The World Snooker Championship records that teenage wonderkid Michal Szubarczyk could smash

Teenager Szubarczyk - whose birthday was only in January - is set to create history by becoming the youngest-ever player to participate in snooker's blue riband event.

Along with 127 other hopefuls - including the likes of legendry names such as Jimmy White and Ken Doherty - Szubarczyk will line up for the qualifying rounds, aiming to become one of the 16 cueists who make it through to the 32-player main draw for the televised stages at the Crucible Theatre which start on Saturday 19th April.

As an amateur invite, Szubarczyk starts in the opening round of qualifying and will need to win four matches at the EIOS to make it through to the Crucible.

Should he achieve that, he would be randomly drawn against one of the world's top 16 on snooker's grandest stage in round one - meaning he could face reigning champion Kyren Wilson, world number one Judd Trump, or seven-time World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

In the first qualifying round Szubarczyk plays world number 97 Dean Young from Scotland on Tuesday 8th April, starting at 10:00BST and concluding from 19:00BST the same day. Should Szubarczyk progress through qualifying, his opponents would be fellow teenager Stan Moody, then Jimmy Robertson, with a potential final qualifying round encounter against Matthew Selt.

Szubarczyk has earned a place in qualifying following his achievements at the 2025 European Amateur Snooker Championships which recently took place in Antalya, Türkiye.

Some pundits were already aware of his talent and potential after he won the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship - as a 13-year-old - in Bangalore, India last August, but Szubarczyk arguably took things to another level during his stay at the Euros.

After winning both the European Under-16 and Under-18 Championship titles at the Pine Beach Belek Hotel, Szubarczyk competed in the open age category, a very prestigious tournament that was first held in 1988 and has been won by players such as Mark Allen, Luca Brecel and Jak Jones.

Despite facing opponents with vastly superior experience than himself, Szubarczyk made it all the way to the final where he seemed to run out of steam as he lost 5-0 to Liam Highfield.

However, winning the under-18 title already secured him a spot in this year's world championship qualifiers, while finishing runner-up to Highfield - who already had a professional tour card for winning a Global Q Tour Playoff event at the same venue several days previously - meant he also won a two-year professional card for the World Snooker Tour.

It is unclear whether the youngster will accept the place, but if he does, he will become the sport's youngest-ever professional player.

Who is the youngest player to win a match in the World Snooker Championship?

Szubarczyk will become the youngest-ever player to compete in the World Snooker Championship when he faces Young on Tuesday in the opening qualifying round.

Young - who reached the last 32 of his home event the Scottish Open earlier this season - will be a firm favourite for the win, but should Szubarczyk upset the odds, he would be the youngest ever player to win a match in snooker's premier competition.

Currently, that record is with Wales' Liam Davies who was 15-years-old when he defeated Aaron Hill 6-4 in the first qualifying round of the 2022 Championship. Davies surpassed Ben Mertens' achievement from two years earlier.

Who is the youngest player to qualify for the World Snooker Championship and the Crucible?

A holder of so many records within the sport, it's perhaps not surprising to learn that Ronnie O'Sullivan is the youngest-ever player to have qualified for the World Championship main draw at the Crucible Theatre.

During his rookie season as a professional in 1992/93, a 16-year-old O'Sullivan won 10 successive qualifying round matches at the Norbreck Castle in Blackpool to make it to Sheffield.

On the way, he defeated Chris Small, Paul Davies and Dominic Dale before getting past Mark Johnston-Allen 10-4 in the final qualifying round.

Who is the youngest to play at the Crucible in the World Snooker Championship?

Although O'Sullivan is the youngest to qualify for the Crucible, he is not the youngest to play at the famous venue. That's because the qualifying rounds for the 1993 World Snooker Championship were played and completed several months earlier as part of the professional circuit's summer qualifying school in Blackpool.

Nowadays, as has been the case for many years now, the qualifying rounds are held immediately before the main event at the Crucible.

The youngest cueist to play at the Crucible is Luca Brecel who was just 17 years and 45 days old when he faced Stephen Maguire in 2012 in the opening round there. Maguire won 10-5, but Brecel announced himself on the global stage, and 11 years later he lifted the trophy.

Brecel broke Stephen Hendry's record from 1986. Hendry was 17 years and three months when he played Willie Thorne in the opening round.

Who is the youngest player to win a match at the Crucible in the World Snooker Championship?

Hendry narrowly lost to Thorne 10-8 in that 1986 meeting, but just a year later, he qualified again and played Thorne once more in the opening round.

This time the roles the reversed, and aged just 18 years and 97 days, Hendry became the youngest-ever player to win a match at the Crucible with a 10-7 victory.

Hendry reached the quarter-finals that year where he was ousted by defending champion Joe Johnson 13-12, however, three years later he claimed the first of his seven world titles.

Who is the youngest player to win the World Snooker Championship?

And that title victory for Hendry in 1990 was an extra historic one, as he became the sport's youngest-ever world champion at just 21 years and 106 days old, eclipsing Alex Higgins who was only a few days short of his 23rd birthday when he triumphed in 1972.

In recent years, the player who has come closest to breaking Hendry's record was China's Si Jiahui in 2023.

On debut, qualifier Si was only 20-years-old when he made it all the way to the semi-finals where he lost 17-15 to eventual title winner Brecel having been 14-5 up.