The 2026/27 snooker season launches on Wednesday with the 2026 China Open qualifiers taking place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
It is just over a month since Wu Yize beat Shaun Murphy 18-17 to claim the World Championship title for the first time in his career.
Wu, Murphy, and the other members of the top 16 won’t be in action for another while yet, however.
That’s because the China Open, which is returning to the calendar for the first time since 2019, is incorporating the same qualifying format that is adopted for the World and UK Championships.
All the top 16 seeds therefore are safely assured of their spots in the main event in August.
When are the 2026 China Open qualifiers?
The China Open qualifiers run for five days – starting on Wednesday, June 10 and ending on Sunday, June 14.
Who is in the draw?
There will be four rounds of qualifiers in total, with a tiered entry system meaning the lowest seeds enter in round one.
The China Open won’t represent the first official ranking event of the season, with the ranking edition of Championship League Snooker to be played later in June and into July.
But reaching the venue stages in Taiyuan, which run from August 8 to 16, will be an important first step to take this term.
Indeed, the revamped China Open boasts one of the calendar’s biggest prize funds with about £1.2 million in total and a whopping £250,000 going to the winner.
2026 China Open prize money
Champion: £250,000
Runner-up: £100,000
Semi-Finals: £50,000
Quarter-Finals: £25,000
Last 16: £15,000
Last 32: £10,000
Last 48: £7,500
Last 80: £5,000
Last 112: £2,500
Round one of the qualifiers will feature the bottom-ranked players from last season, competitors who have earned fresh two-year cards, and a host of amateurs who have been invited to make up the numbers.
Jimmy White will start his 47th season as a professional player against Sean O’Sullivan, one of the 12 Q School graduates in 2026.
Antoni Kowalski, who saved his tour card with a remarkable run to the Crucible in April, will encounter 59 year-old Paul Norris – the oldest ever player to turn professional for the first time.
Recent women’s world champion Panchaya Channoi will also make her maiden bow as a professional against Chen Ruifu.
The following rounds will see a lot of the bigger hitters enter the fray, particularly in round three when the cueists seeded from 17 to 48 get involved.
That’ll include the likes of 2019 China Open runner-up Jack Lisowski, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter, and Luca Brecel.
2026 China Open qualifiers: full draw
Round 1: Last 144 (bo11)
1. Zhao Hanyang w/o Xu Jiarui
2. Deng Haohui v Zhou Yichen (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
3. Sahil Nayyar v Liu Yang (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
4. Mahmoud El Hareedy v Daniel Womersley (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
5. Bai Yulu v Peter Lines (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
6. Alexander Ursenbacher v Duane Jones (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
7. Hammad Miah v Mykhailo Larkov (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
8. Connor Benzey v Huang Jiahao (Thu 11 Jun, 09:30 BST)
9. Mateusz Baranowski v Simon Blackwell (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
10. Anton Kazakov v Jamie Clarke (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
11. Oliver Brown v Nattanapong Chaikul (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
12. Artemijs Zizins v Gong Chenzhi (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
13. Julien Leclercq v Ashley Hugill (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
14. Florian Nuessle v Allan Taylor (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
15. Ashley Carty v Stuart Carrington (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
16. Ross Muir v Cheung Ka Wai (Wed 10 Jun, 09:30 BST)
17. Liu Wenwei v Oliver Sykes (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
18. Wang Xinbo v Mark Joyce (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
19. Jimmy White v Sean O’Sullivan (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
20. Antoni Kowalski v Paul Norris (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
21. Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon v Joshua Thomond (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
22. Chatchapong Nasa v Liam Davies (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
23. Phil O’Kane v Wang Yuhang (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
24. Leone Crowley v Andrew Higginson (Wed 10 Jun, 14:30 BST)
25. Liam Graham v Mitchell Mann (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
26. Panchaya Channoi v Chen Ruifu (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
27. Fergal Quinn v Zhang Yang (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
28. Craig Steadman v George Pragnell (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
29. Alfie Burden v Patrick Whelan (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
30. Ng On Yee v Ryan Thomerson (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
31. Luo Zetao v Robert Milkins (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
32. Reanne Evans v Alfie Davies (Wed 10 Jun, 19:30 BST)
Round 2: Last 112 (bo11)
33. Xu Yichen v Zhao Hanyang (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
34. Matthew Stevens v Winner of Match 2 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
35. Jiang Jun v Winner of Match 3 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
36. Jordan Brown v Winner of Match 4 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
37. Fan Zhengyi v Winner of Match 5 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
38. Dylan Emery v Winner of Match 6 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
39. Robbie Williams v Winner of Match 7 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
40. Steven Hallworth v Winner of Match 8 (Fri 12 Jun, 14:30 BST)
41. Ian Burns v Winner of Match 9 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
42. Oliver Lines v Winner of Match 10 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
43. Marco Fu v Winner of Match 11 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
44. David Lilley v Winner of Match 12 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
