World Snooker Championship Qualifiers: Draw, start date, format, TV details, how to watch, schedule & odds

Everything you need to know about the 2024 World Snooker Championship Qualifiers as 128 players begin their quest to join the world's top 16 at the iconic Crucible Theatre.

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - Dates

When do the World Snooker Championship qualifiers take place?

Qualifying for the World Snooker Championship will take place over ten days in April, with the opening matches taking place on Monday 8th April and drawing to a close on Wednesday 17th April.

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - Draw

When does World Snooker Championship qualifying draw take place?

The draw, which is based on world ranking seeding positions, has now been finalised.

All 113 professional players outside of the top 16 were included in the draw, along with 15 amateur players to top up the tally to 128.

Amateur inclusions to complete the field featured WPBSA international invitees and the highest-ranked players from the Q School Order of Merit.

Matches will be determined based on world rankings - meaning in the first round, the player ranked number 81 will take on the player ranked 144.

Number 82 will take on number 143, 83 will take on 142 and so on.

What big names will have to come through World Snooker Championship qualifying?

Neil Robertson, Jack Lisowski, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Anthony McGill, Ryan Day and Hossein Vafaei are among the star names in the strongest ever field for the qualifying rounds of the World Snooker Championship.

All players seeded outside the top 16 compete in the qualifiers, including the likes of 2010 Crucible king Robertson and Lisowski who have both dropped out of the elite this season.

They will both need to win two matches to make it to the Theatre of Dreams for the main event which runs from April 20th to May 6th.

Selected World Snooker Championship Qualifying matches...

Neil Robertson
Third Round: v Zak Surety
Fourth Round: v Alfie Burden or Jamie Jones

Jack Lisowski
Third Round: Beat Liu Hongyu 10-4
Fourth Round: v Matthew Stevens

Stuart Bingham
Third Round: Beat Stuart Carrington 10-9
Fourth Round: v Louis Heathcote

Stephen Maguire
Third Round: Beat Ashley Hugill 10-7
Fourth Round: v Yuan Sijun

Anthony McGill
Third Round: Lost to He Guoqiang 10-5

Hossein Vafaei
Third Round: v Marco Fu
Fourth Round: v Jiang Jun or Sam Craigie

World Snooker Championship Automatic Qualifiers

Who are the 16 automatic qualifiers for the World Snooker Championship?

The 16 players to have guaranteed their spot at the Crucible ahead of this year's event, based on their current world ranking seeding positions, are:

1 - Ronnie O'Sullivan
2 - Judd Trump
3 - Mark Allen
4 - Luca Brecel
5 - Mark Selby
6 - Ding Junhui
7 - Shaun Murphy
8 - Ali Carter
9 - Mark Williams
10 - Zhang Anda
11 - Gary WIlson
12 - Kyren Wilson
13 - John Higgins
14 - Tom Ford
15 - Barry Hawkins
16 - Robert Milkins

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - Venue

Where do the World Snooker Championship Qualifiers take place?

Qualifying matches are held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, the same venue that has held the qualifiers for the past six years.

Ponds Forge Leisure Centre, also in Sheffield, used to play host to the qualifying campaign, before the WST switched venues in 2018.

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - How to watch & TV details

How do I watch the World Snooker Championship Qualifiers?

Selected qualifying matches for the World Snooker Championship will be streamed live at bet365, whilst eurosport.com and discovery+ will also be providing coverage across all ten days.

The final two days of qualification (Judgement Day) will also shown live on the WST's official YouTube channel.

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - Format

How do snooker players qualify for the World Snooker Championship?

Of the 32 players to feature at the World Snooker Championship, the top 16 on the two-year rankings at the March cut-off point, shown above, have automatically secured their place at the Crucible, with the other 16 players being made up by qualifiers.

Players ranked between 17 and 144 will take part in the best-of-19 frame qualifying event, all hoping to join the top 16 in the live televised end of season showpiece.

World Snooker Championship Qualifying Rounds:

There will be four rounds of matches to take place over the 10 days, as follows:

Round One: 32 matches - Players ranked 81 to 112 will take on those seeded 113 to 144.

Round Two: 32 matches - 32 Round One winners will take on those seeded 49 to 80.

Round Three: 32 matches - 32 Round Two winners will take on those seeded 17 to 48.

Round Four: All 32 Round Three winners will play each other, with the 16 victors going on to qualify for the Crucible.

All matches are best-of-19 frames.

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - Schedule

What is the schedule for the World Snooker Championship qualifying matches?

First round matches will take place across Monday 8th, Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th April.

Second round matches will also begin during the Wednesday 10th April afternoon session (14:30), and continue across Thursday 11th April, Friday 12th April before concluding on Saturday 13th April.

Third round matches, in which the likes of Neil Robertson, Anthony McGill and Jack Lisowski will enter in, will begin on the morning of Saturday 13th April and run across Sunday 14th April and Monday 15th April.

The 16 fourth round matches will take place across two days (Judgement Day) on Tuesday 16th April and Wednesday 17th April.

Matches in Rounds One, Two and Three will be played across 10:00, 14:30 and 19:00 sessions, with just two sessions taking place on Judgement Day (11:00 and 17:30).

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - Prize Money

How much do players get for qualifying for the World Snooker Championship?

The prize money for reaching the televised stages of the 2024 World Snooker Championship will remain unchanged from the 2023 competition, with the 16 qualifiers set to land £20,000.

The 16 players beaten in the final qualifying round will earn £15,000, whilst the 32 round three losers will each take home £10,000.

Players who are beaten in the second round of qualifying will take home £5,000 and the 32 players who are beaten in the first round will depart the competition empty-handed.

World Snooker Championship Qualifiers - When does Jimmy White play?

What days does Jimmy White play his World Snooker Championship qualifiers?

'The Whirlwind' Jimmy White - one of the sport's most iconic names - has earned £4,500 in Prize Money in 2023/24 - a figure that sees him at 121 in the rankings.

That means he was due to begin his quest for another Crucible appearance the first round, against Martin Gould. However, his opponent has been forced to withdraw from the event on medical grounds meaning White has received a bye to the second round.

He will now take on China's Liu Hongyu across two sessions on Wednesday 10th April (10:30 and 19:00).

Should he prevail in that encounter then he will take on Jack Lisowski in the third round, before a potential showdown with either Jimmy Robertson or Matthew Stevens on Judgement Day.

Has a qualifier ever won the World Snooker Championship?

Three players have come through qualification and gone on to win the World Snooker Championship.

Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins was the first to do so when he beat John Spencer (37-31) in the 1972 final, seven years before Terry Griffiths followed in the Northern Irish ace's footsteps, when he beat Dennis Taylor 24-16.

Shaun Murphy was the most recent player to win the tournament after coming through the qualifying rounds; lifting the coveted trophy in 2005 after overcoming Matthew Steven 18-16.