World Snooker Championship 2026 draw: Ronnie O'Sullivan play Guoqiang, Xintong face Highfield in 1st round.
The draw for the final stages of the 2026 Halo World Championship has been made, with defending champion Zhao Xintong facing Liam Highfield.
Seven-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan will begin his bid for a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship title with a match against China's debutant He Guoqiang at the Crucible.
O'Sullivan, 50, will start his first-round tie at the Sheffield theatre on Tuesday and conclude the match on Wednesday.
Sixteen players came through qualifying this week at the English Institute of Sport and will join the world's top 16 ranked players at the tournament.
2026 World Snooker Championship draw in full
ROUND ONE
Best of 19 frames
The first-round matches will be played between Saturday, 18 April and Thursday, 23 April.
All first-round matches are best of 19 frames. Seeds are in brackets.
Zhao Xintong (China, 1) v Liam Highfield (England)
Ding Junhui (China, 16) v David Gilbert (England)
Xiao Guodong (China, 9) v Zhou Yuelong (China)
Shaun Murphy (England, 8) v Fan Zhengyi (China)
John Higgins (Scotland, 5) v Ali Carter (England)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (England, 12) v He Guoqiang (China)
Chris Wakelin (England, 13) v Liam Pullen (England)
Neil Robertson (Australia, 4) v Pang Junxu (China)
Kyren Wilson (England, 3) v Stan Moody (England)
Mark Allen (Northern Ireland, 14) v Zhang Anda (China)
Barry Hawkins (England, 11) v Matthew Stevens (Wales)
Mark Williams (Wales, 6) v Antoni Kowalski (Poland)
Mark Selby (England, 7) v Jak Jones (Wales)
Wu Yize (China, 10) v Lei Peifan (China)
Si Jiahui (China, 15) v Hossein Vafaei (Iran)
Judd Trump (England, 2) v Gary Wilson (England)
ROUND TWO
Thursday, 24th April to Monday 27th April
Best of 25 frames
Xiao / qualifier v Murphy / qualifier
Williams / qualifier v Hawkins / qualifier
Zhao / qualifier v Ding / qualifier
Wilson / qualifier v Allen / qualifier
Xiao / qualifier v Murphy / qualifier*
Williams / qualifier v Hawkins / qualifier
--
Robertson / qualifier v Wakelin / qualifier
Wilson / qualifier v Allen / qualifier*
Zhao / qualifier v Ding / qualifier
Trump / qualifier v Si / qualifier
O'Sullivan / qualifier v Higgins / qualifier
Williams / qualifier v Hawkins / qualifier*
--
Zhao / qualifier v Ding / qualifier*
Selby / qualifier v Wu / qualifier
Robertson / qualifier v Wakelin / qualifier
Trump / qualifier v Si / qualifier
O'Sullivan / qualifier v Higgins / qualifier
Selby / qualifier v Wu / qualifier
--
O'Sullivan / qualifier v Higgins / qualifier*
Selby / qualifier v Wu / qualifier*
Robertson / qualifier v Wakelin / qualifier*
Trump / qualifier v Si / qualifier*
Who has top 16 seeds qualified for the World Snooker Championship?
The world's top 16 at the end of the Tour Championship on 5 April were guaranteed a seeded place at the Crucible.
As defending champion, Zhao has the honour of being top seed and as per tradition plays his first-round match in the opening session.
O'Sullivan, who made the sport's highest-ever professional break with a 153 at the World Open in March, is seeded 12th and is in the same half of the draw as Zhao.
Full top 16 seedings:
1 Zhao Xintong
2 Judd Trump
3 Kyren Wilson
4 Neil Robertson
5 John Higgins
6 Mark Williams
7 Mark Selby
8 Shaun Murphy
9 Xiao Guodong
10 Wu Yize
11 Barry Hawkins
12 Ronnie O'Sullivan
13 Chris Wakelin
14 Mark Allen
15 Si Jiahui
16 Ding Junhui
The 16 players who have qualified to compete at the Crucible:
The 16 qualifiers for the 2026 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible were finalized on "Judgement Day" on April 15, 2026. A record-breaking number of Chinese players qualified for the main draw.
The 16 successful qualifiers are:
Zhang Anda (CHN)
Zhou Yuelong (CHN)
Pang Junxu (CHN)
Fan Zhengyi (CHN)
He Guoqiang (CHN)
Lei Peifan (CHN)
Hossein Vafaei (IRN)
Matthew Stevens (WAL)
Liam Pullen (ENG)
Stan Moody (ENG)
David Gilbert (ENG)
Antoni Kowalski (POL)
Jak Jones (WAL)
Gary Wilson (ENG)
Ali Carter (ENG)
Liam Highfield (ENG)
Of the 32 players competing, there are several who have already emerged as the favourites to win the tournament and the coveted trophy and a significant cash prize.
World number one Judd Trump is currently the favourite, according to comparison website Oddschecker, with odds of 4/1.
English player Mark Selby has odds of 6/1, defending champion Kyren Wilson is 15/2 and Ronnie O’ Sullivan is 8/1.
When is the World Snooker Championship 2026?
The 2026 World Snooker Championship takes place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from 18 April to 4 May - and you can watch every shot of the tournament live on the BBC.
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