The 2026/27 snooker season continues with the 2026 Northern Ireland Open qualifiers taking place at the Mattioli Arena from Sunday through to Wednesday.
This is the first in a three-leg swing of preliminary matches in Leicester, with the qualifiers for the International Championship and the Scottish Open to follow.
The Northern Ireland Open will be the second event on the Home Nations Series calendar this season, following the English Open.
The tournament’s venue stages will take place at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast next month, with players competing for the Alex Higgins Trophy.
Reigning champion Jack Lisowski is set to defend the first ranking title of his career, having beaten Judd Trump in last year’s final.
Lisowski and the other top 32 seeds from the world rankings have all progressed automatically to the last 64 at the main event in Belfast.
The remaining players must negotiate up to two rounds of qualifying to secure one of the other 32 places in the first-round draw.
When are the 2026 Northern Ireland Open qualifiers?
The 2026 Northern Ireland Open qualifiers run from September 13 to 16 at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
The venue stages will then be held from October 18 to 25 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
Northern Ireland Open prize money
Winner: ยฃ100,000
Runner-up: ยฃ45,000
Semi-finals: ยฃ21,000
Quarter-finals: ยฃ13,200
Last 16: ยฃ9,000
Last 32: ยฃ5,400
Last 64: ยฃ3,600
Last 96: ยฃ1,000
Highest break: ยฃ5,000
Total: ยฃ550,400
Who is in the draw?
The Northern Ireland 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 Jack Lisowski, have all been seeded through to the venue stages.
Among the notable players in the qualifying competition are Luca Brecel, Tom Ford, Ryan Day, Marco Fu, Jimmy White, and women’s world number one Bai Yulu.
County Antrim’s Jordan Brown is also in the qualifiers and will be looking for a boost in form as he battles for tour survival this season.
2026 Northern Ireland Open qualifiers draw
Round of 128 (bo7)
Reanne Evans vs Huang Jiahao (Sun 13 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Connor Benzey vs Liu Yang (Sun 13 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Liam Graham vs Wang Xinbo (Sun 13 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Mateusz Baranowski vs Gong Chenzhi (Sun 13 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Ross Muir vs Andrew Higginson (Sun 13 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Iulian Boiko vs Luo Zetao (Sun 13 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Fergal Quinn vs Alfie Burden (Sun 13 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Liam Davies vs Hammad Miah (Sun 13 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Louis Heathcote vs Craig Steadman (Sun 13 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Oliver Brown vs Antoni Kowalski (Sun 13 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Sam Craigie vs Anton Kazakov (Sun 13 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Jimmy White vs Sean O’Sullivan (Sun 13 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Zhao Hanyang vs Mahmoud El Hareedy (Sun 13 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Xu Yichen vs Mina Awad (Sun 13 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Marco Fu vs Joel Connolly (Sun 13 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Ian Burns vs Stuart Carrington (Sun 13 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Gao Yang vs Panchaya Channoi (Mon 14 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Alexander Ursenbacher vs Oliver Sykes (Mon 14 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Artemijs Zizins vs Cheung Ka Wai (Mon 14 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Yao Pengcheng vs Bai Yulu (Mon 14 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Liam Pullen vs Paul Norris (Mon 14 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Sahil Nayyar vs Michael Larkov (Mon 14 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Liu Wenwei vs Mitchell Mann (Mon 14 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Chatchapong Nasa vs Darragh Gallagher (Mon 14 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Liam Highfield vs Phil O’Kane (Mon 14 Sep, 16:00 BST)
David Grace vs Deng Haohui (Mon 14 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Dylan Emery vs Jamie Clarke (Mon 14 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Lan Yuhao vs Ashley Hugill (Mon 14 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Florian Nuessle vs Ng On Yee (Mon 14 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Michal Szubarczyk vs Julien Leclercq (Mon 14 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Steven Hallworth vs Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Mon 14 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Leone Crowley vs Ashley Carty (Mon 14 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Round of 96 (bo7)
Liu Hongyu vs Evans/Huang (Tue 15 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Anthony McGill vs Benzey/Liu (Tue 15 Sep, 10:00 BST)
