Northern Ireland Open 2026: Last Chance for Stars to Secure Champion of Champions Spot

The 16-player line-up for the 2026 Champion of Champions - which takes place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester between November 9-15 - is nearly set, with just one invitation remaining. That vacancy will go to the winner of the upcoming Northern Ireland Open held at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

In its current iteration, the Champion of Champions first featured on the snooker calendar in 2013 and has become a popular annual fixture ever since. A non-ranking tournament, it features and celebrates title winners from the snooker world across the past year.

Mark Selby is the current Champion of Champions having won the prize for the first time in his career, last year in his home city.

Who has qualified for the 2026 Champion of Champions, so far?

With the tournament operating on a strict 16-player field, not every event winner is guaranteed a spot in the Champion of Champions, but that’s not the case this year with several players claiming multiple titles, therefore qualifying more than once.

A beneficiary of this is Ronnie O’Sullivan who - despite not having won a professional title since March 2024 - receives an invite courtesy of winning the World Seniors Snooker Championship earlier this year at the Crucible Theatre. The flagship seniors event was not initially on the qualifying schedule, but is now an avenue for the record four-time Champion of Champions title winner O’Sullivan to return to the £440,000 invitational.

In total, five players have won multiple titles within this year’s qualification cycle: Mark Selby and Zhao Xintong each have four accolades to their names, Wu Yize has three, Judd Trump and Jak Jones each have two.

Kyren Wilson, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Barry Hawkins, Ali Carter, Chris Wakelin, and Alfie Burden are all set for their Champion of Champions returns, as too is the 2017 winner of this crown, Shaun Murphy, who qualifies by virtue of being this year’s World Championship runner-up - a feat that the organisers have rewarded with an invite for many years now.

Wuhan Open champion Chang Bingyu and World Women’s Champion Panchaya Channoi are both scheduled to make their debuts in the prestigious one-table spectacular; reigning World Champion Wu will also be a newcomer.

Who are the big names that could miss out?

The Northern Ireland Open is the last chance saloon for players to gatecrash the Champion of Champions party, with the winner of next month’s International Championship set to receive an invite for the 2027 edition.

Heading into Belfast, six members of the world’s current top 16 have yet to qualify, with the highest ranked of those being world number four Neil Robertson who is a two-time Champion of Champions winner.

However, Robertson has two chances to make the cut because if the winner of the Northern Ireland Open has already qualified for Leicester, organisers will invite the highest-placed player from the world rankings not already in - and that would be the Australian.

‘Class of 92’ members John Higgins and Mark Williams - who lifted this trophy in 2016 and 2024 respectively - are also not currently on the list, nor is the champion from 2020 and 2023, Mark Allen.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 Northern Ireland Open, visit our tournament information centre here.