Undid revision 1349701087 by Dbickea (talk) We don't usually link countries. ← Previous revision Revision as of 14:47, 18 April 2026 Line 25: Line 25: The '''2026 World Snooker Championship''' (officially the '''2026 Halo World Snooker Championship''') is a professional [[snooker]] tournament that is taking place from 18 April to 4 May 2026 at the [[Crucible Theatre]] in [[Sheffield]], England. It is the 50th consecutive year that the [[World Snooker Championship]] is being staged at the venue. Organised by the [[World Snooker Tour]], the tournament is the 18th and final [[List of snooker ranking tournaments|ranking]] event of the [[2025–26 snooker season|2025–‍26 snooker season]]. It is being broadcast domestically by [[BBC Sport]], in Europe by [[Eurosport]], and elsewhere in the world by WST Play and other broadcasters. The winner will receive £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The '''2026 World Snooker Championship''' (officially the '''2026 Halo World Snooker Championship''') is a professional [[snooker]] tournament that is taking place from 18 April to 4 May 2026 at the [[Crucible Theatre]] in [[Sheffield]], England. It is the 50th consecutive year that the [[World Snooker Championship]] is being staged at the venue. Organised by the [[World Snooker Tour]], the tournament is the 18th and final [[List of snooker ranking tournaments|ranking]] event of the [[2025–26 snooker season|2025–‍26 snooker season]]. It is being broadcast domestically by [[BBC Sport]], in Europe by [[Eurosport]], and elsewhere in the world by WST Play and other broadcasters. The winner will receive £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The top 16 players from the [[snooker world rankings]]—as they stood after the [[2026 Tour Championship]]—were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible. The qualifying rounds took place from 6 to 15 April at the [[English Institute of Sport, Sheffield|English Institute of Sport]] in Sheffield, featuring 128 professional and invited amateur competitors, of whom 16 reached the main stage. A record number of players from [[China]]—five seeds and six qualifiers, making eleven in total—reached the main stage of the tournament. Crucible debutants at the event are [[He Guoqiang (snooker player)|He Guoqiang]], [[Antoni Kowalski]], [[Stan Moody]], and [[Liam Pullen]]. Kowalski is the first Polish player to reach the main stage of the World Snooker Championship. The top 16 players from the [[snooker world rankings]]—as they stood after the [[2026 Tour Championship]]—were seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible. The qualifying rounds took place from 6 to 15 April at the [[English Institute of Sport, Sheffield|English Institute of Sport]] in Sheffield, featuring 128 professional and invited amateur competitors, of whom 16 reached the main stage. A record number of players from China—five seeds and six qualifiers, making eleven in total—reached the main stage of the tournament. Crucible debutants at the event are [[He Guoqiang (snooker player)|He Guoqiang]], [[Antoni Kowalski]], [[Stan Moody]], and [[Liam Pullen]]. Kowalski is the first Polish player to reach the main stage of the World Snooker Championship. [[Zhao Xintong]] is the defending champion, having defeated [[Mark Williams (snooker player)|Mark Williams]] 18–12 in the [[2025 World Snooker Championship|2025 final]] to win his maiden world title. Zhao is the 21st player to face the so-called [[Crucible curse]], referring to the fact that no first-time champion has retained the title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977. [[Zhao Xintong]] is the defending champion, having defeated [[Mark Williams (snooker player)|Mark Williams]] 18–12 in the [[2025 World Snooker Championship|2025 final]] to win his maiden world title. Zhao is the 21st player to face the so-called [[Crucible curse]], referring to the fact that no first-time champion has retained the title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977.