The 11th edition of the Northern Ireland Open will take place from 18-25 October at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, with most of the biggest names in the sport set to take part.

Last year's final turned out to be a memorable and dramatic one as Jack Lisowski secured his first ranking event title by edging out Judd Trump 9-8.

A first prize of £100,000 and the Alex Higgins Trophy are on offer for the winner of the seventh ranking event of the season.

The tournament will be the second in the Home Nations series, following on from the English Open, which was won by Ali Carter in September.

BBC Sport looks at some of the main talking points around the event.

Mark Allen could return to action for the first time in nearly six months when he faces fellow Antrim man Jordan Brown in the first round on Tuesday afternoon.

Allen has been a notable absentee in the early months of the season, with personal reasons being cited for his non-participation on the professional circuit.

The 40-year-old has not competed in an event since losing out to Wu Yize in agonising fashion in the semi-finals of the World Championship in Sheffield in early May.

Former world number one Allen is a two-time winner of the NI Open, having secured back-to-back successes in front of his home crowd in 2021 and 2022.

Brown, meanwhile, reached the quarter-finals of last year's event, losing 5-2 to Allen.

Three-time runner-up O'Sullivan remains entered for the tournament, as of Saturday morning, although the possibility that he may be a late withdrawal cannot be ruled out, given his record of participating only in selected tournaments in the UK in recent years.

The 50-year-old did not enter the Belfast event 12 months ago, and withdrew in both 2023 and 2024.

O'Sullivan is scheduled to meet China's Ka Wai Cheung on Monday afternoon.

On his most recent appearance in 2022, the seven-time world champion lost to David Grace at the last-64 stage.

Judd Trump is a record four-time champion of the Northern Ireland Open and has already been in the winner's circle this season courtesy of his success at the Shanghai Masters, an elite but non-ranking event.

Trump dominated the Northern Ireland tournament with three consecutive victories from 2018 to 2020 and took the title again in 2023.

Chinese players Zhao Xintong and Wu Yize have won the World Championship over the past two years and now occupy first and second positions respectively in the world rankings, having leapfrogged previous number one Trump.

Wu emerged victorious in the most recent ranking event on the calendar, the Shenzhen Open, but has withdrawn from the NI Open, along with fellow Chinese player He Guoqiang, for health reasons.

Welshman Jak Jones is the only player to have won two tournaments this seasons, the Championship League and British Open, while Mark Selby (China Open), Chang Bingyu (Wuhan Open) and Ali Carter (English Open) have also lifted trophies.

Kyren Wilson and Mark Williams are other previous winners of the Northern Ireland event, hoping to add to their previous successes.

Defending champion Lisowski, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson and John Higgins are among the other established stars in the field.

Selby and Robertson have the added incentive of potentially becoming the first players to win all four Home Nations tournaments in their careers should they triumph in Belfast.

A total of 64 players will compete, including seeds and those who came through the qualifiers.

All matches from round one to round three are best of seven frames, the quarter-finals are best of nine, the semi-finals best of 11 and the final best of 17.

The Waterfront Hall has hosted eight of the previous 10 Northern Ireland Opens, the only exceptions being the inaugural running at the Titanic Exhibition Centre and the 2020 version, which was staged under controlled conditions at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wilson became the first non left-hander to win the event in 2024.

Four players have compiled maximum 147 breaks in the tournament - John Higgins in 2016, Stuart Bingham in 2019, Trump in 2020 and Allen in 2021.