Ronnie O'Sullivan prepares for venture into the unknown at World Seniors Snooker Championship

It’s a venture into the unknown for snooker’s greatest player of all time as he prepares for his bow at seniors level against Ken Doherty in the last 16 of the competition in Sheffield.

O’Sullivan returns to the Crucible stage less than a fortnight since being ousted 13-12 by fellow ‘Class of 92’ graduate John Higgins in the second round of the world professional championship that was held there.

The 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship is the biggest and best edition of the seniors’ flagship event yet, with an expanded field of 24 players, including several household names who are making their debuts in the tournament due to eligibility rules recently being relaxed.

The top eight seeds - O’Sullivan is number four - have gone straight through to the last 16 of the event where they meet the eight match winners from the preliminary round.

Number one seed Alfie Burden - who will be back on the professional scene full-time this upcoming season having won the Snooker Shoot Out - is the reigning and defending champion, while current British Seniors Open champion Joe Perry is the number two seed.

Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter, Matthew Stevens and Robert Milkins are the other seed players; former winner of the title Mark Williams was in the line-up but has since withdrawn and been replaced by Nigel Bond.

Now 50-years-old - although the age threshold for the seniors circuit is 40 - O’Sullivan will face Ireland’s Doherty on table one on Friday afternoon after the opening match on there is finished.

The contest will be the best of seven frames, although if the match goes to 3-3, a tiebreak black ball will decide the victor. And that is exactly how 1997 World Champion Doherty booked his date with former practice partner O’Sullivan, having pipped Gerard Greene by that method in their prelim meeting on Thursday afternoon in South Yorkshire.

The winner of the O’Sullivan v Doherty tie will then play in the quarter-finals later that evening against either Peter Lines or Bingham. That encounter will also be a best of seven affair.

Come the weekend, the Crucible will be transformed into a one-table set-up for Saturday’s semi-finals (best of 13 frames) and Sunday’s two session final (best of 19). As for all rounds, the tiebreak black stipulation will be in operation.

Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan’s playing schedule this season has been lighter than most of his top echelon peers, mainly down to residing in Dubai, and being restricted on how many days he could work in the UK.

Despite the seniors not being classed as a professional event, O’Sullivan has played only two tournaments on home soil this season: a first round defeat to Zhou Yuelong at the UK Championship in December, and his last 16 elimination in the recent world professional championship.

The record 41-time ranking event champion has not lifted a professional trophy in over two years, and his last ranked crown was further back than that in January 2024. However, he has come close within the past several months, recording runner-up finishes at the Saudi Arabia Masters and the World Open; en route to the final of the latter event, O’Sullivan fashioned a world record break of 153.

Just before the sport’s recent blue riband competition, though, O’Sullivan did win the inaugural John Virgo Trophy that took place at the iconic Goffs in Kildare, Ireland. Not an official professional tournament, ‘The Rocket’ whitewashed Higgins 6-0 in the final.

O’Sullivan - who next week is scheduled to compete in the first Global Snooker 900 Championship in Reading, another non-professional engagement - has been installed as the firm favourite to win the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship, although his path to glory may not be that simple given the short format early on.

He will be heavily fancied to defeat Doherty - although his opponent has already experienced the conditions - but a potential meeting with world number 21 Bingham in the quarter-finals has the makings of being a very close encounter. Bingham has twice got the better of O’Sullivan on the Crucible floor, including on his way to snooker’s ultimate prize in 2015.

For fans in the UK, live televised coverage of O’Sullivan’s match with Doherty will be on Channel 5.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.