The event runs from November 23 to December 5 at the York Barbican, with 128 players all needing to win seven matches to capture a title which was first contested in 1977.
The superb York Barbican venue first hosted the UK Championship in 2001
The opening round from November 23 to 25 will be televised live by Eurosport, with the second round onwards screened globally by BBC, Eurosport, CCTV, Matchroom Live and a range of other broadcasters.
Tickets for the tournament are still available and start from just £8. Sessions are expected to sell out fast now that the schedule has been released so fans must book quickly.
The tournament returns to York for the first time since 2019, having been staged behind closed doors in Milton Keynes in 2020.
Robertson beat Judd Trump 10-9 in a dramatic final last year to capture the trophy for the third time. He meets amateur Astley on Thursday November 25 at 2.30pm. Trump will be up against David Lilley on the same day at 7.30pm.
Crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on two-time ranking event winner Michael White on Wednesday November 24 at 7.30pm. World Champion Mark Selby plays Ross Muir on the same day at 2.30pm.
Other top stars in the field include John Higgins, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen, legends Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry, top female players Reanne Evans and Ng On Yee, and many more.
The second round begins on Saturday November 27. All matches are best of 11 frames up until the final on Sunday December 5 which is best of 19.
The Cazoo UK Championship is one of snooker’s Triple Crown events, alongside the Cazoo Masters and the Betfred World Championship.
2021 UK Championship Snooker draw, format and schedule revealed
Phil Haigh Wednesday 10 Nov 2021
Neil Robertson is looking to defend his UK Championship title in York (Picture: WST)
The first traditional major of the snooker season gets underway on 23 November as the UK Championship returns to York after a year away from its home in North Yorkshire.
The UK Championship moved to Milton Keynes last year due to the pandemic, but still delivered an epic final which saw Neil Robertson edge out Judd Trump in a deciding frame.
The draw for this year’s event has been made with Trump taking on World Seniors champion David Lilley and Robertson kicking off the defence of his title against John Astley.
Ronnie O’Sullivan gets two-time ranking event winner Michael White, while world champion Mark Selby plays Ross Muir.
The first round matches are all live on Eurosport with BBC coverage beginning at the second round.
UK Championship draw, format and schedule
Tuesday 23 Nov 2.30pm Arena 1
Anthony McGill vs Iulian Boiko Zhou Yuelong vs Chen Zifan Kyren Wilson vs Soheil Vahedi Lu Ning vs Wu Yize
7.30pm Tom Ford vs Andrew Pagett Stephen Maguire vs Sanderson Lam Shaun Murphy vs Si Jiahui John Higgins vs Michael Georgiou
Arena 2
2.30pm Andrew Higginson vs Mark Joyce David Grace vs Peter Devlin Jak Jones vs Oliver Lines Dominic Dale vs Ashley Carty
7.30pm Scott Donaldson vs Farakh Ajaib Mark Davis vs Ashley Hugill Li Hang vs Mitchell Mann Chris Wakelin vs Jamie Clarke
Wed 24 Nov Arena 1
9.30am Ricky Walden vs Craig Steadman Gary Wilson vs Ian Burns David Gilbert vs Alfie Burden Xiao Guodong vs Zhang Jiankang
2.30pm Mark Williams vs Lei Peifan Barry Hawkins vs Reanne Evans Ding Junhui vs Zhang Anda Mark Selby vs Ross Muir
7.30pm Kurt Maflin vs Gerard Greene Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Michael White Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Stephen Hendry Jack Lisowski vs Sean Maddocks
Arena 2
9.30am Liam Highfield vs Jamie Wilson Noppon Saengkham vs Aaron Hill Stuart Carrington vs Zhao Jianbo Nigel Bond vs Robbie Williams
2.30pm Anthony Hamilton vs Allan Taylor Matthew Selt vs Chang Bingyu Jamie Jones vs Cao Yupeng Alex Ursenbacher vs Ben Hancorn
7.30pm Matthew Stevens vs Hammad Miah Mark King vs Jackson Page Sunny Akani vs Steven Hallworth Elliott Slessor vs Fan Zhengyi
Thu 25 Nov Arena 1
9.30am Joe Perry vs Fraser Patrick Martin Gould vs Barry Pinches Liang Wenbo vs Andy Hicks Zhao Xintong vs Yuan Sijun
2.30pm Neil Robertson vs John Astley Yan Bingato vs Ng On Yee Ali Carter vs Jimmy White Graeme Dott vs Jamie O’Neill
7.30pm Stuart Bingham vs Dean Young Judd Trump vs David Lilley Mark Allen vs Michael Judge Ryan Day vs Peter Lines
Arena 2
9.30am Tian Pengfei vs Simon Lichtenberg Ben Woollaston vs Rory McLeod Lyu Haotian vs Gao Yang Joe O’Connor vs Fergal O’Brien
2.30pm Jordan Brown vs Duane Jones Luca Brecel vs Xu Si Jimmy Robertson vs Lee Walker Martin O’Donnell vs Lukas Kleckers
7.30pm Michael Holt vs Zak Surety Sam Craigie vs Ken Doherty Robert Milkins vs Louis Heathcote Hossein Vafaei vs Pang Junxu
Round One (best of 11) Tue 23 Nov – 2.30pm & 7.30pm Wed 24 Nov – 9.30pm, 2.30pm & 7.30pm Thu 25 Nov – 9.30pm, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Round Two (best of 11) Sat 27 Nov – 1pm & 7pm Sun 28 Nov – 1pm & 7pm
Round Three (best of 11) Mon 29 Nov – 1pm & 7pm Tue 30 Nov – 1pm & 7pm
Round Four (best of 11) Wed 01 Dec – 1pm & 7pm Thu 02 Dec – 1pm & 7pm
Quarter-finals (best of 11) Fri 03 Dec – 1pm & 7pm
Semi-finals (best of 11) Sat 04 Dec – 1pm & 7pm
Final (best of 19) Sun 05 Dec – 1pm & 7pm
I think that Michael White is a good draw for Ronnie. Michael plays an open game and doesn’t hang around.
