World Snooker Championship 2022: Qualifying explained and results so far - when tournament draw is confirmed

The World Snooker Championship gets underway in earnest this Saturday (April 16) with the biggest names in the sport returning to the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

However, despite the action being just around the corner the line up for the first round of matches is still to be officially confirmed.

That is because qualifying for the competition is still underway with several players still attempting to secure their place at the event.

Ahead of the competition getting underway this weekend, here is everything you need to know about the remaining qualifying matches, the players who have already qualified and when the draw for the first round will be finalised:

World Snooker Championship 2022: When will the draw be made and how does it work?

The draw for the first round of the 2022 World Snooker Championship will be made once the qualifying tournament finishes on Wednesday, April 13.

From the tournament there will be 16 players who make it to the Crucible where they will be drawn against the 16 top seeded players.

The draw for the first round takes place on Thursday, April 14 at 11:00 BST.

Who has already qualified?

The top 16 players in the latest snooker world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players.

This year, they are:

• Ronnie O'Sullivan
• Mark Selby
• Neil Robertson
• Judd Trump
• Kyren Wilson
• John Higgins
• Zhao Xintong
• Mark J Williams
• Barry Hawkins
• Shaun Murphy
• Luca Brecel
• Stuart Bingham
• Anthony McGill
• Jack Lisowski
• Mark Allen
• Yan Bingtao

Defending champion Mark Selby was automatically seeded first overall despite Ronnie O’Sullivan being the current world number one.

The remaining 15 seeds after Selby were allocated based on the latest world rankings.

Who else will qualify and how does it work?

A 128-player qualifying tournament is currently being held at the English Institute of Sport.

Having started on April 4 it is due to conclude on April 13, three days before the start.

The qualifiers are being played over four rounds, with higher-ranked players seeded and given byes to the later rounds.

The fourth and final round of qualifying features the 32 players who remain after the third round, with the 16 winners advancing to the main tournament at the Crucible.

Some of the biggest names to make it through to the fourth round of qualifying include 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott as well as top 20 ranked players such as David Gilbert and Hossein Vafaei who only narrowly missed out on automatic qualification.

Two amateur players have also made it through to the fourth round of qualifying as of Monday afternoon, they are England’s David Lilley and Michael White of Wales who will face Ding Junhui and Jordan Brown respectively.

How to watch World Snooker Championship qualifying - Live stream details

The fourth round will be broadcast live and for free on the World Snooker Tour’s YouTube and Facebook channels.

Billed as “Judgement Day”, the final round will be played over two days, with each day featuring eight best-of-19-frame matches played over two sessions.