| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 28 November – 11 December 1976 |
| Venue | Nunawading Basketball Centre |
| City | Melbourne |
| Country | Australia |
| Format | Non-ranking event |
| Total prize fund | A$30,000 |
| Winner's share | A$6,500 |
| Highest break |  Paddy Morgan (AUS), 104 |
| Final | |
| Champion | Eddie Charlton (AUS) |
| Runner-up |  Ray Reardon (WAL) |
| Score | 31–24 |
← 1957 Last → | |
The 1976 World Professional Match-play Championship was a professional invitational snooker tournament held from 28 November to 11 December 1976 at the Nunawading Basketball Centre in Burwood East, Melbourne, Australia. Eddie Charlton, the event's promoter, won the title by defeating Ray Reardon by 31 frames to 24 in the final. The Championship was sanctioned by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, with the event's title causing confusion with the World Snooker Championship in some media reports. The tournament was not repeated.
A World Professional Match-play Championship for professional snooker was staged each year from 1952 to 1957, having been created following a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the Billiards Association and Control Council. The PBPA members established a competition, which became known as the World Professional Match-play Championship, as an alternative to the World Snooker Championship. Although at first these were not deemed to be world championships, they were later recognised as editions of the World Snooker Championship. After 1957, the event was discontinued due to a decline in the popularity of snooker. The World Championship was re-instituted on a challenge basis from 1964 to 1968, and as a knock-out format tournament from 1969.
The 1976 tournament, which is not recognised as an edition of the World Snooker Championship, featured sixteen invited players. Alex Higgins was the only one of the top four seeds not to reach the semi-finals. Higgins was defeated 6–13 by Paddy Morgan, who then lost in the deciding frame of his semi-final match against Charlton. Reardon played Graham Miles in the other semi-final, which he won 19–16 after recovering from five frames behind.