2026 Players Championship (snooker)

The 2026 Players Championship (officially the 2026 Sportsbet.io Players Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 to 22 February 2026 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. The top 16 players on the one-year ranking list, as it stood after the 2026 World Grand Prix, qualified for the event. The 10th consecutive staging of the Players Championship since it became a standalone tournament in 2017, it was the 14th ranking event of the 2025‍–‍26 snooker season, following the 2026 World Grand Prix and preceding the 2026 Welsh Open. It was the second of three events in the Players Series, following the 2026 World Grand Prix and preceding the 2026 Tour Championship. It was the first professional snooker tournament to be broadcast on Channel 5 In the United Kingdom. It was also broadcast by TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland, by Eurosport in mainland Europe, by local channels in Asia and Africa, and by WST Play in all other territories. The winner received £150,000 from a total prize fund of £500,000.

Kyren Wilson won the 2025 edition, defeating Judd Trump 10‍–‍9 in the final, but he failed to qualify for the 2026 edition, having been 22nd on the one-year list at the cutoff. Ronnie O'Sullivan qualified but chose not to enter, which meant that John Higgins, at 17th on the one-year list, became eligible to compete. Higgins reached his 60th ranking final, becoming, at the age of 50 years and 280 days, the second-oldest finalist at any ranking tournament. The reigning World Champion Zhao Xintong defeated Higgins 10–7 to win his first Players Championship title and fifth ranking title. He became the fourth player to win his first five ranking finals, following Steve Davis, Mark Williams, and Neil Robertson. The tournament produced a total of 22 century breaks, of which the highest was a 142 by Zhao in his quarter-final match against Shaun Murphy.