The 2026 Tour Championship has reached its semi-final stage on April 4, 2026, as the world’s elite snooker players compete for the title at Manchester Central in Manchester, England.
This tournament serves as the 17th and penultimate ranking event of the 2025-26 snooker season. This proves the concluding event of the Players Series, following the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship.
Tournament Format and Prize Fund
The 2026 Tour Championship features the top 12 players from the one-year ranking list as it stood after the 2026 World Open. It is the only event on the professional tour, besides the World Snooker Championship, to utilize multi-session matches throughout every round of the tournament.
The event carries a total prize fund of £500,000. The prize distribution is as follows:
- Champion: £150,000
- Runner-up: £60,000
- Semi-finalists: £40,000
- Quarter-finalists: £30,000
- Last 12 participants: £20,000
- Highest Break: £10,000
Competition Context and Player Form
A primary narrative of the event is the pursuit of a clean sweep by Zhao Xintong. Having already secured victories at the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship, Xintong entered the Tour Championship seeking to win all three events in the Players Series.
Neil Robertson entered the competition as the top seed. Robertson is the only two-time winner of the event, having secured back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. Other former champions in the 2026 draw include Shaun Murphy, who won in 2023 and Mark Williams, the 2024 champion.
Regarding the challenges of the tournament, Shaun Murphy noted on April 2, 2026, that Lady Luck plays such a big part in snooker
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John Higgins is the defending champion, having won the 2025 title by defeating Mark Selby 10-8 in the final. However, not all previous winners are present in this edition; Ronnie O’Sullivan, the inaugural 2019 champion, and Stephen Maguire, the 2020 winner, are not participating in the 2026 event.
Broadcasting and Viewing Information
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Channel 5 is the primary free-to-air broadcaster for the event for the first time, with live streaming and catch-up services provided via the My5 app and website.
European coverage is provided by Eurosport, with discovery+ streaming available to fans in Austria, Italy, and Germany. Other European markets have access via HBO Max. Global coverage includes Huya.com, Migu, and the CBSA-WPBSA Academy channels on WeChat and Douyin in China, Now TV in Hong Kong, True Sports in Thailand, and Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei. In all other territories, the event is broadcast via WST Play.
Upcoming Schedule
Following the semi-finals on April 4, 2026, the tournament will conclude with the final on Sunday, April 5, 2026. The final match is scheduled to be played over 19 frames.
The conclusion of the Tour Championship marks the final opportunity for players to prepare before the 2026 World Snooker Championship, which is scheduled to begin on April 18, 2026, at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.