All 32 players at the World Snooker Championship ranked by form

The 2026 World Snooker Championship gets underway this weekend as 32 of the planet’s finest cueists battle it out for the famous old trophy.

Zhao Xintong became China’s first world champion a year ago and he returns as the favourite to conquer the Crucible again.

No one has ever defended their first world title at the Sheffield theatre, with the Crucible curse lingering on, but many fancy Zhao to be the man to break it.

He is taking on a strong field as he tries to do that, with eight other former champions returning to South Yorkshire this year.

There are also four debutants, who will be excitedly skipping through the doors of the Crucible this month, with two young English stars among them in Liam Pullen and Stan Moody.

Here are all 32 players who will play at the Crucible ranked by their current form.

How long form lasts is up for debate, but this has been judged on the last four events: the Players Championship, Welsh Open, World Open and Tour Championship.

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The 16 qualifiers have the advantage of already playing in the World Championship, so their wins in qualifying are also taken into account.

32.

Ding Junhui

The Chinese legend comes in as the 16th seed but he only just clung on to his guaranteed spot at the Crucible after a very quiet time.

He didn’t qualify for the 16-man Players Championship or 12-man Tour Championship, didn’t enter the Welsh and lost his first round at the World Open.

Last time he won a match was December 4 against Scott Donaldson at the UK Championship.

31.

Si Jiahui

Another top 16 player who was vying for bottom place on this list is Si Jiahui, who also hasn’t won a match over the last four tournaments, losing his openers at the Welsh and the World Open.

The 23-year-old has won matches a bit more recently than Ding, though, at the Championship League, World Grand Prix and German Masters this year.

30.

Ali Carter

The Captain has been forced out of some events this season, due to ill health and off-table issues, so his form has been tricky to judge.

He had disappointing Welsh and World Open campaigns, but showed something in qualifying to beat Julien Leclercq and Anthony McGill.

29.

He Guoqiang

There will be plenty of attention on debutant He Guoqiang when he takes on Ronnie O’Sullivan in his opener on Tuesday and he was impressive in qualifying to book his first Crucible trip.

Wins over Jack Lisowski and Long Zehuang got him through the qualifiers, but his only other victory of late was a 5-4 win over Iran’s Amir Sarkosh in the World Open.

28.

Lei Peifan

Another player with little form behind them coming into the qualifiers, Lei Peifan made light work of Jordan Brown and Ryan Day to get to the Crucible.

However, he had just a win over Polish teenager Michal Szubarczyk in the four events leading up to Sheffield.

27.

Matthew Stevens

The 48-year-old is back at the Crucible for the first time in four years after beating Peter Lines and Stuart Bingham in qualifying, the latter an impressive win against the odds.

He had not done a lot before Sheffield, losing early in the Welsh and World Opens and being a long way from reaching the limited field events.

26.

Fan Zhengyi

It has been a poor season for Fan Zhengyi, but could end well after three good wins in the qualifiers over Lan Yuhao, Jimmy Robertson and Ben Mertens.

He looked really strong at the English Institute of Sport after a lean spell which saw just one win in the Welsh over the last two months.

25.

Dave Gilbert

The Angry Farmer won just one match at the Welsh and World Opens, but didn’t lose in Yushan, he withdrew before his meeting with Matt Selt.

The two-time Crucible semi-finalist beat Irish pair Leone Crowley and Aaron Hill in qualifying.

24.

Pang Junxu

We haven’t seen a lot of Pang of late, winning once at the Welsh ahead of the World Championship qualifiers.

He did well to reach the Crucible with narrow wins over Welsh duo Dylan Emery and Jackson Page.

23.

Liam Highfield

The 35-year-old won four matches in qualifying and did so impressively, beating Oliver Brown 10-4, Wang Yuchen 10-4, Stephen Maguire 10-5 and Oliver Lines 10-2.

He also won a couple of games in the Welsh before losing to John Higgins, which is clearly no disgrace.

22.

Antoni Kowalski

The Polish Crucible debutant won matches at the Welsh and the World Open, then needed to win three in qualifying for Sheffield to keep hold of his professional status.

He did just that, thrashing Connor Benzey, before impressive wins over Joe O’Connor and Jamie Jones.

21.

Jak Jones

The 2024 Crucible finalist made short work of a tough qualifying section, beating Marco Fu and Luca Brecel.

He won a couple of matches in Wales before narrowly losing to Neil Robertson and pulled out of the World Open due to illness after winning his qualifier.

20.

Kyren Wilson

Winning the Masters and Shanghai Masters means Kyren Wilson has had a very profitable season, but he has been disappointing in ranking events, meaning he didn’t make the Players or Tour.

One win in the Welsh and three in the World Open were a couple more underwhelming returns.

19.

Stan Moody

The 19-year-old won two matches at both the Welsh and World Open, including a brilliant win over John Higgins in Yushan.

Two victories at the English Institute of Sport took him to the Crucible, matches won despite suffering with tonsilitis and making a trip to hospital between the wins.

18.

Liam Pullen

Arguably the star of the qualifiers, Liam Pullen won four matches to book a Crucible debut, beating Alfie Burden, Amir Sarkosh and then two Thai stars in Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Noppon Saengkham.

