The Welsh Open replaced the non-ranking Welsh Professional Championship, a tournament open only to Welsh players that was first held in the 1920s and again in 1977 before being staged annually from 1980 to 1991.[1] The Welsh Open was first held in 1992 as a ranking event open to players of any nationality; the inaugural winner was Stephen Hendry, who defeated Darren Morgan 9–3 in the final.[2] Held annually since then, the tournament is the third-longest-running ranking event, after the WorldSnooker Championship and the UK Championship.[3]
The tournament will use a tiered format first implemented for the Home Nations Series in the 2024–25 snooker season.[12] In the first qualifying round, players seeded 65–96 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 33–64. 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 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 will be broadcast in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Austria by Discovery+ and in other European territories by HBO Max. They will be 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 (including Ireland) they will be streamed by WST Play.[13]
Prize fund
The prize fund for the tournament is detailed below.[3] 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.[14]
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
Qualifying rounds
The results of the early rounds will be shown below.
↑Turner, Chris. "Welsh Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
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Mark Selby (ENG)
