The 2026/27 snooker season continues this weekend with the 2026 English Open qualifiers taking place at the Mattioli Arena on Saturday and Sunday.
This batch of qualifiers brings to an end a three-leg swing of preliminary matches in Leicester, following the Shenzhen Open qualifiers and the British Open qualifiers.
It also concludes a relentless opening spell to the campaign in which every competitive ball has been struck behind closed doors at the Mattioli Arena.
The snooker roadshow will finally move on to a different venue next week when the invitational Shanghai Masters gets under way.
The English Open is one of the four Home Nations Series events and enters its 11th edition on the World Snooker Tour calendar.
Players will once again compete for the Steve Davis Trophy, with reigning champion Mark Allen returning later in the competition after being seeded through to the venue stages.
Like in previous years, the top 32 players in the world rankings have all progressed automatically to the last 64 at the main event.
The remaining players must negotiate two rounds of qualifying to secure one of the other 32 places in the first-round draw.
When are the 2026 English Open qualifiers?
The 2026 English Open qualifiers run from July 25 to 26 at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
The venue stages will then be held from September 7 to 13 at the Brentwood Leisure Centre.
English Open prize money
Winner: £100,000
Runner-up: £45,000
Semi-finals: £21,000
Quarter-finals: £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
Who is in the draw?
The English Open qualifiers feature two rounds, with the bottom 64 players in the entry list competing in round one before those seeded from 33 to 64 join the action in round two.
The top 32 players in the world rankings, including reigning champion Mark Allen, have all been seeded through to the venue stages.
Among the notable players in the qualifying competition are Luca Brecel, Stan Moody, Ryan Day, Tom Ford, Ricky Walden, Noppon Saengkham, and Chang Bingyu.
Jimmy White, Marco Fu, and Bai Yulu are among the recognisable names who begin their English Open campaigns from the opening qualifying round.
2026 English Open qualifiers draw
Round of 128 (bo7)
Sam Craigie v Sean O’Sullivan (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Florian Nuessle v Liu Yang (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Dylan Emery v Paul Norris (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Chatchapong Nasa v Ashley Hugill (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Leone Crowley v Andrew Higginson (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Marco Fu v Hammad Miah (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Jimmy White v Cheung Ka Wai (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Mateusz Baranowski v Bai Yulu(Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Connor Benzey v Mitchell Mann (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Xu Yichen v Vladislav Gradinari (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Louis Heathcote v Huang Jiahao (Sat 25 Jul, 10:00 BST)
David Grace v Deng Haohui (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Fergal Quinn v Phil O’Kane (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Liam Highfield v Michael Larkov (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Iulian Boiko v Gong Chenzhi (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Mahmoud El Hareedy v Luo Zetao (Sat 25 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Reanne Evans v Craig Steadman (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Liu Wenwei v Ashley Carty (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Sahil Nayyar v Oliver Sykes (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Michal Szubarczyk v Julien Leclercq (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Lan Yuhao v Antoni Kowalski (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ross Muir v Panchaya Channoi (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ng On Yee v Jamie Clarke (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Alfie Burden v Artemijs Zizins (Sat 25 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Zhao Hanyang v Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Duane Jones w/o Ian Burns
Yao Pengcheng v Stuart Carrington (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Liam Graham v Kaylan Patel (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Oliver Brown v Wang Xinbo (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Steven Hallworth v Liam Davies (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Alexander Ursenbacher v Anton Kazakov (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Gao Yang v Joshua Thomond (Sat 25 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Round of 96 (bo7)
David Lilley v Craigie/O’Sullivan (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Noppon Saengkham v Nuessle/Liu (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Michael Holt v Emery/Norris (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Matthew Stevens v Nasa/Hugill (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Zak Surety v Crowley/Higginson (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Ricky Walden v Fu/Miah (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Chang Bingyu v White/Cheung (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Jamie Jones v Baranowski/Bai (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Oliver Lines v Benzey/Mann (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Tom Ford v Xu/Gradinari (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Ishpreet Singh Chadha v Heathcote/Huang (Sun 26 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Stan Moody v Grace/Deng (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Jackson Page v Quinn/O’Kane (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Robbie Williams v Highfield/Larkov (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
He Guoqiang v Boiko/Gong (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Scott Donaldson v El Hareedy/Luo (Sun 26 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Jordan Brown v Evans/Steadman (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ben Woollaston v Liu Wenwei/Carty (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Fan Zhengyi v Nayyar/Sykes (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Anthony McGill v Szubarczyk/Leclercq (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Luca Brecel v Lan/Kowalski (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Liam Pullen v Muir/Channoi (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ryan Day v Ng/Clarke (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Martin O’Donnell v Burden/Zizins (Sun 26 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ben Mertens v Zhao/Tirapongpaiboon (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Matthew Selt v Duane Jones (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Lyu Haotian v Yao/Carrington (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Daniel Wells v Graham/Patel (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Long Zehuang v Brown/Wang (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Liu Hongyu v Hallworth/Davies (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Aaron Hill v Ursenbacher/Kazakov (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Jiang Jun v Gao/Thomond (Sun 26 Jul, 19:00 BST)
How to watch the 2026 English Open qualifiers
The English Open qualifiers will be available to watch live globally on WST Play (excluding China) through a subscription.
Featured photo credit: WST
