World Snooker 2025-2026 35 2026-04-18 2026-04-18 https://www.thesportsdb.com/images/media/event/thumb/1bryj11776165950.jpg https://www.thesportsdb.com/images/media/event/poster/64ktc81776165928.jpg The 2026 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2026 Halo World Snooker Championship) is an upcoming professional snooker tournament that will take place from 18 April to 4 May 2026 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 50th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship will be staged at the venue. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, the tournament will be the 18th and final ranking event of the 2025–‍26 snooker season. The top 16 players from the snooker world rankings—as they stand after the 2026 Tour Championship—will be seeded through to the main stage at the Crucible. They will be joined by the 16 successful players from the qualifying rounds, which are taking place from 6 to 15 April at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, featuring 128 professional and invited amateur competitors. Zhao Xintong will be the defending champion, having defeated Mark Williams 18–12 in the 2025 final to win his maiden world title. Zhao will be 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 Round 1 Games Played Sat 18th-Wed 22nd Last 32 Best of 19 Losers receive £20,000 2465634