Brecel could not get past the first round of any of the first seven ranking events he entered in the 2016–17 season, before he restricted Shaun Murphy to eight points as he defeated him 4–0 in the opening round of the Northern Ireland Open. He then beat Jamie Cope 4–2, before losing 4–1 to Michael White. At the UK Championship, Brecel whitewashed Aditya Mehta 6–0 and then overcame Sam Craigie 6–5, Yu Delu 6–1 and Stephen Maguire 6–3 to play Murphy in the quarter-finals of the event for the second time.&lt;ref name="2016/17"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; It was nowhere near as close as their previous meeting however, as Murphy easily won 6–1. Brecel qualified for his second World Championship and raced in to a 7–1 lead over Marco Fu in the first round. He also held an 8–4, 9–8 advantage, but would go on to lose 10–9.