The 2026/27 snooker season continues this week with the 2026 British Open qualifiers happening on the Mattioli Area on Thursday and Friday.
One is perhaps forgiven for considering that there appears to be a relentless quantity of snooker happening in Leicester, and one could be completely proper for considering that.
The circuit hasn’t ventured away from the venue but, and each ball struck thus far this time period has been behind closed doorways.
The British Open qualifiers happen in the course of a three-leg stint of preliminaries, coming simply after the Shenzhen Open qualifiers and simply previous to the English Open qualifiers.
In contrast to many of the rating occasions this season, nevertheless, the British Open adopts its distinctive random-draw format with just one spherical of qualifying required earlier than the venue levels.
The highest 16 gamers from the world rankings enter on the similar stage, however their opening-round matches have been held over to the principle occasion itself.
When are the 2026 British Open qualifiers?
The 2026 British Open qualifiers run from July 23 to 24 on the Mattioli Area in Leicester.
The venue levels will then be held from August 31 to September 6 on the Centaur in Cheltenham.
British Open prize cash
Winner: £100,000
Runner-up: £45,000
Semi-finals: £20,000
Quarter-finals: £12,000
Final 16: £9,000
Final 32: £6,000
Final 64: £3,000
Highest break: £5,000
Complete: £502,000
Who’s within the draw?
All gamers outdoors the highest 16 on the earth rankings will compete in Leicester throughout a single qualifying spherical.
The British Open makes use of a random draw for each spherical, making it one of the vital unpredictable tournaments on the World Snooker Tour calendar.
The highest 16 gamers have had their opening-round matches held over to the venue levels in Cheltenham.
Reigning champion Shaun Murphy will start the defence of his title in opposition to 12-time girls’s world champion Reanne Evans, whereas world champion Wu Yize faces fellow Chinese language competitor Liu Hongyu.
World primary Judd Trump has been drawn in opposition to Dylan Emery, with the held-over fixtures additionally that includes Ronnie O’Sullivan, Zhao Xintong, and the remainder of the top-16 contingent.
There are a number of eye-catching ties happening in Leicester, in the meantime, together with Jack Lisowski in opposition to Scott Donaldson and Stuart Bingham versus Chang Bingyu.
Current Championship League Snooker winner Jak Jones performs Matthew Selt, Gary Wilson takes on Ricky Walden, and Joe O’Connor faces final 12 months’s runner-up Anthony McGill.
2026 British Open qualifiers draw
Spherical of 128 (bo7)
Ashley Carty v Si Jiahui (Held over)
Martin O’Donnell v Liam Graham (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Joe O’Connor v Anthony McGill (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Wu Yize v Liu Hongyu (Held over)
Matthew Stevens v Antoni Kowalski (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Michael Larkov v Artemijs Zizins (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Ding Junhui v Anton Kazakov (Held over)
Fergal Quinn v Jackson Web page (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Luo Zetao v Iulian Boiko (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Xiao Guodong v Jiang Jun (Held over)
Mark Selby v David Lilley (Held over)
Judd Trump v Dylan Emery (Held over)
Alfie Burden v Zhang Anda (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Joshua Thomond (a) v Sam Craigie (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Pang Junxu v Neil Robertson (Held over)
Gary Wilson v Ricky Walden (Thu 23 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Ng On Yee v Yao Pengcheng (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Liu Wenwei v Jordan Brown (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Shaun Murphy v Reanne Evans (Held over)
Mahmoud El Hareedy v Lan Yuhao (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Marco Fu v Steven Hallworth (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Leone Crowley v Lengthy Zehuang (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Oliver Brown v Zhao Xintong (Held over)
Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon v Gao Yang (Thu 23 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Ian Burns v Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Scott Donaldson v Jack Lisowski (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Ryan Day v Chatchapong Nasa (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Liam Pullen v Daniel Wells (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Fan Zhengyi v Ben Woollaston (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Florian Nuessle v Kyren Wilson (Held over)
Huang Jiahao v Zak Surety (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Jamie Jones v Oliver Sykes (Thu 23 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Oliver Traces v Xu Yichen (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Jimmy Robertson v Zhou Yuelong (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Connor Benzey v Phil O’Kane (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Ben Mertens v Zhao Hanyang (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Michal Szubarczyk v David Grace (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Gong Chenzhi v Xu Si (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Matthew Selt v Jak Jones (Fri 24 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Alexander Ursenbacher v Duane Jones (a) (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Panchaya Channoi v Aaron Hill (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Stuart Bingham v Chang Bingyu (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Paul Norris v Stan Moody (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Michael Holt v Cheung Ka Wai (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Yuan Sijun v Lyu Haotian (Fri 24 Jul, 13:00 BST)
Elliot Slessor v Julien Leclercq (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Jamie Clarke (Thu 23 Jul, 10:00 BST)
Tom Ford v Ross Muir (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Mark Williams v David Gilbert (Held over)
John Higgins v Hossein Vafaei (Held over)
Noppon Saengkham v Ashley Hugill (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Sahil Nayyar v Bai Yulu (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Barry Hawkins v Deng Haohui (Held over)
Mitchell Mann v Louis Heathcote (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Liu Yang v Andrew Higginson (Fri 24 Jul, 16:00 BST)
Stephen Maguire v Liam Highfield (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Liam Davies v Craig Steadman (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Robbie Williams v He Guoqiang (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Jimmy White v Sean O’Sullivan (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mateusz Baranowski (Held over)
Chris Wakelin v Luca Brecel (Held over)
Wang Xinbo v Mark Allen (Held over)
Lei Peifan v Hammad Miah (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
Ali Carter v Stuart Carrington (Fri 24 Jul, 19:00 BST)
The best way to watch the 2026 British Open qualifiers
The British Open qualifiers can be out there to look at stay globally on WST Play (excluding China) by a subscription.
Featured photograph credit score: WST
