John Higgins
John Higgins is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry. He has won four World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters titles, for a total of nine Triple Crown titles, behind only O'Sullivan, Hendry, Steve Davis and Mark Selby. He first entered the top 16 in the 1995–96 world rankings and remained there continuously for over 29 years until September 2024, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as a top-16 player. He reached the world number one position four times.
In 1994 Higgins won his first ranking event at the 1994 Grand Prix. He also won two more ranking events that season, the first teenager to win three ranking events in a single season. At the 1998 World Snooker Championship, Higgins won his first World Championship, defeating Ken Doherty in the final. He won the UK Championship twice in 1998 and 2000 and the 1999 Masters before reaching the world championship final again at the 2001 World Snooker Championship, losing to O'Sullivan. Higgins won the World Championship again in 2007 and 2009, the UK Championship in 2009 and 2010 and the Masters in 2006.
In 2010, a tabloid newspaper carried out a sting operation in Ukraine, in which it claimed to show Higgins and his then-manager arranging to lose specific frames in future matches for money. An investigation cleared Higgins of match-fixing allegations but the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association found that he had brought the sport into disrepute by failing to disclose an invitation to breach the sport's betting rules and giving the impression of agreeing to it. Higgins was banned from professional competition for six months and fined £75,000. After winning his fourth world title in 2011, he reached three consecutive World Championship finals between 2017 and 2019, but lost each time, to Selby in 2017, to Mark Williams in 2018, and to Judd Trump in 2019. In the 2021–22 season, he lost five ranking finals. In the 2024–25 snooker season, Higgins won two ranking events in the same season for the first time since 2015.
Higgins made his 1,000th professional century break at the 2024 English Open, becoming the second player, after O'Sullivan, to reach that milestone. He has made 13 officially recognised maximum breaks in professional competition, second only to O'Sullivan's 17. He also holds the record for the biggest time span between a player's first and most recent ranking tournament win, having won his first ranking event at the 1994 Grand Prix and his latest at the 2025 Tour Championship, 30 years and 165 days later. Alongside O'Sullivan and Williams, he is one of the three players known as the "Class of '92", who all turned professional during the 1992–93 snooker season.
Career
Early professional years, first world championship
As amateur players, Higgins and Mark Williams faced each other in two finals in 1991. At the World Junior Masters Higgins won, while Williams won the British Junior Championship. The following year, Higgins turned professional. He reached the last eight of the 1993 British Open during his first season on the tour, before losing 3–5 to Jimmy White. Aged 19, Higgins defeated Dave Harold 9–6 in the final of the 1994 Grand Prix. This was the first ranking title of his career. The same season, he also won the 1995 International Open and the 1995 British Open, making him the first teenager to win three ranking events in a single season. He reached the finals of the 1995 Welsh Open, losing 3–9 to Steve Davis, and the 1995 Masters, losing by the same score to Ronnie O'Sullivan. His first time playing at the World Snooker Championship in 1995 he lost 3–10 in the first round to fellow Scottish player Alan McManus. Later that year he won his fourth ranking title at the inaugural 1995 German Open beating Ken Doherty 9–3 in the final.At the 1996 International Open he defeated Rod Lawler 9–3 in the final, to retain the championship. Later that season, at the 1996 World Snooker Championship, he defeated Martin Clarke 10–5 in the first round and McManus 13–5 in the second round. Facing O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals, he led 12–10, but lost the match 12–13 after O'Sullivan won the last three frames. At the 1996 UK Championship, he defeated Tony Drago, Williams and Doherty to reach the final, where he faced the world champion, Stephen Hendry. Higgins trailed 4–8 before winning five consecutive frames to lead 9–8; however, he lost the final 9–10. He won his sixth ranking title at the 1997 European Open, defeating Parrott 9–5 in the final. He reached the quarter-finals again at the 1997 World Championship, but lost 9–13 to eventual winner Doherty. He won the 1997 German Open, beating Parrott 9–4 in the final, and won his eighth ranking title at the 1998 British Open, beating Hendry 9–8 in the final.
At the 1998 World Snooker Championship, Higgins defeated Jason Ferguson 10–8, Anthony Hamilton 13–9, John Parrott 13–11 and O'Sullivan 17–9 in the semi-finals. In the final, he defeated the defending champion Doherty 18–12 to win his first World Championship and ninth ranking title. He made a then-record 14 centuries during the tournament. Higgins' success had seen him advance rapidly up the world rankings. In the 1994/1995 rankings, he was 51st; in the 1995/1996 rankings, he was 11th; and in the 1996/1997 and 1997/1998 rankings, he was second. After winning the world title, Higgins became world number one in the 1998/1999 rankings, ending Hendry's eight consecutive years in the top spot.
