22 fantastic pictures from the Crucible’s 2026 Snooker World Championship Green Carpet event

Huge crowds flooded in to attend a Green Carpet event outside the Crucible Theatre as Sheffield celebrated nearly half a century of hosting the Snooker World Championship.

Fans took full advantage of a fantastic opportunity to meet their heroes as 14 of the most talented snooker stars on the planet took the time to pose for photos and sign autographs for those in attendance, in a day which epitomised just how much the sport means to the Steel City.

It was the first Green Carpet event to take place since last month’s announcement that the Crucible would be remaining the home of snooker until at least 2045

It’s understood that £45m will be invested to improve the Crucible in the years to come, as part of ambitious plans to raise the venue’s overall size by 50 percent - taking the capacity to 1,500 by 2030.

Most of Snooker’s top ranked players posed for a group photo ahead of the prestigious annual tournament, while Wu Yize and Xiao Guodong also took time to play frames against fans on snooker tables in the Fanzone area, outside the Crucible after the group photo.

Here are some of the best photographs from the event as excitement continues to build for this year’s World Snooker Championship.