Overview
The Northern Ireland Open was first staged in 2016 and the inaugural winner was Mark King, who defeated Barry Hawkins 9–8 in the final to win his maiden ranking title. [1] The winner receives the Alex Higgins Trophy, which was named in honour of the two-time world champion, who died in 2010. [2] The 2025 edition of the tournament—the 10th consecutive staging of the event—will take place from 19 to 26 October at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. [3] Qualifying took place from 4 to 7 September at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England. [4] It will be the seventh ranking event of the 2025–26 snooker season, following the 2025 Xi'an Grand Prix and preceding the 2025 International Championship. [5] It will also be the second of four tournaments in the season's Home Nations Series, following the 2025 English Open and preceding the 2025 Scottish Open and the 2026 Welsh Open. [6] Kyren Wilson will be the defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 9–3 in the 2024 final. [7]
The tournament uses a tiered format first implemented for the Home Nations Series in the 2024–25 snooker season. In the first qualifying round, players seeded 65–96 faced those seeded 97 and under, including selected amateurs. In the second qualifying round, the 32 winners from the first qualifying round faced players seeded 33–64. At the last-64 stage, the 32 winners from the second qualifying round will face the top 32 seeds. [8] All matches will be played as best of seven frames until the quarter‑finals, which will be the best of nine. The semi‑finals will be the best of 11, and the final will be a best‑of‑17 frame match played over two sessions .
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 Migu [zh]. In all other territories, they were broadcast by WST Play. [9]
Prize fund
The prize fund for the tournament is detailed below. [10] 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. [11]
- 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
First qualifying round
The 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty failed to get past the first qualifying round, losing 1–4 to tour debutant Yao Pengcheng. Marco Fu began his match against Amir Sarkhosh with back-to-back century breaks of 104 and 114 and went on to secure a 4–2 victory. Farakh Ajaib won a deciding frame on the colours to defeat Oliver Brown, and Ian Burns made a century break of 130 as he recorded a whitewash over Haydon Pinhey. Reanne Evans, a 12-time World Women's Champion, received a walkover after her opponent, Mohamed Shehab, withdrew from the event. [12] [13] Robbie McGuigan came from 0–2 behind against fellow Northern Irish player Fergal Quinn to take the lead at 3–2. Quinn, playing in his first season on the professional tour, recovered to win the match in a deciding frame. Mateusz Baranowski came from 0–3 behind to beat Wang Yuchen in a decider, and Liam Pullen made breaks of 89, 96, and 100 as he whitewashed Ben Mertens. [14]
Second qualifying round
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who had recently reached the last 16 of the 2025 Wuhan Open, took a 3–1 lead over Julien Leclercq. Leclercq tied the scores at 3–3 and led by 59 points in the deciding frame, but Un-Nooh produced a 71 break and went on to win the match on the last pink . Dylan Emery defeated Xu Si in a deciding frame, while Stan Moody whitewashed Evans. Lan Yuhao, aged 17, made breaks of 115, 53, 80, and 50 as he defeated Michael Holt 4–2. [15] Fu defeated Jamie Jones in a deciding frame, while the world number 83 Haris Tahir defeated the world number 39 Lyu Haotian, also in a decider. [4] The 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel, who had recently conceded his 2025 Xi'an Grand Prix qualifier against Sunny Akani while 0–2 down, won his first match of the season by whitewashing Liam Davies. From 2–3 behind against Matthew Stevens, Steven Hallworth made a century of 136 to tie the scores and then a 64 break to win the decider. Anthony McGill advanced with a 4–1 victory over Alexander Ursenbacher, and Robert Milkins also reached the final stages with a 4–2 win over amateur player Patrick Whelan. Liam Pullen lost 2–4 to Long Zehuang but made a century of 143 in the match, his highest break in professional competition. Ashley Hugill, competing as an amateur, made breaks of 132 and 67 in the last two frames to beat Ricky Walden in a deciding frame. Zak Surety defeated Quinn, also in a decider. [16]
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Kyren Wilson (ENG)