After the first world title
During the 1998–99 season, Higgins won the 1998 UK Championship, defeating Matthew Stevens 10–6 in the final, and the 1999 Masters, defeating Doherty 10–8 in the final. By winning the UK, Masters and World Championships, Higgins completed a career Triple Crown. He was also the third player, after Steve Davis and Hendry, to hold the three titles simultaneously, an achievement later emulated by Mark Williams. Higgins is also one of six players to have won both the World Championship and UK Championship in the same calendar year; the others are Davis, Hendry, Parrott, O'Sullivan and Mark Selby.Higgins held the world number one position for two seasons before Williams replaced him at the top of the rankings. Higgins and Williams met in the 1999 Grand Prix final, where Higgins came from 2–6 down to claim a 9–8 victory. They also met in the 2000 World Snooker Championship semi-finals, where Higgins initially led 14–10 but ultimately lost 15–17. They also played again in the 2000 UK Championship final, where Higgins won 10–4 to claim his second UK title. Higgins reached his second world final at the 2001 World Snooker Championship, but lost 14–18 to O'Sullivan. At the beginning of the 2001–02 season, he became the first player to win the opening three tournaments in a season: the 2001 Champions Cup in August, the 2001 Scottish Masters in September, and the 2001 British Open in October. He failed to win a major title for another three years, until the 2004 British Open. Clive Everton later claimed that Higgins "lost his edge" during this period, due to becoming preoccupied with fatherhood; Higgins' wife Denise confirmed that she had to "push him out of the house to practise".
In the 2005 Grand Prix final, Higgins comprehensively defeated O'Sullivan 9–2. He became the first player to make four consecutive centuries in a ranking event, with breaks of 103, 104, 138 and 128 in frames 7–10. Higgins also scored a then-record 494 points without reply in the match. Of Higgins' performance, O'Sullivan commented that he had "never seen anything like it", while Everton stated that Higgins was "back to the kind of form which gave him the 1998 world title". Higgins and O'Sullivan also faced each other in consecutive Masters finals in 2005 and 2006. Higgins lost 3–10 in 2005. In 2006, he lost the first three frames, but won the next five to lead after the first session. O'Sullivan levelled the scores in the evening session and the match went to a deciding frame. O'Sullivan missed a to a while on a of 60, and Higgins made a of 64 to win 10–9 and claim his second Masters title.
Second and third world titles
At the 2007 World Snooker Championship, Higgins beat Michael Holt, Fergal O'Brien, O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire en route to the final. Trailing 10–14 against Maguire, Higgins won 17–15, making the 1,000th century to be made at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield since the World Championship was first staged there in 1977. In the final, Higgins held a 12–4 advantage over Selby overnight, but Selby reduced his arrears to a single frame on day two. However, at 14–13, Higgins rediscovered his form to win four consecutive frames to clinch the match 18–13 to secure his second World title at 12:54 am, the latest finish to a World final ; and nine years after his first title – the longest time span between successes since Alex Higgins and the longest at the Crucible. He regained world number one status.As World Champion, Higgins best performance was only reaching the quarter-final stages in the Welsh Open and China Open tournaments. He helped to establish, and actively promoted, the World Series of Snooker – a tour intended to bring snooker to new venues outside the traditional United Kingdom and recently developed Far East markets. He won the inaugural event in St. Helier in June 2008, beating Mark Selby 6–3 in the final. Higgins also devised a new players' union with his manager Pat Mooney, called The Snooker Players Association. He won the Grand Prix for the fourth time in 2008, beating Ryan Day 9–7 in the final in Glasgow – his first ranking tournament win on home soil.
At the 2009 World Snooker Championship, Higgins beat Michael Holt 10–5 in round one. His second-round and quarter-final matches both went the full distance of 25 frames, with Higgins overcoming Jamie Cope and Mark Selby, respectively, to win 13–12. He established a 13–3 lead in the semi-final against Mark Allen and progressed 17–13 . Higgins recorded an 18–9 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final to become the ninth player to win the World title three or more times after Joe Davis, Fred Davis, John Pulman, John Spencer, Ray Reardon, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
In the 2009–10 season, as reigning World Champion, he lost 5–6 on the black ball to Neil Robertson in the semi-final of the Grand Prix; and 8–10 to Ding Junhui in the final of the UK Championship, after surviving a comeback by Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-final when leading 8–2, to advance 9–8 the previous evening. He also defeated Neil Robertson 9–8 during the tournament. He captured the Welsh Open title by defeating Ali Carter 9–4 in the final, and ended the season as world number one despite an 11–13 loss to Steve Davis in round two of the World Championship.