There were also three good wins at the Welsh over Ken Doherty, Rob Milkins and Chris Wakelin.

17.

Xiao Guodong

The first on this list to qualify for the Players Championship, but Xiao lost his opener in Telford.

He won once at the Welsh and twice at the World Open, but it has been a pretty lean spell after a World Grand Prix semi-final in February.

16.

Mark Selby

A brilliant mid-season purple patch has turned a little less purple of late due to early losses in the Players Championship, Welsh Open and Tour Championship, while Selby pulled out of Yushan.

That leaves him with two match wins in his last four tournaments, which is a dip after winning the UK Championship and Champion of Champions earlier in the campaign.

15.

Mark Williams

An opening win at the Players Championship over Barry Hawkins was a good one, but there hasn’t been loads else to shout about of late for Williams.

It has been a good season, hence qualifying for the Tour Championship, but he lost his opener there to John Higgins.

A couple of wins each at the Welsh and World Open.

14.

Chris Wakelin

Deep runs have not been coming of late for Wakelin, but he won his opening matches at both the Players Championship and Tour Championship, which takes some doing.

Just being in those events is impressive enough.

He withdrew from Yushan and lost early in Wales, but beating Xiao Guodong in Telford and Wu Yize in Manchester were good wins.

13.

Gary Wilson

A run to the quarter-finals of the World Open was an encouraging sign for Gary Wilson ahead of Sheffield, beating world champ Zhao Xintong in the last 16.

Two wins in qualifying got him to the Crucible and gives him the chance to end an up-and-down season well.

12.

Hossein Vafaei

Another World Open quarter-finalist, Vafaei beat both Mark Williams and Zhang Anda in Yushan.

His only defeats in the last two months have come to Neil Robertson and Judd Trump.

The Iranian looked excellent in qualifying, heavily beating Michal Szubarczyk and Gao Yang.

11.

Zhou Yuelong

It has been a good season for Zhou, including a quarter-final run at the Welsh Open and last 16 at the World Open, although he lost 6-0 to Judd Trump in his Players Championship opener.

The Jumping Dragon breezed through qualifying, beating Robbie McGuigan 10-3 and Michael Holt 10-4.

10.

Zhang Anda

Last 16 runs at the Welsh and World Open were both solid results, while Zhang also reached the Players Championship but lost early to Shaun Murphy.

He looked superb in qualifying, especially with five centuries in his 10-3 win over Zak Surety.

9.

Shaun Murphy

Murphy’s last outing was a 10-9 defeat to Judd Trump at the Tour Championship, having also been in the quarter-finals of the Players.

The Welsh Open campaign ended thanks to an absurdly good performance from Chang Bingyu, while he was beaten by an on-song Ronnie O’Sullivan in Yushan.

8.

Neil Robertson

A Welsh Open quarter-final and Tour Championship semi-final look encouraging for Robertson.

He lost early in Telford to John Higgins and didn’t play in Yushan.

7.

Mark Allen

It has been a strange season for the Pistol but he will have been buoyed by runs to the Players Championship semis and World Open quarters of late.

Victories over Mark Selby, Wu Yize, Zhou Yuelong and Jack Lisowski were in those runs, but an early defeat to David Grace at the Welsh was an example of his inconsistency.

6.

Wu Yize

Semi-finals of the Welsh and World Open for Wu Yize were both very good efforts, only losing a decider to Ronnie O’Sullivan in Yushan and 6-4 to Barry Hawkins in Llandudno.

He was poor in both his Players and Tour Championship opening losses, especially in a concerning collapse against Wakelin in Manchester.

5.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

The Rocket has crept high up this list considering he only played in one of the counting events, but he looked immense on his run to the final of the World Open, making a record break of 153 along the way, only a losing to an inspired Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Away from the main tour he also won the Snooker 900 John Virgo Trophy this month, which counts for little but will have done his confidence no harm.

4.

Barry Hawkins

One of only two players on this list to have won one of the four most recent tournaments, seen as World Open champ Thepchaiya Un-Nooh did not qualify.

The Hawk brilliantly won the Welsh Open, with victories over the likes of Mark Williams, Neil Robertson and Wu Yize before Jack Lisowski in the final.

He also beat Thepchaiya in his Manchester opener.

3.

John Higgins

Just shy of his 51st birthday, Higgins has been remarkably consistent, with runs to the Players Championship final, along with Welsh and Tour Championship semis.

A 5-4 loss to Moody in Yushan was his only early exit of late.

2.

Judd Trump

The world number one might be struggling to land silverware at the minute but he is consistently going deep.

Players Championship semi, World Open semi and Tour Championship final, while he did not enter the Welsh.

It’s really good.

1.

Zhao Xintong

The number one was always going to be this man, with Zhao winning both the Players Championship and Tour Championship of late, both in fine style, while he also landed the World Grand Prix in February.

The world champion beat the likes of Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen, John Higgins (twice), Chris Wakelin and Judd Trump on his way to his two most recent successes.

He made the last 16 of the Welsh and World Open as well, in what has been a stunning spell for the Cyclone.