Star names in the draw for revamped English Open snooker ranking event

A regular fixture on the professional snooker circuit every year since 2016, this season's English Open is the opening leg of the four-pronged Home Nations Series alongside fellow ranking events the Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open.

The reigning and defending English Open champion is Judd Trump, who came back from 7-3 down to deny Zhang Anda 9-7 in last year's final. That title victory sparked a golden run of results for Trump who has won seven professional events inside just 11 months, with his latest triumph coming at the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh last week.

Trump and Mark Selby are the most successful players in the tournament's history with two titles each.

Changes to the Home Nations Series events explained

All four Home Nations Series events this season have been revamped with organisers making several changes perhaps in order to keep up with the more lucrative events on the professional tour.

In recent times, some of the sport's top players have elected to skip HNS events – including at last season's Northern Ireland Open when several chose to play in an exhibition event in Macau (which was later rescheduled) – but these alterations may persuade their future participation.

Since the introduction of the Home Nations Series, all events have used a 128-player (occasionally slightly more than this) flat draw, meaning all players – regardless of their ranking position – began in the opening round and had to win the same amount of matches to win the title.

However, the format has changed this season to a tiered draw, which will be used in all four HNS events. In total, there will be eight rounds across the tournaments, with the world's top 32 not entering until round three (last 64). This means the top players have to navigate six rounds for the title, instead of seven under the previous format.

Players seeded 65 to 96 face players seeded 97 to 128 in round one, with the winners of those matches playing seeds numbered 33 to 64 in round two. The winners of those round two ties then meet the top ranked cueists in the last 64.

All matches from the last 64 stage are played at the main venue, with rounds one and two (sometimes referred to as 'qualifiers') played elsewhere, although all matches in all rounds at the upcoming English Open will be played at the main Brentwood Centre venue.

Increased prize fund and £150,000 BetVictor bonus prize

All Home Nations Series events during the 2024/25 season will have increased prize funds of £550,400. The top prize at each stop will be £100,000, this is up from £80,000 last season.

In addition to the boosted prize purse, this season's BetVictor bonus will only consist of the four Home Nations Series events. In recent years, this bonus used to involve other events as well as the HNS ones, but now, only the English, Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Opens will count.

The player who earns the most cumulative prize money across the four tournaments wins the £150,000 bonus.

Prize money for snooker’s 2024 English Open:

• Winner: £100,000
• Runner-up: £45,000
• Semi-finals: £21,000
• Quarter-finals: £13,200
• Last 16: £9,000
• Last 32: £5,400
• Last 64: £3,600
• Last 96: £1,000
• High Break: £5,000
• Total prize fund: £550,400

Who is playing at the 2024 English Open Snooker?

All of the current world's top 32 have entered the 2024 English Open, except for Ding Junhui.

Defending champion Judd Trump will meet either Ashley Carty, Anton Kazakov or Liu Hongyu in his opening match.

Reigning champion Kyren Wilson could face Marco Fu if Fu gets past Haris Tahir and then David Grace.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is scheduled to be in his 'home' ranking event; he'll start off against Stuart Carrington, Wang Yuchen or last season's 'Rookie of the Year' He Guoqiang.

The full draw for the 2024 English Open is below. All matches between rounds one to five are the best of seven frames. The quarter-finals are the best of nine, semi-finals are best of 11, and the two-session final is the best of 17.

For the match schedule, visit the World Snooker Tour website here.

The draw for snooker’s 2024 English Open:

