2026 Tour Championship Snooker: Draw, results, format, schedule, prize money, how to watch

Following on from the World Grand Prix and Players Championship tournaments both held in February, the Tour Championship is the final leg of the three-pronged Players Series.

Qualification for the Tour Championship is exclusively via the one-year ranking list - cumulative prize money earned from all ranking events this season - with the top 12 from those standings earning invites to this £500,000 spectacular.

However, due to recent World Open runner-up Ronnie O’Sullivan electing not to enter - despite making the qualification cut - it means that 13th-placed Mark Allen received a reprieve as the first in line for a call-up.

How does the draw and format work?

As well as the small field involved, a unique feature of the Tour Championship is that all matches throughout the event are the best of 19 frames (first to 10), each held across two scheduled sessions.

The top four seeds all go straight through to the quarter-finals. The remaining contestants - those seeded 5 to 12 - must all play in the preliminary round before, with the winners of those ties then facing the top four in the last eight.

The draw bracket is fixed as per the seedings, with the top two seeds in different halves of the draw, 5 v 12, 6 v 11 etc in the preliminary round.

During the opening two rounds - the first four days of the event - two tables will be in operation. Only one will be used from the semi-finals.

Who is playing in the 2026 Tour Championship snooker?

The top four seeds for this year’s Tour Championship are Neil Robertson, Zhao Xintong, Mark Selby, and Shaun Murphy.

Number one seed Robertson is going for a hat-trick of crowns in this event having gone back-to-back in 2021 and 2022.

Ahead of his World Snooker Championship title defence in a few weeks’ time, China’s Zhao is aiming for another slice of snooker history in becoming the first player to win all three Players Series events within the same season.

The 28-year-old - the only multiple-time ranking event champion this term, so far - struck a purple patch of form during February with triumphs at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship.

A three-time title winner this campaign (one ranked, two invitational), Selby is trying to add this accolade to his already stacked career CV, while 2023 champion Murphy wants to lift the trophy again.

World number one Judd Trump is the number five seed, therefore he must face the prelim round where he meets Allen in a blockbuster tie. Both Trump and Allen require this title to complete the Players Series set.

Reigning Tour Championship title holder John Higgins has qualified to defend his crown, he’s up against the champion from two years ago, Mark Williams, in a clash of ‘Class of 92’ graduates. Higgins is the only player in this year’s field who has yet to win a ranking title this season.

Wu Yize and Chris Wakelin - players who won the biggest titles of their career to date earlier this season - share the baize, as do Barry Hawkins and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - two of the most in-form players on the World Snooker Tour.

Both Hawkins and Un-Nooh lifted trophies during their last engagements on the professional circuit; Hawkins tasted glory at the Welsh Open in Llandudno, and Un-Nooh produced an epic performance - highlighted by a maximum 147 break - as he defeated O’Sullivan in the final to win the World Open.

Wakelin and Un-Nooh are both making their Tour Championship debuts. With this being the final stop before the 2026 World Snooker Championship, should Un-Nooh win the title this week, he would go back into the world’s top 16 rankings and therefore avoid having to qualify for the Crucible.

What is the tournament schedule?

• Preliminary Round (Last 12): Monday & Tuesday
• Quarter-Finals: Wednesday & Thursday
• Semi-Finals: Friday (semi-final 1) & Saturday (semi-final 2)
• Final: Sunday

For the daily match schedule, visit the World Snooker Tour website here. Each day there are afternoon (13:00BST start) and evening (19:00BST) sessions.

What is the prize money and how much does the winner get?

There is a total prize fund of half-a-million pounds at the 2026 Tour Championship, with £150,000 of that going to the eventual champion.

• Champion: £150,000
• Runner-up: £60,000
• Losing semi-finalists: £40,000 (each)
• Losing quarter-finalists: £30,000 (each)
• Losers in round one (Last 12): £20,000 (each)
• Highest break of the event: £10,000
• Total prize fund: £500,000

How to watch the 2026 Tour Championship:

• UK: Channel 5
• Mainland Europe: Eurosport and locally relevant streaming platforms (discovery+ in Germany, Italy and Austria and HBO Max in all other markets)
• China: Huya.com, Migu, CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
• Hong Kong China: Now TV
• Malaysia & Brunei: Astro Supersport
• Taiwan: Sportcast
• Thailand: True Sport
• Philippines: TAP Sports
• Singapore: Star Hub
• Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya: SportyTV
• All other territories: WST Play