2026 Players Championship (snooker)

2026 Sportsbet.io Players Championship

Part of the Players Series
Tournament information
Dates	17–22 February 2026 (2026-02-17 – 2026-02-22)
Venue	Telford International Centre
City	Telford
Country	England
Organisation	World Snooker Tour
Format	Ranking event
Defending champion	Kyren Wilson  (ENG)
← 2025

The 2026 Players Championship (officially the 2026 Sportsbet.io Players Championship ^[1] ) is an upcoming professional snooker tournament that will take place from 17 to 22 February 2026 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. ^[2] It will feature the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list. The 10th consecutive staging of the event since it became a standalone tournament in 2017, it will be the 14th ranking event of the 2025‍–‍26 snooker season, following the 2026 World Grand Prix and preceding the 2026 Welsh Open. ^[3] It will be the second of three events in the Players Series, following the 2026 World Grand Prix and preceding the 2026 Tour Championship. The tournament will be the first professional snooker event broadcast on Channel 5, after ITV Sport chose not to renew its contract with the World Snooker Tour. ^[4]

Kyren Wilson will be the defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 10‍–‍9 in the 2025 final. ^[5]

Format

The event will take place from 17 to 22 February 2026 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. ^{[6] [7]} It will feature the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list as it stands after the 2026 World Grand Prix.

The matches will be played as the best of 11 frames until the final, which will be played as a best of 19 frames over two sessions . ^[7]

Broadcasters

The event marks the first time that Channel 5 in the United Kingdom will broadcast professional snooker tournaments.

Prize fund

The event features a prize pool of £500,000 with the winner receiving £150,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below: ^[6]

• Winner: £150,000
• Runner-up: £70,000
• Semi-final: £35,000
• Quarter-final: £20,000
• Last 16: £15,000
• Highest break: £10,000

• Total: £500,000

Seeding list

Unlike other events where the defending champion is seeded first, the reigning World Champion second, and the rest based on the world rankings, the qualification and seedings in the Players Series tournaments are determined by the one-year ranking list. The below list shows the top 16 players who earned the most ranking points from the beginning of the 2025‍–‍26 season until the conclusion of the 2026 World Grand Prix: ^[8]

Seed	Player	Points
1	Neil Robertson  (AUS)	589,300
2	Mark Selby  (ENG)	378,950
3	Shaun Murphy  (ENG)	309,900
4	Mark Williams  (WAL)	294,400
5	Wu Yize  (CHN)	251,300
6	Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)	231,350
7	Chris Wakelin  (ENG)	219,800
8	Judd Trump  (ENG)	194,350
9	Mark Allen  (NIR)	183,350
10	Elliot Slessor  (ENG)	169,900
11	Xiao Guodong  (CHN)	164,800
12	Jack Lisowski  (ENG)	150,000
13	Barry Hawkins  (ENG)	148,400
14	Gary Wilson  (ENG)	146,900
15	John Higgins  (SCO)	144,600
16	Zhou Yuelong  (CHN)	129,600

Seed	Player	Points
17	Stephen Maguire  (SCO)	122,800
18	Zhao Xintong  (CHN)	108,150
19	Si Jiahui  (CHN)	106,200
20	Ding Junhui  (CHN)	104,850
21	Chang Bingyu  (CHN)	104,100
22	Kyren Wilson  (ENG)	102,700
23	Stuart Bingham  (ENG)	97,900
24	Ali Carter  (ENG)	90,250
25	Yuan Sijun  (CHN)	89,300
26	Thepchaiya Un-Nooh  (THA)	83,500
27	Joe O'Connor  (ENG)	83,050
28	Anthony McGill  (SCO)	82,600
29	Zhang Anda  (CHN)	76,400
30	Pang Junxu  (CHN)	71,700
31	Aaron Hill  (IRL)	70,700
32	Jak Jones  (WAL)	70,000

References

1. "Tickets now On Sale For 2026 Sportsbet.io Players Championship In Telford". World Snooker Tour. 25 July 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
2. "Tournaments 2025–26". World Snooker Tour. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
3. "Calendar 2025/2026 - snooker.org". www.snooker.org. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
4. Haigh, Phil (25 June 2025). "Three major World Snooker Tour events move to new TV channel". Metro. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
5. "Players Championship: Kyren Wilson beats Judd Trump 10-9 in thrilling final". BBC Sport. 23 March 2025. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
6. "Players Championship". World Snooker Tour . Archived from the original on 9 March 2025. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
7. "Sportsbet.io Players Championship (2026)". snooker.org. 28 December 2025. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
8. "World Grand Prix Rankings". snooker.org. 28 December 2025. Retrieved 28 December 2025.