Shaun Murphy v Wu Yize live stream | World Snooker Championship Final preview

Shaun Murphy and Wu Yize lock horns in a mouth-watering battle of youth and experience for the 2026 World Snooker Championship crown.

The 50th final at the Crucible Theatre pits one of snooker’s finest ambassadors against the brightest young talent in the game.

The best of 35 frames will determine who pockets the top prize of £500,000. Murphy is aiming to become the seventh multiple Crucible champion, while Wu would be the second-youngest winner behind Stephen Hendry.

Murphy is back for his fifth Crucible final – 21 years after that fairytale triumph in his first.

This would be the longest gap between consecutive titles, with the Magician having narrowly missed out on glory in 2009, 2015 and 2021.

Murphy could have been out in round one, but for his 50 clearance in the decider to scrape past Fan Zhengyi on the final pink.

Nevertheless, he built on that momentum by beating Xiao Guodong 13-3 in the second round with a session to spare.

The Magician then inflicted the Crucible Curse to dethrone reigning champion Zhao Xintong with a 13-10 victory in the last eight, before winning the last four frames to prevail 17-15 from his epic semi-final with John Higgins.

If that was dramatic, though, it was nothing compared to what Wu endured against Mark Allen.

The Chinese, who had led 6-2, faced match ball at 16-15 down, only to see Allen rattle the black in the jaws.

Surviving that, Wu then produced a nerveless 71 clearance from 45-0 down in the decider to become the third Crucible finalist from mainland China, after Zhao and Ding Junhui.

The 22-year-old, who has also defeated Lei Peifan, Mark Selby and Hossein Vafaei this fortnight, now has the chance to become the youngest player to lift the trophy since Hendry in 1990.

Wu would also follow Murphy’s lead from 2005 in becoming one of only five players to triumph in Sheffield having never previously won a match at the Crucible: the others being Terry Griffiths (1979), Joe Johnson (1986) and Luca Brecel (2023).

The two meetings between the players this season have been shared: Wu avenged his deciding-frame defeat by Murphy at the Xi’an Grand Prix with a 6-2 victory on his Masters debut.

For one of them, it will be third time lucky over the best of 35 frames today but, more importantly, they would forever etch their name into snooker history at the Crucible Theatre.

The match breaks off with the opening eight frames at 1pm BST on Sunday, continuing with a further nine at 7pm. It will resume with eight more frames at 1pm on Monday, before playing to a dramatic climax at 7pm.

How to watch Shaun Murphy v Wu Yize live stream

18+ | Funded account required | Geo restrictions may apply | Please Gamble Responsibly

1) Go to Bet365 via this special link

2) Register an account, place a £10 first bet and get £30 in Free Bets* (18+ only, T&Cs apply)

3) Once registered, go to the sports homepage and select ‘Snooker’ from the left-hand menu

4) Select the play icon next to the match in progress and the stream window will appear

*18+ only. New Customers only. Bet £10* & Get £30* in Free Bets. Sign up, deposit between £5-£10* (*or currency equivalent) to your account and bet365 will give you three times that value in Free Bets when you place qualifying bets to the same value and they are settled. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits. Min odds/bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. T&Cs, time limits & exclusions apply. Registration required. GambleAware.org