The 2026 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2026 Halo World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 18 April to 4 May 2026 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 50th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. Qualifying took place from 6 to 15 April at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The 18th and final ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, the tournament was broadcast domestically by BBC Sport, in Europe by Eurosport, and globally by other broadcasters. The winner received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000.
The main stage featured a record eleven players from mainland China. There were four Crucible debutants: He Guoqiang, Antoni Kowalski, Stan Moody, and Liam Pullen. Zhao Xintong was the defending champion, having defeated Mark Williams 18–12 in the 2025 final, but he lost 10–13 to Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals, becoming the 21st player to experience the so-called Crucible curse. The 14th of the semi-final match between Wu Yize and Mark Allen lasted 100 minutes and 21 seconds, setting a new record for the longest frame played at the Crucible. After Allen missed a off in the penultimate frame, Wu prevailed to win 17–16. Wu went on to defeat Murphy 18–17 in the final, becoming the second World Champion from Asia, following Zhao, and the tournament's second-youngest winner, after Stephen Hendry.
A record 258 century breaks were made at the event, including a record 177 in qualifying. The highest break of the tournament was a maximum break by Chang Bingyu in the third qualifying round. It was the 24th maximum of the season, a new record. The highest break of the main stage was a 145 by Allen in the semi-finals.
Background
The inaugural 1927 World Snooker Championship, then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker, took place at various venues in England between November 1926 and May 1927. Joe Davis won the final, held at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham from 9 to 12 May 1927, and went on to win all of the first 15 stagings of the tournament before retiring undefeated after the 1946 edition (no tournaments were held from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II). The tournament went into abeyance after only two players contested the 1952 edition, due to a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC). The PBPA established an alternative tournament, the World Professional Championship, of which the six editions held between 1952 and 1957 are retroactively regarded as legitimate continuations of the World Snooker Championship. However, due to waning public interest in snooker during the era, that tournament was also discontinued, and the world title was uncontested between 1958 and 1963.
Professional player Rex Williams was instrumental in reviving the World Snooker Championship on a challenge basis in 1964. John Pulman, winner of the 1957 World Professional Championship, defended the world title across seven challenge matches between 1964 and 1968. The World Snooker Championship reverted to an annual knockout tournament for the 1969 edition, which marked the beginning of the championship's "modern era". The 1977 edition was the first staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has remained since. As of 2026, the most successful players in the modern era were Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan, each having won the title seven times. Hendry was the tournament's youngest winner, having captured his first title at the 1990 event, aged . O'Sullivan was the oldest winner, having won his seventh title at the 2022 event, aged . O'Sullivan, who made his 33rd consecutive appearance at the 2025 event, had featured at the Crucible more times than any other player.
Overview The 2026 edition of the tournament—the 58th successive year that the World Snooker Championship was contested through the modern knockout format—took place from 18 April to 4 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 50th consecutive year that the World Championship was staged at the venue. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored for the second time by technology company Halo Service Solutions, the tournament was the 18th and final ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, following the 2026 Tour Championship. It was the third and final Triple Crown event of the season, following the 2025 UK Championship and the 2026 Masters. The defending champion was Zhao Xintong, who had defeated Mark Williams 18–12 in the 2025 final to win his first world title. Zhao was the 21st player to face the so-called "Crucible curse", referring to the fact that no first-time champion had retained the title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977.
Format The top 16 players in the snooker world rankings, as they stood after the 2026 Tour Championship, were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible Theatre. A further 16 players earned places at the Crucible through a qualifying competition that took place from 6 to 15 April at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, featuring 128 players, including professionals outside the top 16 in the rankings and 16 amateurs selected by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association on the basis of their performances at recognised international events that season. Professional players who did not enter the event were replaced by amateur players from the 2025 Q School Order of Merit. The qualifiers took place over four rounds, with players ranked 49 to 80 seeded through to the second qualifying round and players ranked 17 to 48 seeded through to the third qualifying round. All qualifying matches were played as the best of 19 , held over two .
The first-round draw, during which the 16 successful qualifiers were drawn at random against the top 16 seeds, took place on 16 April, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website. First-round matches were played as the best of 19 frames, held over two sessions. Second-round and quarter-final matches were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions. The semi-final matches were played as the best of 33 frames, held over four sessions. The final was the best of 35 frames, also held over four sessions.
