In the last few years, many different snooker players have been switching in and out of the world’s top 5, desperately trying to hold their position. However, only the most talented get to earn the place to keep chalking their glossy cues on the main stage. 

Yes, you may already have a favourite player; but let’s face the facts and find out whether they reach the current global top 5.  

5. John Higgins  

John Higgins is currently ranked the 5^th best snooker player in the world. He was born in 1975 in Scotland, and he started his professional career in 1992.  

Out of the 76 professional matches the Scotsman has partaken in, a staggering 56 have been won which equates to a 74% win rate. But that’s not all; he’s managed to squeeze in 4 world championships, 3 UK championships and 2 Masters titles which means he has an outstanding total of 9 triple crown trophies.

You could never guess how much prize money he has won though – an extremely admirable £9.1million. Higgins’ career is definitely something special. Although he’s currently ranked 5^th (after losing to eventual champion O’Sullivan in the semi-finals of the 2022 world championship) he was ranked number 1 from May 1998-May 2000, May 2007-May 2008, May-September 2010, and December 2010-May 2011. So, it’s safe to say that John Higgins is certainly one of the best snooker players of all time. 

4. Neil Robertson 

Former world number 1, Neil Robertson, otherwise known as ‘The Thunder from Down Under’ or the ‘Melbourne Machine’ began his snooker career at the young age of 14 years old when he became the youngest player to make a century break in an Australian ranking tournament.

He began his professional career at 16 and only a year later he reached the third qualifying round of the 1999 world championship. He was already a star in the making; however, no one could’ve predicted what he would actually go on to achieve.

As well as being the only Aussie to have won a ranking event, Robertson is also the only player from outside of the UK to have achieved snooker’s Triple Crown – he went on to win the world championship in 2010, the Masters in 2012 and 2022 and the UK championship in 2013, 2015 and 2020.

All of these trophies have earned him more than £700K! What would you do with all that money? All in all, the phenomenal performance in the recent Masters' championship has earned him 4^th place in the world as of May 2022. 

3. Mark Selby  

‘The Jester from Leister’ was born in 1983 and became professional at 16 years old after winning the England under-15 championship a year prior. After many efforts to try and become world champion over the years, he finally accomplished his dream in 2014.

As said by John Higgins (after defeating Selby in the 2007 world championship), Selby was the “most improved player on the tour”. This incredible progression and determination did not only help him to win one world championship but win 4 times, 3 of them fitting in from 2014 to 2017.

His 3-year dominance ranked him number 1 in the world on multiple occasions, however, he had already been number 1 previously in parts of 2011, 2012 and 2013, despite not even winning a world championship.

As expected, Selby has also won over £872K in prize money – some of this money has also in come from winning the world championship in pool, making Selby the only person in history to ever win the largest titles in both snooker and pool.

You may be wondering why ‘The Jester’ is only in third place on this list after he won his 4^th world championship in 2021, but after some slight consistency issues much more recently and with the competition leaving no room for errors, he has dropped from 1^st to 3^rd best in the world. 

2. Judd Trump 

The former English world champion and former ranked number 1 (most recently in November 2021) was born in 1986. Trump is widely known in the sport for his talent and has made it to 6th place on the list of all-time event winners.

His professional career only started in 2005 and won his first ranking title 6 years later at the China Open. Not only does he have the third amount of century breaks in the history of professional snooker (only 41 behind John Higgins, and he’s 15 years younger!), but in 2020 he became the first person to win over £1 million in prize money within a single season. 

Despite only having one world championship title to his name (in 2019), Trump has won 23 ranking titles which have inevitably led to him reaching number 1 in the world many times. However, his nickname isn’t as spectacular – “Mr haircut 100” isn’t the most intimidating and now that he is getting on in the sport, people are starting to call him new things, such as The Juddernaught. 

As of May 2022, he’s currently placed 2^nd in the world after only just losing out to O’Sullivan in the final of the 2022 world championship. 

1. Ronnie O’Sullivan 

O’Sullivan was created in 1975, not born. He’s so great that it’s often argued that he is the best snooker player of all time. The Englishman was nicknamed ‘The Rocket’ after he became the youngest player to win the UK championship in 1993 at age 17 and for his rapid playing style.

His speed was shown in the 1997 World Championship when he obtained the Guinness World Record for the fastest competitive maximum break, within a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds. He was also very quick to go on to win the Masters championship at 19 years old.

Overall, he has a record of seven Masters as well as a record of seven UK Championship titles. He also has the most Triple Crown titles (21) out of every other player. In fact, O’Sullivan has the record for the most ranking titles too (39) and he's been ranked the world’s number 1 on many occasions including today as of April 2022.

After his recent win over Judd Trump in the 2022 world championship, he received a whopping 500k, summing up his total prize money to a breath-taking £12 million. O’Sullivan has also demonstrated his skill with both of his hands and how he can use his less dominant hand to his advantage in certain situations.

However, when he first showed off his left-handed talent in the 1996 World Championship, he put the game into disrepute and his opponent refused to shake his hand after the match. Today though, he’s highly respected and currently ranks 1^st place as the best snooker player in the world.