David Lilley vs Graham/Wang (Tue 15 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Yuan Sijun vs Baranowski/Gong (Tue 15 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Aaron Hill vs Muir/Higginson (Tue 15 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Ben Mertens vs Boiko/Luo (Tue 15 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Jimmy Robertson vs Quinn/Burden (Tue 15 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Fan Zhengyi vs Davies/Miah (Tue 15 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Lyu Haotian vs Heathcote/Steadman (Tue 15 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Matthew Selt vs Brown/Kowalski (Tue 15 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Craigie/Kazakov (Tue 15 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Xu Si vs White/O’Sullivan (Tue 15 Sep, 16:00 BST)
He Guoqiang vs Zhao/El Hareedy (Tue 15 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Jamie Jones vs Xu/Awad (Tue 15 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Matthew Stevens vs Fu/Connolly (Tue 15 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Ricky Walden vs Burns/Carrington (Tue 15 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Long Zehuang vs Gao/Channoi (Wed 16 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Zak Surety vs Ursenbacher/Sykes (Wed 16 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Oliver Lines vs Zizins/Cheung (Wed 16 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Stan Moody vs Yao/Bai (Wed 16 Sep, 10:00 BST)
Ben Woollaston vs Pullen/Norris (Wed 16 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Robbie Williams vs Nayyar/Larkov (Wed 16 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Luca Brecel vs Liu/Mann (Wed 16 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Martin O’Donnell vs Nasa/Gallagher (Wed 16 Sep, 13:00 BST)
Jiang Jun vs Highfield/O’Kane (Wed 16 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Tom Ford vs Grace/Deng (Wed 16 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Daniel Wells vs Emery/Clarke (Wed 16 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Ryan Day vs Lan/Hugill (Wed 16 Sep, 16:00 BST)
Michael Holt vs Nuessle/Ng On Yee (Wed 16 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Jordan Brown vs Szubarczyk/Leclercq (Wed 16 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Jackson Page vs Hallworth/Tirapongpaiboon (Wed 16 Sep, 19:00 BST)
Scott Donaldson vs Crowley/Carty (Wed 16 Sep, 19:00 BST)
How to watch the 2026 Northern Ireland Open qualifiers
The Northern Ireland Open qualifiers will be available to watch live globally on WST Play (excluding China) through a subscription.
Featured photo credit: WST
The next test for Brecel — at some point he has to accumulate some ranking points.
>Yao Pengcheng vs Bai Yulu
Looks like a bit of an unfortunate draw for Bai Yulu — Yao Pengcheng has not done too badly so far this season: he made the main draw of both the China Open (beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the qualifiers), and the Wuhan Open (he beat Jack Lisowski in qualifying) — at the end of last season, he reached the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 WC.
Reigning women’s WC, Thai teenager Panchaya Channoi, was shut out in her qualifier, losing 0 – 4 to Gao Yang, another young (22 y/o) Chinese player.
>Yao Pengcheng vs Bai Yulu
Down 1 – 2, she had a chance to win the 4th frame, but let it slip away 58 – 68 — so instead of 2 – 2, it was 1 – 3, and she was one frame away from losing, facing the task of winning 3 straight frames — that has to be a psychological challenge.
She then lost the 5th frame without scoring a point — her opponent got in, and won the match in style, with a century.
>Florian Nuessle vs Ng On Yee
I don’t see Mink in the draw (?), so since Reanne Evans lost yesterday, perhaps Ng On Yee is the last woman remaining in qualifying (?) — anyway, you have to say the draw could’ve been worse for her, so we’ll see if she can beat Nuessle — or at least win a frame or two.
Yao Pengcheng beat Stan Moody 4 – 0.
>Florian Nuessle vs Ng On Yee
In the latest rankings update here (after the British Open), Nuessle was #91 on the 2-year list — let’s see how Ng On Yee does against him this evening.
Since this looks like the 2nd year of his tour card (earned March 2025), it seems unlikely that Nuessle will survive the T64 cut next year.
How about that! — after winning the first 2 apparently tedious, scrappy frames (I can only look at the WST website now and then to follow a match), it looked like she made a number of mistakes (fouls) in losing the next 2 — then in a close 5th frame she wasted a chance to lead 3 – 2, instead she lost a 3rd frame in a row and was behind 2 – 3 — amazingly, she won the next 2 frames to take the match 4 – 3.
A female player beating a male player, no matter how each is ranked, is not something that happens often.
Again: WST should adjust qualifying draws for the women with tour cards so they play the 1st round against a male player with a low ranking — this way they have a chance to win a frame or two, maybe even the match, as Ng On Yee did here — this is a simple way to perhaps boost the confidence of the women.
Next for Onyee Ng is Michael Holt, #46 on the recently updated 2-year rankings.