How does qualifying work for the World Snooker Championship 2026? Has a qualifier ever won the Crucible tournament?
Published 18/03/2026 at 14:44 GMT
World Snooker Championship qualifying begins April 6 in Sheffield, with a spate of high-profile players and ranking-event winners battling for 16 Crucible spots. Only the top 16 in the rankings qualify automatically, including Zhao Xintong, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump. The multi-round qualification format sees lower-ranked players fight through four gruelling stages.
'You can see the annoyance' - Trump loses first frame after huge blunder
Video credit: TNT Sports
The World Snooker Championship qualification process gets underway next month at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.Â
The 50th iteration of the tournament will take place between April 6 and April 15, with some of the biggest names in snooker, including a spate of ranking-event winners, set to battle it out for a place at the Crucible.Â
Here’s everything you need to know about how the qualification process works.
Who qualifies automatically for the World Snooker Championship 2026?
Only the world’s top 16 upon the conclusion of the Tour Championship on April 5 will automatically have a place reserved for the Crucible.
Their qualification is based on a ranking list covering the season leading up to the tournament.
At present, the top 16 spots are occupied by:
- Zhao Xintong (Seeded as No. 1 on account of being defending champion)
- Judd Trump
- Kyren Wilson
- Neil Robertson
- John Higgins
- Mark Williams
- Mark Selby
- Shaun Murphy
- Xiao Guodong
- Barry Hawkins
- Wu Yize
- Chris WakelinÂ
- Ronnie O’Sullivan
- Mark Allen
- Si Jiahui
- Ding Junhui
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'Virtuoso display of snooker' - Zhao hits fifth century to seal 'ridiculously easy' final win
Video credit: TNT Sports
How does the World Snooker Championship 2026 qualifying tournament work?Â
The qualifying tournament will see 128 professional and invited amateur competitors enter the process at different stages depending on their seeding. Indeed, Round 1 will feature players ranked 81 to 112 against those ranked 113 to 144.Â
Round 2 will see the 32 winners of the previous round face players ranked 49 to 80.
In Round 3, the next 32 winners will face players ranked between 17 and 48.
Round 4 will see the remaining set of 32 winners play each other, with the 16 unbeaten players going through to the Crucible.Â
Unless they win or reach the final of the World Open, Luca Brecel, Stuart Bingham, Zhang Anda, Ali Carter, David Gilbert, Stephen Maguire, Gary Wilson and Hossein Vafaei are all on course to play at least two qualifying matches to reach the World Championship proper.Â
Meanwhile, six-time world finalist Jimmy White is set to enter qualifying in the earlier rounds.
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China's Zhao Xintong poses with the trophy after victory over Wales' Mark Williams in the World Championship Snooker final
Image credit: Getty Images
How to watch World Snooker Championship 2026 qualifying
You can watch every day of World Snooker Championship 2026 qualifying live on TNT Sports.
It is available both live and on-demand on HBO Max.
Has a qualifier ever won the World Snooker Championship?
Last year, Zhao Xintong became China's first winner when he defeated three-time champion Mark Williams 18-12 in the final.
Zhao, who also beat seven-time Crucible victor Ronnie O'Sullivan in the tournament’s semi-final, became just the third ever qualifier to triumph in the Crucible era, after Terry Griffiths in 1979 and Shaun Murphy in 2005.
The 28-year-old won four qualifiers and claimed five Crucible victories to secure glory at last year’s tournament.Â
Watch and stream the 2025/26 snooker season, including the World Championship, live on TNT Sports.
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