Following the conclusion of the 2026 World Grand Prix, the draw for the 2026 Players Championship is now set. Here is the announcement by WST:
Sportsbet.io Players Championship Draw Confirmed
The draw for this month Sportsbet.io Players Championship is now confirmed, with the top 16 entered players in the Sportsbet.io One Year Rankings heading to the Telford International Centre for the event which runs from February 17-22.
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The format will be confirmed soon. The draw is:
Neil Robertson (1) v John Higgins (16)
Chris Wakelin (8) v Xiao Guodong (9)
Judd Trump (5) v Zhou Yuelong (12)
Mark Williams (4) v Barry Hawkins (13)
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Shaun Murphy (3) v Zhang Anda (14)
Zhao Xintong (6) v Elliot Slessor (11)
Wu Yize (7) v Mark Allen (10)
Mark Selby (2) v Jack Lisowski (15)
Note that Ronnie is actually 8th on the one year list and, therefore, had qualified for the event. He did however decide not to enter. John Higgins is the one who benefits from Ronnie’s decision. Had Ronnie entered the event, he would have been set to play Chris Wakelin in the first round (last 16).
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I’m surprised that he would qualify with so little playing, but while on the one hand it is terribly disappointing that he does not care to show up (not so long ago he busted his backside off trying to qualify), on the other he cannot string two winning matches together, so it is probably for the best to avoid another humiliation. I just don’t understand why he is doing this instead of calling it a day. He does not behave like a professional snooker player, his chances for an 8th World’s title equal to zero, so why wait till he falls out of the top 16?
He qualified mainly thanks to the Final in Saudi Arabia. And, like I wrote in answer to Santino, we do not know what the situation is at home except that Laila suffers an incurable illness that impacts her mobility, at least to some extend. How serious ii is, we do not know and do NOT have a right to know. Maybe he decided that to behave like a loving, helpful husband is more important than his career? Would that be “unprofessional”? Not in my views.
Yeah, I suppose it must be because of the Saudi final, although it is a little irritating that because the Saudis are so bloody rich and care for sportswashing a tournament not much more serious than a Home Nation carries so many ranking ranking points. (I know it has been discussed here at length, but every time it comes up I find it outrageous.)
While sure we have no so-called right to know, it is very unlikely he is playing the caring husband: he went to Hong Kong and maybe will go somewhere in China, so it seems very unlikely that he stays behind to be with Laila (who has had this condition for a year or so). I suspect the illness does not organize itself around tournaments, like she is OK during the WGP, or all the Saudi things, but not OK for the Players. While I understand why Ronnie would not play Home Nations, his absence from the Players is a little surprising, even though he obviously does not like the UK anymore.
I think many would argue that his late withdrawals are unprofessional, I only say that his career looks over for all intents or purposes and he does not appear as a professional player anymore (by professional I mean someone whose main job is playing snooker, not anything ethical).
Saudi money.
Yes, I argued with Monique a couple of weeks ago that some things at least do not look professional to me.
If one was to look back, I very much suspect a majority, maybe even huge majority, said that before he won it after a whole season off.
Maybe it’s a little bit subconsciously in his mind that this would motivate him to play more actually. I would guess at this point he would play the World Qualifiers actually, if he was to drop out, judging by what he said recently, but this is only my opinion at this moment.
He was more than a decade younger when he won after a whole season off.
Yes, but he did at least more or less play “throughout” this season (without winning) and even if you’re not winning, I think you still go through a “build up” before tournaments and this was missing completely when he won it that year, which makes it even more remarkable. The bigger problem is the increased strength in depth on the tour in my opinion.
The increased strength in dept is a good thing for the sport, not a problem. It may not be good for Ronnie, but Ronnie is 50. He’s on the decline, there is no point denying it. He can still do extraordinary things on his day, but not consistently and maybe he’s not that “hungry” for titles anymore. He’s done it all, he’s got nothing to prove. As David Hendon has acknowledged many times, for years, Ronnie has been the main attraction, the guy who put bums on seats, who attracted viewing figures at events and on telly. But nobody goes forever, it wasn’t healthy that the sport relied so much on ONE player and it wasn’t fair to that player either BTW.
Of course I meant that it’s a problem for Ronnie.
It looks like he will even be qualifying for the Tour Championship, since they changed the format and therefore the number of eligible players. But does not plan to attend as mentioned of course.
final proof that he’s not arsed
Final proof of nothing. He said some time ago that he will probably play in Wuhan, and then the World. We do not know how the situation is at home with Laila being in poor health with mobility issues. For most events players have to enter several weeks before the actual start of the event, with qualifiers being played first. If they don’t enter, they can’t play, even if they don’t need to qualify. So, usually they will enter to keep their options open, hoping to be able to play when the time comes. Here it’s different which makes the decision easier.
Yushan.