The 15th ranking event of the season takes place next week with the 2026 Welsh Open returning to the Venue Cymru in Wales.
The tournament, which boasts a top prize worth £100,000, begins just a day after the climax of the Players Championship in Telford.
The Welsh Open is the last leg of four from the Home Nations events, with an additional £150,000 bonus up for grabs for the best-performing competitor across the series this term.
2026 Welsh Open prize money
Champion: £100,000
Runner-up: £45,000
Semi-final: £21,000
Quarter-final: £13,200
Last 16: £9,000
Last 32: £5,400
Last 64: £3,600
Last 96: £1,000
Highest Break: £5,000
Total: £550,400
When is the 2026 Welsh Open?
The 2026 Welsh Open commences on Monday, February 23rd with the final to be played over 17 frames on Sunday, March 1st.
Who are the former champions?
The Welsh Open is one of the longest-running tournaments on the calendar with the first edition – won by Stephen Hendry – having taken place all the back in 1992.
Victories across the following 15 editions were shared among Hendry, Steve Davis, Ken Doherty, Mark Williams, Paul Hunter, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and John Higgins.
Among them at the time, Higgins was the only one-time champion but that drastically changed in the years after and the Scot now has the record number of titles with five.
There are several ex-winners in the 2026 draw, including Higgins, Williams, and reigning champion Mark Selby.
Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, Gary Wilson, Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham, and Stephen Maguire are other former champions who are set to be involved this year.
How does the format work?
The 2026 Welsh Open brings together a strong field, headlined by several former champions and a large contingent of current top-16 players entering at the round-of-64 stage.
A qualifying competition was already held in Sheffield last month, whittling down the initial field of 128.
The first three rounds at the venue will be conducted over the sprint best-of-seven frames format, extending to nine frames at the quarter-finals, 11 for the semis, and a possible 17 frames in the final.
O’Sullivan, Ding, and world number one Judd Trump are notable players who decided not to enter, but a lot of the lineup is stacked with the usual contenders.
Reigning champion Selby, who beat Maguire in last year’s title-deciding affair, will launch his defence against Jiang Jun with the Scot up first against Ricky Walden.
Mark Allen, meanwhile, leads the way in the race to win the Home Nations £150,000 bonus.
The Northern Irishman, who meets David Grace in the opening round, won the English Open and reached the semi-finals at both the Northern Ireland and Scottish Opens.
Edinburgh’s champion Chris Wakelin and Belfast’s winner Jack Lisowski are among a small group of players who can deny Allen the jackpot, with Chinese duo Zhou Yuelong and Chang Bingyu also there with outside shots.
In addition to challenging for the Ray Reardon Trophy, the Welsh Open is an important stop on the calendar for a number of other reasons.
For most of those who have not qualified for next month’s World Open, it will mark the last opportunity to secure valuable ranking points ahead of the season-finale World Championship in Sheffield.
That could prove pivotal in both the scrap for automatic qualification to the Crucible Theatre for those around the top 16 positions, and also in the battle either side of the top 64 cut-off point for tour survival.
2026 Welsh Open draw
Mark Selby vs Jiang Jun
Yuan Sijun vs Julien Leclercq
Si Jiahui vs Robbie Williams
Stephen Maguire vs Ricky Walden
Joe O’Connor vs Aaron Hill
Wu Yize vs Ben Mertens
Lei Peifan vs Dylan Emery
Mark Allen vs David Grace
Mark J Williams vs Michael Holt
Tom Ford vs Martin O’Donnell
Barry Hawkins vs David Lilley
Pang Junxu vs Antoni Kowalski
Ali Carter vs Anthony McGill
Jak Jones vs Liam Highfield
Hossein Vafaei vs Artemijs Zizins
Neil Robertson vs Michal Szubarczyk
Kyren Wilson vs Liu Hongyu
Zhou Yuelong vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Gary Wilson vs Amir Sarkhosh
Elliot Slessor vs Sam Craigie
Zhang Anda vs Mitchell Mann
Chris Wakelin vs Liam Pullen
Ryan Day vs Bulcsu Revesz
John Higgins vs Liu Wenwei
Shaun Murphy vs Chang Bingyu
Jackson Page vs Luca Brecel
Xiao Guodong vs Long Zehuang
Jack Lisowski vs Louis Heathcote
David Gilbert vs Robbie McGuigan
Stuart Bingham vs Gao Yang
Jimmy Robertson vs Stan Moody
Zhao Xintong vs Fan Zhengyi
How to watch the 2026 Welsh Open
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: BBC Wales, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website, and Red Button
UK & Ireland: TNT Sports and discovery+
Mainland Europe: Eurosport; discovery+ (Germany, Italy, Austria); HBO Max (other markets)
China: CCTV5, Huya.com, Migu, CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, and 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
Featured photo credit: WST
