How does the 2026 World Snooker Championship draw work, including the qualifiers?
The 2026 World Snooker Championship is just around the corner, and attention is turning to who will be part of the main draw for the 17-day spectacular at the Crucible Theatre.
A total of 144 players are set to take part in the 2026 World Snooker Championship, although only 32 of these will step out into the iconic Crucible arena in Sheffield for the televised stages which take place between Saturday 18th April to Monday 4th May.
The top 16 players in the world rankings following the penultimate event of the professional season - the 2026 Tour Championship - automatically go through to the first round (last 32) main draw at the Crucible, and will be seeded.
The draw bracket will have fixed positions with reigning and defending champion Zhao Xintong being the number one seed at the top of the draw, and number two seed Judd Trump - who is the world number one - at the bottom.
Regardless of what happens at the Tour Championship in Manchester, Kyren Wilson and Neil Robertson will definitely be the number three and four seeds, respectively.
The identities of 15 of the 16 Crucible seeds are already known - once again, regardless of what happens in Manchester. These are: Zhao, Trump, K. Wilson, N. Robertson, Mark Williams, John Higgins, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Xiao Guodong, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Barry Hawkins, Wu Yize, Chris Wakelin, Mark Allen, and Si Jiahui.
It is straight contest between Ding Junhui and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh as to who will also be a seed.
At present, Ding is clinging on to 16th place, but should newly-minted World Open champion Un-Nooh lift the Tour Championship trophy, he will demote Ding - who hasn’t made the cut for Manchester - to the qualifying rounds.
The draw for the Crucible will be performed on the morning of Thursday 16th April - the day after qualifying finishes, and two days before the TV phase at the Crucible begins.
Despite the seed bracket being fixed, there will be two pots of balls - the 16 seeds who will be drawn at random against the 16 qualifiers for round one proper.
What is the format for 2026 World Snooker Championship qualifying?
All the entrants in this year’s World Snooker Championship ranked outside of the world’s top 16 will have to attend the qualifying rounds which are held at the English Institute of Sport between April 6-15.
In total, there is set to be 128 players at the qualifiers. Part of this field are invited amateur players who have been rewarded with wildcards for their achievements over the past several months. They’ll compete alongside current professional tour card holders, who are all permitted to enter the tournament.
Often seen as a competition within a competition, there are four rounds of qualifying. A tiered system is used, meaning players enter at different rounds depending on their world ranking position.
The lowest ranked entrants and amateur invites have to begin the first qualifying round (32 matches). Those positioned 81 to 112 are seeded for this initial round.
The winners of these ties move through to the second round, where the 32 players seeded between 49 to 80 join the fray to face them.
Everyone else who has yet to feature in qualifying enter the stage in the third round - players seeded 17 to 48. These 32 seeds meet those who emerged from round two.
The fourth and final qualifying round consists of 16 matches played across two ‘Judgement Days’ at the EIOS - these are the winners from round three. The victors from this final block of fixtures qualify for the Crucible and put their names into the hat for the main draw.
All matches at the qualifying rounds are the best of 19 frames, played across two sessions, with nine scheduled frames in the opening session. Of course, if a tie overruns, though, they can be pulled off with frames still to play, or need to come back at a different time to complete the match.
The qualifying draw has yet to be officially published as organisers don’t know whether Ding or Un-Nooh will have to play in them - however, that will only affect the third qualifying round onwards.
Last year, eventual world champion Zhao Xintong played in the tournament as an amateur but got a place in the draw due to finishing top of that season’s Q Tour order of merit - his avenue back to the professional tour.
Zhao had to start right at the back of the qualifying gauntlet. The Chinese cueman negotiated four qualifying rounds to make the Crucible where he won a further five matches to create history in becoming the first player from Asia to lift the trophy.