Mark Selby begins the defence of his Champion of Champions title in Leicester today, opening against Alfie Burden as snooker's invitation event returns to the Leicester Arena.

The 2026 edition runs from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 November and brings together 16 players who have won tournaments over the past year. Selby, the defending champion, beat Judd Trump 10-5 in last year's final.

Play gets under way at 1pm, with the action live on ITV in the UK.

Monday's opening group

Selby, who was born in Leicester and is known as the Jester from Leicester, meets Burden in the first match of Group One. Barry Hawkins faces Chris Wakelin in the day's other opening match, and the two winners meet in the evening group final for a place in the semi-finals.

Selby is a four-time world champion and is ranked fourth in the world. He has compiled 981 century breaks in professional competition, including six maximum breaks, and he will have the home crowd behind him as he starts his title defence.

The opening matches are played over the best of seven frames, and the group winner on Monday night will be the first player through to the last four.

The field and the road to the final

Kyren Wilson, who won the International Championship in Nanjing on Saturday with a 10-8 victory over John Higgins, faces Ali Carter on Thursday 12 November. Wilson's win in China was his 12th ranking title and his second in a row, after he won the Northern Ireland Open last month, and it lifted him to eighth in the world rankings.

Ronnie O'Sullivan, the most successful player in the event's history with four titles, meets Shaun Murphy in round one.

The semi-finals are on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November, and the final is played over two sessions on Sunday 15 November, over the best of 19 frames.

The 16-man field is made up of players who have won tournaments over the past year, and the groups are played across the first four days of the week. Group Two is played on Thursday, when Wilson meets Carter, and the group winners advance to the semi-finals on Friday and Saturday nights.

The winner will receive £150,000 from a total prize fund of £440,000. The tournament is a non-ranking event organised by Matchroom Sport and sponsored by Sportsbet.io. It is the 16th staging of the event and the 14th in a row since its revival in 2013.

Selby won the title last year in Leicester, and a win in today's group final would put him straight into the semi-finals and keep his defence on track.