Who is playing in the 2026 World Snooker Championship final: Murphy v Wu match preview

Snooker’s biggest annual fixture, the 2026 world final is the best of 35 frames across four sessions, held on Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th May at the iconic Crucible in Sheffield.

Murphy - who is going for his second world crown - ousted John Higgins, 17-15, in the last four to reach the final for a fifth time. Chinese youngster Wu is appearing in his maiden world final after pipping Mark Allen in an extraordinary semi-final thriller.

How did Shaun Murphy make the final?

Crowned champion in 2005 as a 22-year-old qualifier, Murphy is trying to equal history by having the longest span of world championship reigns. Ronnie O’Sullivan currently holds that outright record with his first triumph in 2001 and his latest being in 2022.

This year’s Crucible tale for Murphy could have been of so different, though. He was within fractions of going out of the competition in the opening round to qualifier Fan Zhengyi, compiling a steely counter clearance of 50 to win on the final pink in the deciding frame.

That close call seemed to ignite the 43-year-old who crushed number nine seed Xiao Guodong 13-3 in the last 16 with a session to spare before inflicting the ‘Crucible Curse’ on title holder Zhao Xintong (13-10) in the quarter-finals. He then racked up five century breaks in his victory over Higgins, taking the final four frames from 15-13 down.

After briefly slipping outside of the world’s elite top 16 rankings for the first time in over 19 years earlier this season, Murphy has been one of the standout performers of the campaign, winning the British Open and being runner-up at the Xi’an Grand Prix and German Masters.

Murphy has a chequered, ‘all-or-nothing’ kind of Crucible record; from his last ten world championship tilts he’d only made it past the last 16 once, although that was when he was runner-up to Mark Selby in 2021.

He becomes only the eighth player to have made five or more Crucible finals. ‘The Magician’ wants to be the 14th multiple-time world champion, and the 7th multiple-time Crucible world champion.

How did Wu Yize make the final?

There would be significant symmetry with a Wu victory over the bank holiday weekend.

Wu is the same age as Murphy was when he won his maiden world crown, and like his final opponent was from all those years ago, this year is his third Crucible outing, and he'd never won a match on the sport’s grandest stage until this current campaign.

The 22-year-old enjoyed his big career breakthrough earlier this season when winning his maiden ranking event title at the International Championship on home soil in China.

As a result, he zipped into the world's top 16 for the first time, making his Masters debut where he was within a few pots of reaching the final.

A Crucible seed for the first time, world number 10 Wu brushed aside compatriot Lei Peifan 10-2 in round one before showing maturity in getting past four-time world champion and reigning UK Champion Mark Selby 13-11 in the last 16.

He saw off qualifier Hossein Vafaei 13-8 in the last eight before somehow emerging from one of the most memorable matches in world championship history against former world number one Allen in the semis.

A decade on from Ding Junhui becoming the first Chinese player to star in the world snooker final, Wu becomes the third. He will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of Zhao Xintong from last year, who was the first Asian to wear the crown in nearly one hundred years of the blue riband tournament existing.

Another slice of world championship history could be made in the coming days as never before has there been four new world champions in as many years. That would be the case with a Wu victory, after the successes of maiden winners Luca Brecel (2023), Kyren Wilson (2024) and Zhao (2025).

Murphy versus Wu - previous meetings

In terms of their career head-to-head record, they've only met on the professional circuit twice before, with both encounters having arrived this season.

In October, Murphy was a 5-4 winner in the last 32 of the Xi'an Grand Prix.

At the Masters in January - the first match of this year's competition - Wu defeated then defending champion Murphy 6-2 on his Alexandra Palace bow.

Wu will be the fourth Chinese player that Murphy has faced at the Crucible this year.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.