The 2026/27 snooker season continues this week with the 2026 British Open qualifiers taking place at the Mattioli Arena on Thursday and Friday.
One might be forgiven for thinking that there seems to be a relentless amount of snooker taking place in Leicester, and one would be absolutely right for thinking that.
The circuit hasn’t ventured away from the venue yet, and every ball struck so far this term has been behind closed doors.
The British Open qualifiers occur in the middle of a three-leg stint of preliminaries, coming just after the Shenzhen Open qualifiers and just prior to the English Open qualifiers.
Unlike most of the ranking events this season, however, the British Open adopts its unique random-draw format with only one round of qualifying required before the venue stages.
The top 16 players from the world rankings enter at the same stage, but their opening-round matches have been held over to the main event itself.
When are the 2026 British Open qualifiers?
The 2026 British Open qualifiers run from July 23 to 24 at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
The venue stages will then be held from August 31 to September 6 at the Centaur in Cheltenham.
British Open prize money
Winner: £100,000
Runner-up: £45,000
Semi-finals: £20,000
Quarter-finals: £12,000
Last 16: £9,000
Last 32: £6,000
Last 64: £3,000
Highest break: £5,000
Total: £502,000
Who is in the draw?
All players outside the top 16 in the world rankings will compete in Leicester across a single qualifying round.
The British Open uses a random draw for every round, making it one of the most unpredictable tournaments on the World Snooker Tour calendar.
The top 16 players have had their opening-round matches held over to the venue stages in Cheltenham.
Reigning champion Shaun Murphy will begin the defence of his title against 12-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans, while world champion Wu Yize faces fellow Chinese competitor Liu Hongyu.
World number one Judd Trump has been drawn against Dylan Emery, with the held-over fixtures also featuring Ronnie O’Sullivan, Zhao Xintong, and the rest of the top-16 contingent.
There are several eye-catching ties taking place in Leicester, meanwhile, including Jack Lisowski against Scott Donaldson and Stuart Bingham versus Chang Bingyu.
Recent Championship League Snooker winner Jak Jones plays Matthew Selt, Gary Wilson takes on Ricky Walden, and Joe O’Connor faces last year’s runner-up Anthony McGill.
2026 British Open qualifiers draw
Round of 128 (bo7)
Ashley Carty v Si Jiahui (Held over)
Martin O’Donnell v Liam Graham (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Joe O’Connor v Anthony McGill (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Wu Yize v Liu Hongyu (Held over)
Matthew Stevens v Antoni Kowalski (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Michael Larkov v Artemijs Zizins (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Ding Junhui v Anton Kazakov (Held over)
Fergal Quinn v Jackson Page (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Luo Zetao v Iulian Boiko (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Xiao Guodong v Jiang Jun (Held over)
Mark Selby v David Lilley (Held over)
Judd Trump v Dylan Emery (Held over)
Alfie Burden v Zhang Anda (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Joshua Thomond (a) v Sam Craigie (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Pang Junxu v Neil Robertson (Held over)
Gary Wilson v Ricky Walden (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Ng On Yee v Yao Pengcheng (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Liu Wenwei v Jordan Brown (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Shaun Murphy v Reanne Evans (Held over)
Mahmoud El Hareedy v Lan Yuhao (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Marco Fu v Steven Hallworth (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Leone Crowley v Long Zehuang (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Oliver Brown v Zhao Xintong (Held over)
Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon v Gao Yang (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ian Burns v Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Scott Donaldson v Jack Lisowski (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Ryan Day v Chatchapong Nasa (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Liam Pullen v Daniel Wells (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Fan Zhengyi v Ben Woollaston (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Florian Nuessle v Kyren Wilson (Held over)
Huang Jiahao v Zak Surety (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Jamie Jones v Oliver Sykes (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Oliver Lines v Xu Yichen (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Jimmy Robertson v Zhou Yuelong (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Connor Benzey v Phil O’Kane (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Ben Mertens v Zhao Hanyang (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Michal Szubarczyk v David Grace (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Gong Chenzhi v Xu Si (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Matthew Selt v Jak Jones (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Alexander Ursenbacher v Duane Jones (a) (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Panchaya Channoi v Aaron Hill (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Stuart Bingham v Chang Bingyu (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Paul Norris v Stan Moody (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Michael Holt v Cheung Ka Wai (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Yuan Sijun v Lyu Haotian (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Elliot Slessor v Julien Leclercq (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Jamie Clarke (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Tom Ford v Ross Muir (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Mark Williams v David Gilbert (Held over)
John Higgins v Hossein Vafaei (Held over)
Noppon Saengkham v Ashley Hugill (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Sahil Nayyar v Bai Yulu (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Barry Hawkins v Deng Haohui (Held over)
Mitchell Mann v Louis Heathcote (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Liu Yang v Andrew Higginson (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Stephen Maguire v Liam Highfield (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Liam Davies v Craig Steadman (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Robbie Williams v He Guoqiang (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Jimmy White v Sean O’Sullivan (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mateusz Baranowski (Held over)
Chris Wakelin v Luca Brecel (Held over)
Wang Xinbo v Mark Allen (Held over)
Lei Peifan v Hammad Miah (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Ali Carter v Stuart Carrington (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
How to watch the 2026 British Open qualifiers
The British Open qualifiers will be available to watch live globally on WST Play (excluding China) through a subscription.
Featured photo credit: WST
