Snooker British Open 2026 - Schedule, Results & Info

The first ranking tournament of the season in the British Isles, the British Open 2026 takes place between the 31st of August and the 6th of September in Cheltenham, England. It's the fifth tournament of the snooker calendar this season, and the qualifiers for it took place between the 23rd-24th of July.

The tournament's history dates back to the 1980's, and after a brief hiatus it returned to the pro tour in 2021.

There's not much rest for the players beofre or after the tournament, as the pro tour continues immediately with the English Open in Brentwood the following Monday on the 7th of September. Meanwhile, the Wuhan Open concluded in China just 2 days before the start of the British Open.

British Open - Results 2026

We will update the British Open 2026 results here. You can find live updates from the tournament from WST's pages here.

British Open 2026 - Schedule, timetables & bracket

The British Open 2026 starts on the 31st of August, finishing with the final on the 6th of September. You can find the tournament's schedule, match timetables and bracket below.

Schedule

• Qualifiers: 128 players 23rd-24th of July (best of 7)
• 2nd round: 64 players 31st of August - 1st of September (best of 7)
• 3rd round: 32 players 1st-2nd of September (best of 7)
• 4th round: 16 players 3rd of September (best of 7)
• Quarter-finals: Friday 4th of September (best of 9)
• Semi-finals: Saturday 5th of September (best of 11)
• Final: Sunday 6th of September (best of 19)

Match timetables

All times listed below are UK times.

The British Open uses a so-called "random draw" -method, where the next round opponent of each player is raffled completely randomly. The first round fixtures are drawn just before the beginning of the tournament.

After the first- and every consecutive round, the next round of matches will be drawn the evening before it begins.

Bracket & matches

There is no traditional bracket to follow at the British Open snooker tournament, as all the rounds and playoffs are drawn randomly.

British Open 2026 - TV & Live stream

There aren't many options to watch the British Open 2026 snooker tournament on tv, as the rights in the UK are held by TNT Sports.

For live streaming options, you have the choice between WST Play and HBO Max, both of which of course cost money.

British Open 2026 prize money

The total prize money pool of the British Open in 2026 is 502 000 pounds. The winner of the tournament will net a handsome 100 000 pounds, while the other finalist pockets £45 000.

The prize for the highest break at the British Open is 5 000 pounds. You can find all the prize money available to players at the British Open below.

• Winner: £100,000
• Final: £45,000
• Semi-finals: £20,000
• Quarter-finals: £12,000
• TOP 16: £9,000
• TOP 32: £6,000
• TOP 64: £3,000
• Highest break: £5,000
• Total: £502,000

British Open - History and stats across all time

The first British Open snooker tournament was held in 1985. Following that preliminary outing, it was organized yearly all the way up until 2004. The tournament took a break between 2004-2020, returning to the calendar in 2021.

The reigning British Open snooker champion is Shaun Murphy, who took down Scotland's Anthony McGill in the 2025 final with a scoreline of 10-7.

Below are all the tournament's and winners of the British Open snooker tournament across the years.