Round 1

Ashley Carty v Anton Kazakov

Reanne Evans v Mink Nutcharut

Liam Pullen v Antoni Kowalski

Rory Thor v Oliver Lines

Ben Mertens v Chris Totten

Ian Burns v Haydon Pinhey

Zak Surety v Farakh Ajaib

Alfie Burden v Dylan Emery

Ma Hailong v Lei Peifan

Artemijs Zizins v Duane Jones

Jiang Jun v Ahmed Elsayed

Andrew Pagett v Kreishh Gurbaxani

Dean Young v Bai Yulu

Ishpreet Singh Chadha v Simon Blackwell

Bulcsu Revesz v Manasawin Phetmalaikul

Stuart Carrington v Wang Yuchen

Long Zehuang v Kok Leong Lim

Amir Sarkhosh v Liam Davies

Andrew Higginson v Mark Joyce

Gong Chenzhi v Michael Holt

Jimmy White v Joshua Cooper

Xing Zihao v Paul Deaville

Julien Leclercq v Oliver Sykes

Louis Heathcote v Iulian Boiko

Hammad Miah v Huang Jiahao

Mostafa Dorgham v Allan Taylor

Ross Muir v Jonas Luz

Liam Graham v Joshua Thomond

Stan Moody v Ka Wai Cheung

Alexander Ursenbacher v Mohamed Shehab

Robbie McGuigan v Mitchell Mann

Marco Fu v Haris Tahir

Round 2

Liu Hongyu v Carty/Kazakov

Ricky Walden v Evans/Nutcharut

Fan Zhengyi v Pullen/Kowalski

Scott Donaldson v Thor/Lines

Wu Yize v Mertens/Totten

Martin O'Donnell v Burns/Pinhey

Elliot Slessor v Surety/Ajaib

Ben Woollaston v Burden/Emery

Aaron Hill v Ma/Lei

Robbie Williams v Zizins/D. Jones

Tian Pengfei v Jiang/Elsayed

Jordan Brown v Pagett/Gurbaxani

Matthew Stevens v Young/Bai

Graeme Dott v Chadha/Blackwell

Yuan Sijun v Revesz/Phetmalaikul

He Guoqiang v Carrington/Wang

Sanderson Lam v Long/Lim

Dominic Dale v Sarkhosh/Davies

Daniel Wells v Higginson/Joyce

Sam Craigie v Gong/Holt

Joe Perry v White/Cooper

Mark Davis v Xing/Deaville

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Leclercq/Sykes

Anthony Hamilton v Heathcote/Boiko

Jamie Clarke v Miah/Huang

Jackson Page v Dorgham/Taylor

David Lilley v Muir/Luz

Jamie Jones v Graham/Thomond

Xu Si v Moody/Ka

Jimmy Robertson v Ursenbacher/Shehab

Xiao Guodong v McGuigan/Mann

David Grace v Fu/Tahir

Round 3 (Last 64)

Judd Trump v Carty/Kazakov/Liu

Matthew Selt v Walden/Evans/Nutcharut

Ryan Day v Pullen/Kowalski/Fan

Robert Milkins v Thor/Lines/Donaldson

Stuart Bingham v Mertens/Totten/Wu

Ali Carter v Burns/Pinhey/O'Donnell

Noppon Saengkham v Surety/Ajaib/Slessor

Mark Williams v Burden/Emery/Woollaston

Mark Selby v Ma/Lei/Hill

Joe O'Connor v Zizins/D. Jones/R. Williams

Tom Ford v Jiang/Elsayed/Tian

Si Jiahui v Pagett/Gurbaxani/Brown

Hossein Vafaei v Young/Bai/Stevens

Jak Jones v Chadha/Blackwell/Dott

Stephen Maguire v Revesz/Phetmalaikul/Yuan

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Carrington/Wang/He

Mark Allen v Long/Lim/Lam

Lyu Haotian v Sarkhosh/Davies/Dale

John Higgins v Higginson/Joyce/Wells

David Gilbert v Gong/Holt/Craigie

Chris Wakelin v White/Cooper/Perry

Zhang Anda v Xing/Deaville/Davis

Pang Junxu v Leclercq/Sykes/Un-Nooh

Luca Brecel v Heathcote/Boiko/Hamilton

Shaun Murphy v Miah/Huang/Clarke

Neil Robertson v Dorgham/Taylor/Page

Gary Wilson v Muir/Luz/Lilley

Zhou Yuelong v Graham/Thomond/Jamie Jones

Jack Lisowski v Moody/Ka/Xu

Barry Hawkins v Ursenbacher/Shehab/J. Robertson

Anthony McGill v McGuigan/Mann/Xiao

Kyren Wilson v Fu/Tahir/Grace