Household names to face World Snooker Championship qualifying gauntlet as draw released

This qualification phase takes place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield from April 6-15 from which 16 players will emerge to reach the Crucible Theatre main draw a few days later.

These 16 qualifiers will then be randomly drawn against the top 16 seeds for round one at the Crucible. The 16 seed players and their seeding positions will be determined following the conclusion of this season's penultimate event, the 2026 Tour Championship.

How does the World Championship qualifying draw work?

A total of 128 players are set to play at the qualifiers, and all of them will be scrambling for one of those 16 golden tickets to the big party at the Crucible.

Qualifying consists of four rounds, with contestants entering at different stages depending on their world ranking position.

The lowest ranked professionals and amateur wildcards/top-ups begin in round one. The next batch of players higher up the rankings enter the fray in round two, whilst those seeded 17 to 48 come in at round three.

The fourth and final qualifying round will be played across two 'Judgement Days' with those negotiating that hurdle making it through to the TV cameras at the Crucible and a guarantee of at least £20,000.

All matches at the qualifying rounds are the best of 19 frames played across two scheduled sessions.

Who is playing at the qualifiers and what are some of the standout matches?

Six-times World Snooker Championship runner-up Jimmy White will begin his campaign against China's Gao Yang on the opening day of qualifying, in an encounter where there is a 42-year age different between the players.

White faces the huge task of needing to navigate all four rounds at the EIOS in order to reach the main draw of snooker's blue riband event for the first time since 2006.

Elsewhere in the first qualifying round, 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty meets amateur player Patrick Whelan.

Other standout ties include the pro tour's youngest player 15-year-old Michal Szubarczyk up against three-times world women's snooker champion Ng On Yee, and promising English youngster Liam Pullen facing this season's Shoot Out champion Alfie Burden.

Two-time Crucible semi-finalist Marco Fu plays one of four women players in the draw, Mink Nutcharut.

Those at the start of the qualifying maze will draw inspiration from Zhao Xintong, who last year went through all four qualifying rounds to make the Crucible where he created history in becoming Asia's first world professional snooker champion.

Some of the cueists entering at round two include the experienced Robert Milkins, Mark Davis and Jamie Jones, all of whom are battling to avoid relegation from the professional circuit, as too is former Welsh Open champion Jordan Brown.

Back on snooker's top flight this season, Scottish Open finalist in December Chang Bingyu has done brilliantly well to nearly break into the world’s top 50 within a single season.

Chang needs to win three consecutive matches for a Crucible debut; he'll face either Alexander Ursenbacher or Prim Ratmukda, and should he win that would meet 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel in what would be a blockbuster penultimate round assignment.

Brecel is one of several ranking event winners coming in as part of the final batch of players, as too is another former Crucible victor, Stuart Bingham.

Two-time world finalists Matthew Stevens and Ali Carter must both win two matches to perform in the hallowed Crucible arena again, so too does Jak Jones, the runner-up from 2024.

Jack Lisowski has had the most lucrative season of his professional career, so far; the Northern Ireland Open champion is also aiming for a return.

At the time of writing, the third and fourth qualifying round draws aren't fully complete as this depends on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh's results at the ongoing Tour Championship.

If Un-Nooh wins the title in Manchester, he would break into the world's top 16 and be a seed for the Crucible. As a consequence, he would push Ding Junhui out of the elite bracket and into the qualifying gauntlet.