Broadcasters The qualifying rounds were broadcast by Discovery+ in Germany, Italy, and Austria; by HBO Max in the United Kingdom and other European, North African, and Middle Eastern territories; by Huya, , the Academy WeChat Channel, and Academy Douyin in mainland China; and by WST Play in all other territories. The final round of qualifying, billed as "Judgement Day", was broadcast for free on WST Play and YouTube on 14 and 15 April.
The main stage of the tournament was broadcast by BBC Sport, TNT Sports, and HBO Max in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was broadcast by Eurosport in mainland Europe; by Discovery+ in Germany, Italy, and Austria; and by HBO Max in other European, North African, and Middle Eastern territories. It was broadcast in mainland China by the same broadcasters as the qualifying rounds. It was broadcast by Now TV in Hong Kong; by Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; by TrueVisions in Thailand; by VTVCab in Vietnam; by Sportcast in Taiwan; by TAP Sports in the Philippines; by Sportstars/Vision+ in Indonesia; by N Sports in Mongolia; by Sky Sport in New Zealand; and by WST Play in all other territories.
Prize fund The winner of the event received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below: Winner: £500,000 Runner-up: £200,000 Semi-finalists: £100,000 Quarter-finalists: £50,000 Last 16: £30,000 Last 32: £20,000 Last 48: £15,000 Last 80: £10,000 Last 112: £5,000 Highest (qualifying stage included): £15,000
Total: £2,395,000
In addition to the highest break prize, bonuses of £40,000 and £10,000 were offered for maximum breaks made at the main stage and in the qualifying rounds respectively. That season, the first three players who made two maximums across the season's Triple Crown events and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters would win a bonus of £147,000. Before the tournament's main stage, the bonus had been won twice: O'Sullivan won it by making two maximums at the 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and Chang Bingyu won it by making maximums in the 2025 UK Championship qualifiers and the World Championship qualifiers. As the main stage began, eligibility was extended so that the bonus could be won three further times.
Summary Qualifying rounds First qualifying round
The first qualifying round featured players ranked 81 to 112 against players seeded 113 to 144, including selected amateurs. At the age of , Michał Szubarczyk defeated Ng On-yee 10–7 to become the youngest player to win a World Championship match, surpassing Liam Davies, who had been 15 years and 277 days old when he achieved the feat at the 2022 edition. Veteran player Jimmy White, aged 63, played in his 46th World Championship campaign, having last reached the Crucible at the 2006 edition. He led Gao Yang 5–1, but Gao recovered to win the on the . The reigning World Women's Champion Bai Yulu made a century break of 101 as she defeated amateur player Daniel Womersley 10–7. She became the first female player to win a World Championship qualifying match since Reanne Evans defeated Robin Hull at the 2017 edition.
Amateur player Patrick Whelan won five of the last six to secure a 10–5 victory over Ken Doherty, winner of the 1997 edition. Liam Pullen trailed amateur player Alfie Burden 1–5 but recovered to force a deciding frame, which he won on the last . Marco Fu produced three centuries as he defeated Mink Nutcharut 10–1. Lan Yuhao, aged 17, made three centuries and seven other over 50 during his 10–5 victory over Chatchapong Nasa. Jamie Clarke made his highest break in professional competition, a 138, in his 10–5 win over Haydon Pinhey. Farakh Ajaib, Cheung Ka Wai, Doherty, Kreishh Gurbaxani, Huang Jiahao, Jonas Luz, Mitchell Mann, Mink Nutcharut, Pinhey, Haris Tahir, and Hatem Yassen all lost their professional tour cards after their first-round defeats. Doherty subsequently announced his retirement from professional snooker at age 56, having played for 36 years on the main tour.
Second qualifying round
The second qualifying round featured the winners of the first qualifying round against players ranked 49 to 80. Bai lost 4–10 to Michael Holt but made her second century of the tournament, a 108, becoming the first woman to make multiple centuries in a World Championship qualifying campaign. Szubarczyk defeated Sanderson Lam 10–8, and another Polish player, Antoni Kowalski, advanced with a 10–1 victory over Connor Benzey. Amateur player Wang Xinbo made a 143 break as he defeated Iulian Boiko 10–4. Robert Milkins, aged 50, who had played on the professional tour continuously since 1995, lost his tour card after his 3–10 defeat by Whelan. Mark Davis, aged 53, a professional since 1991, also lost his tour card after his 6–10 defeat by Gao. Oliver Sykes, who had secured a professional tour card for the following season as runner-up at the EBSA European Snooker Championship, made the 40th 146 break in the history of professional snooker during his 10–8 win over Lyu Haotian. Clarke lost the first five frames of his match against Ben Mertens and then withdrew due to illness.