The defending champion and top seed in the tournament was Terry Griffiths, who had defeated Dennis Taylor 24–16 in the 1979 final.

Canadian Cliff Thorburn met the 1972 champion Alex Higgins from Northern Ireland in the final, which was a best-of-35-frames match.

Thorburn won the match 18–16 to become the first world champion from outside the United Kingdom in the sport's modern era.

There were 11 century breaks compiled during the championship, the highest of which was 136, achieved by both Kirk Stevens and Steve Davis.

It received 70 hours of television coverage by the BBC in the United Kingdom, attracting 14.5 million viewers for the conclusion of the final.

[1] Joe Davis won the first World Championship in 1927, organised by the Billiards Association and Control Council, the final match being held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England.

[5]: 110–113  The title was contested on an occasional challenge basis until 1969, when the World Championship reverted to a knockout tournament format.

[17] The competition was promoted by Mike Watterson and received 70 hours of television coverage by the BBC in the United Kingdom, attracting 14.5 million viewers for the conclusion of the final.

Pat Houlihan, playing without his contact lenses due to conjunctivitis, compiled the only century break of the qualifying rounds—108—during a 9–6 victory over Joe Johnson; however he lost 1–9 in his following match to Tony Meo.

Jim Wych progressed to the main event with a 9–7 win against Rex Williams, the world champion of English billiards.

[27] Meo, Wych, Cliff Wilson, Ray Edmonds, and Jim Meadowcroft made their Crucible debuts.

[10][29] Kirk Stevens compiled a break of 136 in the third frame against Graham Miles, missing the final black that would have made it an all-time championship record 143.

[31] Wilson, the reigning World Amateur Snooker Champion, won the first frame against Doug Mountjoy on the black as part of a 66 clearance and took a 4–1 lead before finishing the first session at 5–4.

[27] Defending champion Griffiths lost the first seven frames against Steve Davis and ended the first session trailing 1–7.

[37] The failure of first-time world snooker champions to defend their title has become known as the "Crucible curse".

[41][37] The report in Snooker Scene characterised the match as one where the "famed tenacity" of Charlton overcame the "brittle, edgy side of Virgo's temperament".

[47] Having lost the first two frames to Wych, Thorburn built a 5–3 lead at the end of their first session and, after having led 9–3 and 10–6, progressed 13–6.

[48][49] With Stevens's "all-out attacking" play featuring "brilliant" potting, according to snooker historian Clive Everton,[40] he was 5–3 and 10–6 in front of Charlton after the first and second sessions,[10] and won 13–7,[46] becoming the youngest-ever world championship semi-finalist, aged 21.

[10] He extended his lead to 7–3, but Taylor then won six successive frames leaving Reardon 7–9 behind at the start of the last session.

[10][40] From 11 to 11, Reardon missed several shots as Taylor won 13–11 for what Snooker Scene described in their match report as "the best win of his career".

[10][54][55] The final, between Canadian Cliff Thorburn and Alex Higgins from Northern Ireland, took place on 4 and 5 May, as a best-of-35 frames match scheduled for four sessions.

[57] Writing in The Times, Sydney Friskin described the match to this point as a contrast of styles: "the shrewd cumulative processes of Thorburn against the explosive break-building of Higgins".

In the 34th frame, leading 45–9 in points, he laid a snooker for Higgins, and made a 51 break after that to win the title.

[42] Higgins also posed for pictures with a cake decorated with icing reading "World Champion 1980" that his wife Lynne had brought for him.

[23] The only century break in the qualifying competition was a 108 scored by Pat Houlihan in his match against Joe Johnson.