O'Sullivan bids for record-extending ninth UK Championship title

Snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan starts his bid for a record-extending ninth UK Championship title at York Barbican on Saturday.

O'Sullivan, who celebrates his 49th birthday four days after this year's 1 December final, is the defending champion and top seed for the first of this season's Triple Crown events.

However, the Rocket has only won one title since beating Ding Junhui 10-7 in the final last year and has yet to reach a final this season, losing in the first round of last week's Champion of Champions.

Second seed Kyren Wilson, winner of last month's Northern Ireland Open, will seek to add the UK crown to the world title he won in May.

Third seed Judd Trump, the UK champion in 2011, is the in-form player this season having already won three titles, while fourth seed Mark Allen will aim to reclaim the trophy he won in 2022.

Two-time winner Mark Williams, who claimed the Champion of Champions trophy last Sunday, will hope to win the UK title for the first time since 2002.

Ding Junhui is another recent tournament winner, having won the International Championship to claim his first ranking title since lifting his third UK title in 2019.

Former champions Mark Selby, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy will also hope to add the title to their collection of trophies.

The 32-strong field will consist of the world’s top 16 players and 16 qualifiers.

How can I watch live BBC coverage?

BBC TV will show live action every day on either BBC One or BBC Two.

You can watch uninterrupted coverage of every match on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport mobile app, with additional coverage on BBC Red Button.

TV coverage will be presented by Hazel Irvine and Seema Jaswal, with expert analysis from snooker legends Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, John Virgo and Ken Doherty.

The BBC Sport website will stream the live coverage and provide live updates and reports plus a full live text commentary of the final.

There will also be updates on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

Format and qualifying

The world's top 16 automatically qualified, while the other 16 players in the main draw are those who came through the qualifying tournament at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

The latter group includes some notable names and plenty of experience of lifting the big prizes.

The 2021 champion Zhao Xintong, who has returned to the sport after being banned for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, reached the televised stages with a 6-2 win over Ricky Walden.

Stuart Bingham, who has previously won both the Masters and World Championship, also came through qualifying, along with Crucible runner-up Jak Jones.

All matches in York are best of 11 frames except for the final on 1 December, which is played over 19 frames and two sessions.

In the main draw, there are two matches in each session until the semi-finals on 30 November.

What's the prize money?

Out of a total prize fund of £1,205,000, the winner will receive £250,000.

The runner-up earns £100,000 with the semi-finalists collecting £50,000 each.

For reaching the first round players get £10,000, while it is £15,000 for the second round and £25,000 for a quarter-final place.

There is also a prize of £15,000 for the highest break.

Ronnie O’Sullivan won his first UK Championship in 1993 and his most recent in 2023 aged 47

Match schedule & BBC coverage

All times are GMT. Coverage times are subject to late changes. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Seedings in brackets.

First round

Saturday, 23 November

13:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1) v Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy (9) v Zhao Xintong

19:00

Ding Junhui (8) v Robert Milkins

Xiao Guodong (16) v David Gilbert

Live coverage

13:15-16:30, BBC One & 16:30-17:30, BBC Two

13:00-14:30, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

17:45-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

20:30-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Highlights

00:00-02:00, BBC Two

Sunday, 24 November

13:00

Mark Allen (4) v Jackson Page

Ali Carter (12) v Ryan Day

19:00

Si Jiahui (13) v Wu Yize

Mark Selby (5) v Jack Lisowski

Live coverage

12:50-17:10, BBC Two

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

20:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Highlights

00:05-02:05, BBC Two

Monday, 25 November

13:00

Chris Wakelin (15) v Matthew Selt

Kyren Wilson (2) v Stephen Maguire

19:00

Luca Brecel (7) v Jak Jones

Gary Wilson (10) v Michael Holt

Live coverage

13:00-17:15, BBC Two

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Highlights

00:05-02:05, BBC Two

Tuesday, 26 November

13:00

John Higgins (14) v He Guoqiang

Judd Trump (3) v Neil Robertson

19:00

Mark Williams (6) v Stuart Bingham

Zhang Anda (11) v Lei Peifan

Live coverage

13:00-17:15, BBC Two

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Highlights

23:40-01:40, BBC Two

Second round

Wednesday, 27 November

Live coverage

13:00-17:15, BBC Two

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Highlights

00:05-02:05, BBC Two

Thursday, 28 November

Live coverage

13:00-17:15, BBC Two

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-20:00, BBC Two

19:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Highlights

00:05-02:05, BBC Two

Quarter-finals

Friday, 29 November

Live coverage

13:00-17:15, BBC Two

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-19:30, BBC Two

19:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Semi-finals

Saturday, 30 November

Live coverage

13:00-18:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

13:15-16:30, BBC One / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

16:30-17:00, BBC Two / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-22:00, BBC Two / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

19:00-23:00, BBC Red Button / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Final

Sunday, 1 December

Live coverage

Session one

13:00-14:15 BBC One / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

14:15-16:00 BBC Two / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Session two

19:00-22:00, BBC Two / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport website & app

Ding Junhui plays a shot during the final of the 2023 UK Championship at the York Barbican