2026 Welsh Open (snooker)


The 2026 Welsh Open is an upcoming professional snooker tournament that will take place from 23 February to 1 March 2026 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. Qualifying took place from 9 to 10 January at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. The 35th consecutive edition of the Welsh Open since it was first staged in 1992, the tournament will be the 15th ranking event of the 202526 snooker season, following the 2026 Players Championship and preceding the 2026 World Open. It will be the fourth and final tournament in the season's Home Nations Series, following the 2025 English Open, the 2025 Northern Ireland Open, and the 2025 Scottish Open. The winner will receive £100,000 from a total prize fund of £550,400.
Mark Selby will be the defending champion, having defeated Stephen Maguire 96 in the 2025 final.

Overview

The Welsh Open was preceded by the non-ranking Welsh Professional Championship, a tournament open only to Welsh players that was held in 1922, in 1977, and annually from 1980 to 1991. The Welsh Open began in 1992, open to players of any nationality, and is now the third-longest-running ranking event, after the World Snooker Championship and the UK Championship. The inaugural winner was Stephen Hendry, who defeated Darren Morgan 9–3 in the 1992 final.
During the 2016–17 snooker season, the Welsh Open became part of the newly created Home Nations Series, alongside the English Open, the Northern Ireland Open, and the Scottish Open. At that time, the trophy was named the Ray Reardon Trophy to honour the six-time world champion from Tredegar. Reardon died in 2024, aged 91.
The 2026 edition of the tournament—its 35th consecutive staging since the inaugural edition in 1992—will take place from 23 February to 1 March 2026 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales, the fourth consecutive year the tournament is staged at the venue. Qualifying took place from 9 to 10 January at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. It will be the 15th ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, following the 2026 Players Championship and preceding the 2026 World Open, as well as the fourth and final tournament in the season's Home Nations Series, following the 2025 English Open, the 2025 Northern Ireland Open, and the 2025 Scottish Open. Mark Selby will be the defending champion, having defeated Stephen Maguire 96 in the 2025 final to win his second Welsh Open title.

Format

The tournament will use a tiered format first implemented for the Home Nations Series in the 2024–25 snooker season. In the first qualifying round, players seeded 6596 will face those seeded 97 and under, including selected amateurs. In the second qualifying round, the 32 winners from the first qualifying round will face players seeded 3364. At the last-64 stage, the 32 winners from the second qualifying round will face the top 32 seeds.
All matches will be played as the best of seven until the quarterfinals, which will be the best of nine. The semifinals will be the best of 11, and the final will be a bestof17-frame match played over two.

Broadcasters

The qualifying rounds were broadcast in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Austria by Discovery+ and in other European territories by HBO Max. They were broadcast in mainland China by the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy Douyin, Huya Live, and. In all other territories they were streamed by WST Play.

Prize fund

The prize fund for the tournament is detailed below. In addition, the player who wins the most cumulative prize money across the season's four Home Nations Series events will receive a bonus of £150,000.
  • Winner: £100,000
  • Runner-up: £45,000
  • Semi-final: £21,000
  • Quarter-final: £13,200
  • Last 16: £9,000
  • Last 32: £5,400
  • Last 64: £3,600
  • Last 96: £1,000
  • Highest break: £5,000
  • Total: £550,400

Summary

Qualifying

In the first qualifying round, veteran player Jimmy White, aged 63, made three breaks as he defeated Sunny Akani 4–1, while 14-year-old Michał Szubarczyk advanced with a whitewash victory over Hatem Yassen. Marco Fu lost the first two frames against Xu Yichen, but he produced of 76, 56, 100, and 95 as he recovered to secure a 4–3 victory. Liam Pullen made a century break of 102 as he beat Ken Doherty 4–1.
In the second qualifying round, Luca Brecel, who had fallen to 43rd in the world rankings since winning the 2023 World Championship, took the first two frames against Farakh Ajaib. Brecel lost the next three frames but recovered to win the match in a. Lyu Haotian made a century of 139 as he won the first two frames against Sam Craigie, but Craigie won the match in a deciding frame. Bulcsú Révész whitewashed Noppon Saengkham, while Alexander Ursenbacher defeated Matthew Selt 4–2, and Szubarczyk defeated Jamie Jones by the same score. Amir Sarkhosh recovered from 1–3 behind to beat Scott Donaldson in a decider, while Mitchell Mann defeated Matthew Stevens 4–2. Liam Pullen beat the 2023 winner Robert Milkins in a deciding frame, while White failed to reach the main stage, losing 1–4 to David Lilley. Fu also failed to reach the main stage, losing in a deciding frame to Robbie Williams.

Main draw

The results of the main draw are shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeds, an "a" indicates amateur players who were not on the main World Snooker Tour, and players in bold denote match winners.

Qualifying rounds

The results of the early rounds are shown below.




Century breaks

Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 33 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Sheffield.