Race to the Masters intensifies as line-up for Ally Pally jackpot to be revealed in coming weeks

The most prestigious invitational event in professional snooker, Shaun Murphy secured the title for the second time in his career - a decade on from his first - when he defeated Kyren Wilson in the 2025 final.

The 2026 iteration will be the 52nd annual edition of this one-table spectacular with a total prize fund of over £1 million - £350,000 of that going to the champion. Players qualifying for the tournament are guaranteed at least £25,000.

But first, who is guaranteed a place at the UK Championship in York?

November is a very busy and lucrative month on the World Snooker Tour and its events will be significant for the first two Triple Crown Series events of the season.

Held in Nanjing, China between the 2nd to the 9th, the 2025 International Championship is the final counting event before the top 16 seeds for the 2025 UK Championship (November 29 to December 7) are known.

The televised stages at the Barbican Centre in York features a main draw of 32 players - the 16 seeds will face 16 qualifiers in the opening round there.

Following the conclusion of the International Championship, the top 16 in the world rankings will be the seeds for York and avoid the bother of the qualifying rounds held in Wigan just days before.

With a top prize of £175,000 on offer in the Far East, several players positioned just outside of the top 16 cut-off can gatecrash their way into becoming a UK Championship seed should they win the IC title, this includes newly-minted Northern Ireland Open champion Jack Lisowski.

On the provisional ranking list for the 2025 UK Championship (unofficial list here on snooker.org), Zhang Anda is projected to drop eight places from 15th to 23rd with the prize money he collected for winning the 2023 International Championship due to drop off his two-year rolling tally. The only way he’ll be able to retain his top 16 spot is by winning the event again.

In fact, the only way anyone can break into the top 16 at the next rankings revision is by winning the International Championship title as there is over £70,000 between 16th-placed Chris Wakelin and 17th-placed Jak Jones.

With the £5,000 they are guaranteed for making the last 64 in Nanjing already on their provisional totals, if Jones was the runner-up (£75,000) he would be short regardless of whatever happens to the players above him.

As the reigning and defending UK Champion, Judd Trump will be the number one seed in York with current world champion Zhao Xintong guaranteed to be the number two seed.

Who will make it to the 2026 Masters?

Despite there being two ranking events in December after the UK Championship (Shoot Out, Scottish Open) - which could alter the top 16 rankings a fair bit - the York-based tournament is the final counting event towards 2026 Masters qualification, and the world’s top 16 immediately after the Barbican will all be invited to the Ally Pally.

As per tradition in recent years, it is expected that the live Masters draw will take place during the first mid-session interval of the UK Championship final on BBC television.

It might be seen as a bit early to complete the draw with lots of action between the two events, but with up to 2,200 fans per session at the Alexandra Palace, organisers and broadcasters would prefer to have a full first round match schedule in place sooner rather than later.

With this qualification roadmap being used again, it means that only the results from the International Championship and UK Championship will affect this race to the next Masters. However, with a £250,000 top prize on offer at the Barbican Centre, there is hope for players further down the ranking list to make a late dash.

As it stands on the current provisional list for the Masters (snooker.org’s unofficial list here) the 16 are the same as the UK projected list, with Xiao Guodong likely heading for a Masters debut.

As is the case with the UK Championship, if a player from the top 16 doesn’t enter/take up their invite, the next highest-ranked player will be slotted in/invited.

Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from the last Masters staging and was replaced by Neil Robertson who was 17th on the list at the time of the cut-off.

There is a chance that the record eight-time Masters champion might not play in the 2026 event either; in a radio interview a few weeks ago, O’Sullivan - who recently moved to Dubai - said his plans for playing in the UK this season would be at the UK, Tour, and World Championships.

Regardless of their world ranking positions after the UK Championship, title holder Shaun Murphy will be the number one seed at the 2026 Masters with Crucible king Zhao being the second seed.

In the highly unlikely event that either of these players drop out of the top 16 after the UK, their place and seeding position at the Masters is already guaranteed as per the competition rules. If someone got into the top 16 by displacing one of them out of the bracket, they could potentially miss out.