How many nations have played at the World Snooker Championship?

[BBC]

Antoni Kowalski will make World Snooker Championship history by becoming the first Polish player to play in the competition when he faces 2025 runner-up Mark Williams in the first round on Saturday.

Kowalski, ranked 69th in the world, booked his place into the tournament with a 10-8 victory over Wales' Jamie Jones in the final round of qualifying.

His entry means that Poland will become the 21st nation to have been represented in Snooker's premier competition.

At this year's tournament, Poland are one of eight countries being represented, but are the only country making its debut at the tournament.

Of the 32 players involved at the 17-day tournament at the Crucible Arena in Sheffield, 24 of them are either English or Chinese. A total of 13 English players are involved, with China being represented by 11 different players.

There are three Welshmen participating, while Scotland, Northern Ireland, Australia, Iran and Poland all have one player each competing.

The history of the tournament's global entrants

Antoni Kowalski will make history on Saturday, with Poland becoming the 21st different nationality represented at the World Snooker Championship [Getty Images]

While eight countries will be represented this year, 13 others have previously had entrants in the modern era since 1969.

The 2023 World Snooker Championship was won by Belgium's Luca Brecel, an eight-time entrant who competed as recently as last year, but failed to qualify for the 2026 edition. Brecel is the only Belgian to have featured in the competition's history.

Cliff Thorburn, the winner in 1980, is one of 10 Canadians to have featured in the tournament. However, none have featured at the Crucible this century.

Republic of Ireland's Ken Doherty is also a one-time winner, taking the title in 1997. Ireland is the only other nation to have previously had a winner without a representative in this year's tournament.