2026 Welsh Open Snooker: Tournament information including draw and results
The final leg of this season’s Home Nations Series takes place at Venue Cymru in Llandudno with the 2026 Welsh Open held between Monday 23rd February to Sunday 1st March.
There is no rest for the professional snooker circuit, with this £550,400 world ranking event starting the morning after the Players Championship final in Telford.
One of the longest-running tournaments on the sport’s top flight, the Welsh Open has been contested every year since 1992. Mark Selby is the reigning and defending champion having defeated Stephen Maguire 9-6 in last year’s final to lift The Ray Reardon Trophy.
As well as a £100,000 top prize up for grabs in North Wales, the destiny of this season’s Home Nations Series bonus will also be decided, with several players still in contention for that additional £150,000 jackpot. Mark Allen - winner of the English Open back in September - is in pole position. Jack Lisowski (Northern Ireland Open) and Chris Wakelin (Scottish Open) are the other event winners on this season’s Series.
What is the format for the 2026 Welsh Open, how does the draw work?
Like all Home Nations Series events these days, the Welsh Open used a tiered draw format, meaning players begin their campaigns in different rounds depending on their world ranking position.
The top 32 seeds for the tournament all went straight through to the last 64 when the main venue, televised stages in Llandudno start.
The remaining 96 entrants had to go to the qualifying rounds which were held in Sheffield in early January. Those preliminary ties yielded the 32 qualifiers who will line up against the top ranked stars at the Venue Cymru.
Matches up to and including the last 16 are the best of 7 frames. Quarter-finals are the best of 9 frames, semi-finals are the best of 11, and the two-session final is the best of 17.
Who is playing in the 2026 Welsh Open? Draw and results
From the world's top 32 rankings, only three players elected to skip this year's Welsh Open - Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and Ding Junhui.
As the title holder, Selby is the number one seed, and he is set to begin his defence against China’s Jiang Jun on the opening day of the event.
Reigning world champion Zhao Xintong faces Fan Zhengyi in an all-Chinese affair, while this season’s number one ranked player Neil Robertson is up against 15-year-old Michal Szubarczyk of Poland.
World number two Kyren Wilson - who missed out on qualifying for last week’s Players Championship - will want a deep run this week to help his cause in qualifying for the Tour Championship. The 2024 Crucible king plays Liu Hongyu first up.
This is a big week for Mark Allen, who turned 40 years old last Sunday. The Northern Irishman is in the box seat for the £150k Home Nations Series bonus jackpot, and should he secure this title, he would be the first player to have won all four Home Nations events.
There hasn’t been a home winner of the Welsh Open this millennium, with Mark Williams victorious in 1999 at the Cardiff International Arena. Williams was also the last home finalist back in 2003. Dylan Emery, Jak Jones, Ryan Day and Jackson Page are the other host nation representatives remaining in this year’s competition.
Five-time winner John Higgins is the most successful player in Welsh Open history. The Scot is also the last cueist to have claimed the crown in back-to-back years (2010 & 2011).
Last 64
Mark Selby 3-4 Jiang Jun
Yuan Sijun 4-3 Julien Leclercq
Si Jiahui 2-4 Robbie Williams
Stephen Maguire 4-3 Ricky Walden
Joe O'Connor 4-0 Aaron Hill
Wu Yize 4-0 Ben Mertens
Lei Peifan 3-4 Dylan Emery
Mark Allen 2-4 David Grace
Mark Williams 4-2 Michael Holt
Tom Ford 2-4 Martin O'Donnell
Barry Hawkins 4-3 David Lilley
Pang Junxu 4-2 Antoni Kowalski
Ali Carter 3-4 Anthony McGill
Jak Jones 4-1 Liam Highfield
Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Artemijs Zizins
Neil Robertson 4-1 Michal Szubarczyk
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Liu Hongyu
Zhou Yuelong 4-0 Alexander Ursenbacher
Gary Wilson 4-0 Amir Sarkhosh
Elliot Slessor 3-4 Sam Craigie
Zhang Anda 4-2 Mitchell Mann
Chris Wakelin 3-4 Liam Pullen
Ryan Day 3-4 Bulcsu Revesz
John Higgins 4-1 Liu Wenwei
Shaun Murphy 0-4 Chang Bingyu
Jackson Page 4-0 Luca Brecel
Xiao Guodong 4-3 Long Zehuang
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Louis Heathcote
David Gilbert 4-1 Robbie McGuigan
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Gao Yang
Jimmy Robertson 0-4 Stan Moody
Zhao Xintong 4-3 Fan Zhengyi
Last 32
Jiang 4-0 Yuan
R. Williams 4-3 Maguire
O'Connor 2-4 Wu
Emery 1-4 Grace
M. Williams 4-1 O'Donnell
Hawkins 4-2 Pang
McGill 2-4 Jones
Vafaei 1-4 N. Robertson
K. Wilson 1-4 Zhou
G. Wilson 1-4 Craigie
Zhang 4-2 Pullen
Revesz 3-4 Higgins
Chang 3-4 Page
Xiao 3-4 Lisowski
Gilbert 2-4 Bingham
Moody 2-4 Zhao
Last 16
Jiang 4-1 R. Williams
Wu 4-0 Grace
M. Williams 2-4 Hawkins
Jones 3-4 N. Robertson
Zhou 4-1 Craigie
Zhang 2-4 Higgins
Page 2-4 Lisowski
Bingham 4-2 Zhao
Quarter-Finals
Jiang 4-5 Wu
Hawkins 5-3 N. Robertson
Zhou 0-5 Higgins
Lisowski 5-2 Bingham
Semi-Finals
Wu 4-6 Hawkins
Higgins 5-6 Lisowski
Final
Hawkins 9-5 Lisowski
2026 WELSH OPEN CHAMPION: BARRY HAWKINS (Match report here)
Tournament schedule:
- Monday 23rd & Tuesday 24th: Last 64
- Wednesday 25th: Last 32
- Thursday 26th: Last 16
- Friday 27th: Quarter-finals
- Saturday 28th: Semi-finals
- Sunday 1st: Final
For the daily match schedule/order of play, visit the World Snooker Tour website here.
What is the prize money and how much does the champion get?
- Champion: £100,000
- Runner-up: £45,000
- Losing semi-finalists: £21,000 (each)
- Losing quarter-finals: £13,200 (each)
- Round of 16 losers: £9,000 (each)
- Round of 32 losers: £5,400 (each)
- Round of 64 losers: £3,600 (each)
- Round of 96 losers: £1,000 (each)
- Highest break of the event: £5,000
- Total prize fund: £550,400
How to watch the 2026 Welsh Open snooker:
- UK: BBC Wales, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and Red Button
- UK & Ireland: TNT Sports and discovery+
- Mainland Europe: Eurosport and locally relevant streaming platforms (discovery+ in Germany, Italy and Austria and HBO Max in all other markets)
- China: CCTV5, Huya.com, Migu, CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
- Hong Kong China: Now TV
- Malaysia & Brunei: Astro Supersport
- Taiwan: Sportcast
- Thailand: True Sport
- Philippines: TAP Sports
- Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya: SportyTV
- All other territories: WST Play