The early stages of the 2026 World Open take place this week with a single qualifying round at the Barnsley Metrodome.
This represents the penultimate batch of qualifiers this season, with only the preliminary phase of the World Championship to come after.
At this juncture of the campaign, it’s incredibly important for players up and down the ranking list to gain valuable points for varying reasons.
When are the 2026 World Open qualifiers?
The World Grand Prix just ended on Sunday with Zhao Xintong claiming his fourth career ranking crown courtesy of a 10-6 victory over Zhang Anda in Hong Kong.
But it’s straight back to the green baize in England with a three-day qualifying competition for the World Open on the schedule from February 10th to 12th.
There are plenty of match odds for the qualifiers at 888sport, one of the most expansive sports betting websites online where plenty of offers for snooker are available.
Who is in the draw?
The field is made up of pretty much everyone on the main tour as they bid to safeguard a spot at what will be the 2025/26 calendar’s third-last ranking tournament.
Neil Robertson is a notable absentee from the event entirely, while a few players have had their initial matches held over to the venue stages in Yushan next month (March 16-22).
That includes top seed and defending champion John Higgins, world champion Zhao Xintong, world number one Judd Trump, and fan favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Most of the other players will be required to attend the Barnsley Metrodome to contest their round-of-128 fixtures.
The World Open, which boasted a top prize of £175,000 in 2025, will be a very important week of snooker for a number of reasons.
It will provide the last opportunity for players to break into the top 12 on the one-year list and secure an invitation to the Tour Championship in Manchester.
For others, it could be the last chance to break into the top 16 of the official two-year rankings and earn automatic qualification for the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre.
Ding Junhui is in 16th in the Race to the Crucible rankings as things stand, but the likes of Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones are attempting to hunt him down.
Then for the players further down the pecking order, the World Open marks the second-last shot at winning ranking points in their tour survival bid.
There are several big names currently struggling on that front, with the likes of Mark Davis and Robert Milkins hovering just outside the crucial top 64 cut-off point on the provisional end-of-year standings.
2026 World Open qualifiers draw
John Higgins vs Liam Highfield (Held Over)
Stan Moody vs Jiang Jun (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Lei Peifan vs Michal Szubarczyk (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Ryan Day vs Jordan Brown (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Chris Wakelin vs Mink Nutcharut (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Jamie Jones vs Artemijs Zizins (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Jak Jones vs Sahil Nayyar (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Luca Brecel vs Mateusz Baranowski (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
Matthew Selt vs Liam Davies (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
David Gilbert vs Connor Benzey (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Bulcsu Revesz (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ross Muir (Held Over)
Xu Si vs Mahmoud El Hareedy (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Stephen Maguire vs Sanderson Lam (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
David Lilley vs Reanne Evans (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Shaun Murphy vs Chatchapong Nasa (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Umut Dikme vs Oliver Brown (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Scott Donaldson vs Xu Yichen (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
Zhou Yuelong vs Dylan Emery (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
He Guoqiang vs Amir Sarkhosh (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Mark Allen vs Louis Heathcote (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
Liu Hongyu vs Antoni Kowalski (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Jack Lisowski vs Gong Chenzhi (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Jimmy Robertson vs Cheung Ka Wai (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
Anthony McGill vs Leone Crowley (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Stuart Bingham vs Ng On Yee (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
Chang Bingyu vs Hatem Yassen (Tue 10 Feb, 10:00)
Wu Yize vs Liam Pullen (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
Zak Surety vs Huang Jiahao (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
Tom Ford vs Allan Taylor (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
Lyu Haotian vs Gao Yang (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Kyren Wilson vs Alexander Ursenbacher (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Judd Trump vs Chris Totten (Held Over)
Oliver Lines vs Florian Nüßle (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Joe O’Connor vs Liu Wenwei (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Jackson Page vs Wildcard player (Held Over)
Si Jiahui vs Zhao Hanyang (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
Robbie Williams vs Wang Yuchen (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
Elliot Slessor vs Bai Yulu (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
Daniel Wells vs Robbie McGuigan (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Noppon Saengkham vs Steven Hallworth (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
Zhang Anda vs Wildcard player (Held Over)
Fan Zhengyi vs Julien Leclercq (Wed 11 Feb, 10:00)
Xiao Guodong vs Ben Mertens (Held Over)
Matthew Stevens vs Fergal Quinn (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Hossein Vafaei vs Lan Yuhao (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Ricky Walden vs Mitchell Mann/Wildcard (Held Over)
Mark J Williams vs Kreishh Gurbaxani (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Mark Selby vs Haydon Pinhey (Thu 12 Feb, 14:30)
Michael Holt vs Ken Doherty (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Yuan Sijun vs David Grace (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Mohammed Shehab (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Ding Junhui vs Marco Fu (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Robert Milkins vs Iulian Boiko (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Ali Carter vs Jimmy White (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Martin O’Donnell vs Jonas Luz (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Aaron Hill vs Haris Tahir (Wed 11 Feb, 19:00)
Gary Wilson vs Farakh Ajaib (Tue 10 Feb, 19:00)
Mark Davis vs Ian Burns (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
Barry Hawkins vs Duane Jones (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Ben Woollaston vs Yao Pengcheng (Tue 10 Feb, 14:30)
Pang Junxu vs Sam Craigie (Thu 12 Feb, 10:00)
Long Zehuang vs Liam Graham (Wed 11 Feb, 14:30)
Zhao Xintong vs Wildcard player (Held Over)
How to watch
There are several options available to watch the upcoming snooker live, depending on your location.
Many of the popular betting sites provide live streaming of snooker events through signing up on their websites or apps.
Below is a full list of official options, as published on the World Snooker Tour website:
UK and Mainland Europe: discovery+ in UK, Germany, Italy, and Austria; HBO Max in all other markets
China: Huya.com, Migu, CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
All other territories: WST Play
Featured photo credit: WST
Pretty surprised that the Ding vs Fu match has not been held over to China.
Indeed, I don’t know for sure but it must be the first time in absolutely ages that this has happened with Ding in a Chinese event.
There is a ‘Promoter’s Pick’ choice for a held-over match. But nodoubt that entire concept arose due to the demands of one particular player, and that’s not Ding Junhui.
A good point about the betting websites providing streaming of certain matches. I find that the lack of commentary is easy to get used to. It was thanks the watching it on a betting site that I realised very quickly that players were adapting their break off shots to prevent leaving a long pot. I used to bet against the break off shot in every frame of some matches by backing the opposite player to make the first legal pot and make a break of over 50. Eventually however the players adapted to leaving a pot off almost every break.
The World Open in Yushan is a magnificent event, held in a stadium that’s like a palace. They have two main tables, and six tables in cubicles which even have their own door, with spectators watching from above! There is also a snooker museum nearby, and one of the main cue-sports academies in China. However, Yushan isn’t such a big city, it’s tricky to get to by rail, and the venue is about 20 minutes walk from the centre. This affects crowd numbers in the early rounds during the daytime. But in the evening the atmosphere is fantastic. This is the sort of event which could be expanded so that all 127 matches could be played in the main venue, rather than having it as a hybrid British-Chinese tournament. Thus the current qualifiers are vital for many reasons: prie-money, ranking points, prestige of a huge event, and simple matches in a part of the season when many players don’t have many. For example, Ding Junhui doesn’t have any more events before the World Championship.
Again can’t watch without paying silly money