster down considerably.
The competition continues with Lower Trestles hitting San Clemente at the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer.
The San Clemente stage will no longer crown the champion like in the past few years.
Then, the men’s and women’s elite tour travels to Saquarema in Brazil and returns to Jeffreys Bay after a one-year hiatus.
Tahiti’s Teahupoo precedes the WSL Finals, which will take place in Cloudbreak in Fiji.
While the quality of the Tavarua reef pass wave is undeniable, it is difficult to picture two world champion surfers crowned without spectators onsite.
Ultimately, there are 12 events to be surfed in 10 months across nine countries.
2025 WSL Championship Tour | Men’s and Women’s Schedule
- Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: January 27 – February 8
- Surf Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE: February 14-16
- Supertubos, Peniche, Portugal: March 15-25
- Punta Roca, El Salvador: April 2-12
- Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: April 18-28
- Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia: May 3-13
- Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: May 17-27
- Lower Trestles, California, USA: June 9-17
- Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 21-29
- Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay, South Africa: July 11-20
- Teahupoo, Tahiti, French Polynesia: August 7-16
- Cloudbreak, Tavarua Fiji: August 27 – September 4
Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com