I have put in blue the first round matches that I expect to be interesting and close.
In green, I have put two matches that may spring a surprise. I still expect the highest seed to win them, but both Ross Muir and Fraser Patrick have shown good form recently. Those matches could be much closer than most expect.
9 thoughts on “2021 UK Championship Draw and Format”
Trump v Robbo uk final this year, thats another match up we’ve seen before, ha.
I know what you mean, Monique. I saw the draw and thought Selby will have to really perform to reach round 3.
The two missing professionals: Marco Fu and Igor Figueiredo.
Why has Marco, after getting an Invitational Tour Card, not put it to use? I know he’s still in Hong Kong, but what’s his plan?
Why did Igor return to Brazil? Financial reasons, missing family, both? He had a good run to the last 16 of last year’s NI Open, I thought he would have stuck it out until the end of his tour card.
Both players have tour cards until May 2023, will we see either play another professional match? For the worldwide status of snooker, I hope so.
Both have explained their situation on social media. It’s very tough for the overseas players. Indeed we have been lucky to have so many of them return to the UK at all. Some have been having a miserable time, separated fromtheir families, and their results have been inconsistent, leaving some very good players in relegation trouble.
Reanne Evans to play Barry Hawkins: That means same lineup in Round 1 for these two players in consecutive tournaments! Has that happened before?
It’s also happening with Trump/Lilley at the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship.
Indeed.
Just would be interesting, probability wise, if it did happen in earlier times when there were round about just 10 tournaments on the calendar per season.
Didn’t Arnie Ursenbacher get drawn against John Higgins 3 times in succession? He ended up losing all three and getting relegated. Scott Donaldson also beat Ding Junhui a few times in succession. It’s actually not that rare with the large number of tournaments we have now.
Other top stars in the field include John Higgins, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen, legends Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry, top female players Reanne Evans and Ng On Yee, and many more.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Trump v Robbo uk final this year, thats another match up we’ve seen before, ha.
I know what you mean, Monique. I saw the draw and thought Selby will have to really perform to reach round 3.
The two missing professionals: Marco Fu and Igor Figueiredo.
Why has Marco, after getting an Invitational Tour Card, not put it to use? I know he’s still in Hong Kong, but what’s his plan?
Why did Igor return to Brazil? Financial reasons, missing family, both? He had a good run to the last 16 of last year’s NI Open, I thought he would have stuck it out until the end of his tour card.
Both players have tour cards until May 2023, will we see either play another professional match? For the worldwide status of snooker, I hope so.
Both have explained their situation on social media. It’s very tough for the overseas players. Indeed we have been lucky to have so many of them return to the UK at all. Some have been having a miserable time, separated fromtheir families, and their results have been inconsistent, leaving some very good players in relegation trouble.
Reanne Evans to play Barry Hawkins: That means same lineup in Round 1 for these two players in consecutive tournaments! Has that happened before?
It’s also happening with Trump/Lilley at the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship.
Indeed.
Just would be interesting, probability wise, if it did happen in earlier times when there were round about just 10 tournaments on the calendar per season.
Didn’t Arnie Ursenbacher get drawn against John Higgins 3 times in succession? He ended up losing all three and getting relegated. Scott Donaldson also beat Ding Junhui a few times in succession. It’s actually not that rare with the large number of tournaments we have now.