Snooker couple could face each other in Crucible final at World Seniors Championship

Snooker’s world professional title is currently being contested at the Crucible, but the action won’t stop there when festivities finish on May 4th, with another global crown to be decided on the sport’s grandest stage at the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship that will be held there from May 6-10.

This year’s world seniors flagship event is set to be the best, ever, with an expanded field of 24 players and more star power than before with eligibility rules having been relaxed in recent times.

Arguably snooker’s greatest player of all-time Ronnie O’Sullivan is scheduled to make his seniors debut, whilst fellow ‘Class of 92’ graduate Mark Williams returns to the seniors scene having won this title in 2015 in Blackpool.

Two more former world professional champions are in the field - Stuart Bingham and Ken Doherty - who will both be trying to add another global accolade to their CVs.

Several former Crucible runners-up are in the draw with Jimmy White, Matthew Stevens, and Ali Carter. White is the record four-time world seniors champion having won three of those titles on the famous Sheffield stage.

The reigning and defending champion is number one seed Alfie Burden who lifted the trophy twelve months ago after defeating Aaron Canavan from Jersey - another former winner of the title - in the final.

But as well as the household names, the World Seniors Snooker Championship provides various international qualification pathways for lesser-known talents to make it into the main draw under the Crucible lights.

Adding to the cosmopolitan flavour will be Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo - the 2024 champion - Egypt’s Mohamed Elkhayat, and Australia’s Roger Farebrother who is the oldest player in this year’s draw.

There will also be a woman in the line-up, with 12-times world women’s snooker champion Reanne Evans making her bow in the seniors division.

But Evans will also have significant interest elsewhere in the draw with her boyfriend Daniel Ward having snapped up the final qualification spot earlier this month after winning the ‘Golden Ticket’ event.

Ward - a very accomplished player who reached the final of the World Amateur Snooker Championship two decades ago - came through the 16-player last saloon tournament at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading.

The 44-year-old blitzed through the field, dropping only one frame in four matches, defeating Matthew Day (4-0), Jamie Curtis-Barrett (4-1), Neil Craycraft (4-0) and then Andrew Norman 4-0 in the final to reach the main draw for the first time in his career.

The huge reward for Ward is a match-up with the ever-popular White in the opening round at the Crucible. The winner of that tie will then face Robert Milkins in the last 16.

And it's possible that Evans and Ward could meet each other in the final, with the girlfriend and boyfriend duo in different halves of the draw.

Evans - who also plys her trade on the professional circuit - is situated at the bottom of the bracket, where she is due to meet Canavan.

Live television coverage of the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship - which will initially feature two tables at the Crucible - is scheduled to be on Channel 5 and 5Action.