45. Lyu Haotian v Winner of Match 13 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
46. Liam Highfield v Winner of Match 14 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
47. Martin O’Donnell v Winner of Match 15 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
48. Michal Szubarczyk v Winner of Match 16 (Thu 11 Jun, 14:30 BST)
49. Lan Yuhao v Winner of Match 17 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
50. Michael Holt v Winner of Match 18 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
51. Louis Heathcote v Winner of Match 19 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
52. Ben Mertens v Winner of Match 20 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
53. Ishpreet Singh Chadha v Winner of Match 21 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
54. Sam Craigie v Winner of Match 22 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
55. Ricky Walden v Winner of Match 23 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
56. Gao Yang v Winner of Match 24 (Thu 11 Jun, 19:30 BST)
57. David Grace v Winner of Match 25 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
58. Scott Donaldson v Winner of Match 26 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
59. Iulian Boiko v Winner of Match 27 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
60. Liu Hongyu v Winner of Match 28 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
61. Jamie Jones v Winner of Match 29 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
62. Liam Pullen v Winner of Match 30 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
63. Long Zehuang v Winner of Match 31 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
64. Yao Pengcheng v Winner of Match 32 (Fri 12 Jun, 09:30 BST)
Round 3: Last 80 (bo11)
65. Jack Lisowski v Winner of Match 33 (Sat 13 Jun, 19:30 BST)
66. Chang Bingyu v Winner of Match 34 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
67. Jak Jones v Winner of Match 35 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
68. Jimmy Robertson v Winner of Match 36 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
69. Stan Moody v Winner of Match 37 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
70. Pang Junxu v Winner of Match 38 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
71. Aaron Hill v Winner of Match 39 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
72. Gary Wilson v Winner of Match 40 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
73. Stuart Bingham v Winner of Match 41 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
74. Luca Brecel v Winner of Match 42 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
75. Hossein Vafaei v Winner of Match 43 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
76. Ryan Day v Winner of Match 44 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
77. Tom Ford v Winner of Match 45 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
78. Stephen Maguire v Winner of Match 46 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
79. Daniel Wells v Winner of Match 47 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
80. Zhang Anda v Winner of Match 48 (Fri 12 Jun, 19:30 BST)
81. Elliot Slessor v Winner of Match 49 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
82. Noppon Saengkham v Winner of Match 50 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
83. Yuan Sijun v Winner of Match 51 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
84. Jackson Page v Winner of Match 52 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
85. Anthony McGill v Winner of Match 53 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
86. Joe O’Connor v Winner of Match 54 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
87. Matthew Selt v Winner of Match 55 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
88. Ali Carter v Winner of Match 56 (Sat 13 Jun, 09:30 BST)
89. Zhou Yuelong v Winner of Match 57 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
90. Zak Surety v Winner of Match 58 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
91. Lei Peifan v Winner of Match 59 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
92. Ben Woollaston v Winner of Match 60 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
93. Xu Si v Winner of Match 61 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
94. David Gilbert v Winner of Match 62 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
95. He Guoqiang v Winner of Match 63 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
96. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Winner of Match 64 (Sat 13 Jun, 14:30 BST)
Round 4: Last 48 (bo11)
97. Winner of Match 65 v Winner of Match 66 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
98. Winner of Match 67 v Winner of Match 68 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
99. Winner of Match 69 v Winner of Match 70 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
100. Winner of Match 71 v Winner of Match 72 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
101. Winner of Match 73 v Winner of Match 74 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
102. Winner of Match 75 v Winner of Match 76 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
103. Winner of Match 77 v Winner of Match 78 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
104. Winner of Match 79 v Winner of Match 80 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
105. Winner of Match 81 v Winner of Match 82 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
106. Winner of Match 83 v Winner of Match 84 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
107. Winner of Match 85 v Winner of Match 86 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
108. Winner of Match 87 v Winner of Match 88 (Sun 14 Jun, 10:00 BST)
109. Winner of Match 89 v Winner of Match 90 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
110. Winner of Match 91 v Winner of Match 92 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
111. Winner of Match 93 v Winner of Match 94 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
112. Winner of Match 95 v Winner of Match 96 (Sun 14 Jun, 16:00 BST)
How to watch the China Open qualifiers
The China Open qualifiers will be broadcast live worldwide (excluding China) on WST Play.
Featured photo credit: WST
