Future of snooker’s Q School under review but ‘important role’ will remain

Q School has been offering a route onto the World Snooker Tour since 2011 but the dreaded tournament is under review, with focus on different pathways to the professional game.

The current format of Q School sees players battle it out to win two-year tour cards, with eight available over two events in Leicester and four on offer over two tournaments in Bangkok.

They are infamously unpleasant events, with one graduate from 2026 Q School, Phil O’Kane, describing it as ‘the worst tournament in the world’ ahead of his 14th visit this year, which proved to be his first successful one.

Two more successful Q School students this year, Liam Davies and Gong Chenzhi, both immediately said they never want to return.

There is no prize money on the line, just the chance to compete on the professional circuit over the next two years, meaning defeat in the two events leaves players consigned to the amateur game for at least another year.

There is huge pressure on a few days of action, although amateur players do have other routes onto tour, through the season-long Q Tour and other knockout amateur tournaments.

Professionals who have just dropped off tour in April do have the chance to bounce straight back at Q School, which WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson says must be a mechanism that remains.

There have been calls for more tour cards on offer on Q Tour and fewer at Q School, but the opportunity to immediately regain a tour card will not be eliminated, having seen the likes of Davies and Gong do just that this year.

‘Q School is an opportunity for players to bounce back on the tour. We mustn’t put that to one side,’ Ferguson told Metro. ‘The cut-off on the tour is very fierce these days. We’re losing massively talented players. Liam Davies. What’s he doing at Q School? What a talent.

‘So Q School does play an important role, but there are other ways of doing it. We’ve put together Q tour and the Q Tour Global Playoffs. 778 players competed in Q Tour in the last 12 months, globally. It’s extensive.

‘Then if you look at the World Amateur Championships, World Junior Championships, which are completely open events. They are also great opportunities for talent to come through. So the pathways to the tour are really extensive now.

‘We should always review everything that’s being done with Q School. But I think the one important thing is to recognise the fact that there is that bounce-back system for players falling off the tour.’

Q School has remained open to anyone who is willing to pay to enter – the fee currently standing at £960 to have a crack at turning pro.

Ferguson says there should remain this option as some players either can’t or don’t want to play all year round on the amateur circuit.

‘There are also those players that don’t want to play all season in Q Tours and want to have a go once a year,’ he said. ‘I think the answer is a mix of everything.

‘The one thing to recognise is just how fierce that cut off on the tour is now. 64 players on the two-year list. Four players on the one-year list. Just look at the players outside of that that are fighting for survival. It’s pretty tough out there.’

The WPBSA chairman, who reached a high ranking of number 28 in the world during his playing days, says cut-offs for tour survival, along with many other things, are being reviewed.

On the potential for the cut-off to stay on tour being changed, he said: ‘I wouldn’t like to say at this moment in time, but what I’m saying is that it has changed drastically over the years.

‘We used to see a few players on and off tour all the time. What you’re seeing now is real talent dropping out and it does force you down the road of having a look at it.

‘Of course, there’s only finite numbers that you can cope with on a tour.

‘We’re in as good a shape as we can be, but nothing’s cast in stone. We’ve got to keep reviewing everything all the time, every year. Keep reviewing what we’re doing commercially, keep reviewing what we’re doing with qualifying, what we’re doing development wise, everything’s reviewed all the time.’

Elsewhere in snooker administration, the WPBSA held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) after calls to do so from the Professional Snooker Players Association (PSPA) to deal with a number of issues for players on the professional tour.

Despite a significant step being taken to call the EGM, turnout from players was poor at the meeting on May 22 in Sheffield but ‘positive and constructive dialogue’ continues.

‘We’re very open-minded on if improvements can be made anywhere in player representation and player support,’ said Ferguson.

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