Albeit not as popular as other sporting disciplines, snooker offers a career with prospects of earning at par with some of the richest athletes in the world. In fact, the top snooker players rank among the most prosperous sports personalities. Before we take a closer look at the richest snooker players, let us know more about the glamorous cue sport.
A cue sport played on a table, snooker has its roots in India under colonial rule. In 1875, British army officer Neville Chamberlain, stationed in Ootacamund (also known as Ooty), Madras and Jabalpur, devised a set of rules that combined black pool and pyramids, which later came to be known as snooker. The sport was predominantly played by the elites in the United Kingdom in the early 20th century, before broadening its horizon and spreading out to the rest of the world.
The rules of the game, which served as the bedrock for snooker to be considered a professional sport, were first established in 1919 when the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed. At present, snooker is controlled by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the apex governing body of the sport.
It was in 1927 that the inaugural edition of the World Snooker Championship took place. Joe Davis, a pioneering figure in the sport, won 15 successive world titles between 1927 and 1946. Ray Reardon was the most popular star of the snooker fraternity in the 1970s. While Steve Davis ruled the sport in the 1980s, the 1990s belonged to Stephen Hendry. Since the turn of the millennium, few have been able to rival the dominance of Ronnie O’Sullivan.
So, on that note, let us take a look at the list of the richest snooker players in the world. The curation includes both active and retired players since excluding the erstwhile stars will fail to underline the impact that snooker as a sport has on boosting an individual’s net worth.
Sports
By Uddipta Banerjee, Nov 26
Sports
By Uddipta Banerjee, Nov 26
Who are the richest snooker players in the world?
Steve Davis
Net worth in 2023: USD 33.7 million
Regarded as one of the finest legends of the sport, Steve Davis dominated the world of snooker in the 1980s. In a span of nine years, the Englishman reached eight World Snooker Championship finals and won six of them. During the same, he held the number-one ranking in the world for seven consecutive seasons.
Besides winning six World Championships, Davis won six UK Championship titles and the Masters competition thrice. In total, the erstwhile snooker player won 15 Triple Crown titles, only behind Ronnie O’Sullivan (21 titles) and Stephen Hendry (18 titles). Davis’ career total of 28 titles ranks him fourth on the list of the most title wins, behind O’Sullivan (39), Hendry (36) and John Higgins (31.4)
An accomplished player, Davis was named the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 1988 and remains the only snooker player to receive this honour. According to reports, the Briton’s net worth makes him the richest snooker player in the world.
Stephen Hendry
Net worth in 2023:USD 32.4 million
While experts have debated about the supremacy of Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan, as to who is the greater legend, there is no denying that the former is one of the finest snooker players of all time. Hailing from Scotland, Hendry has seven world titles to his name (he is tied with O’Sullivan at the pole position). Hendry’s tally of 36 career titles is only second to O’Sullivan’s record of 40 wins.
In 1990, Hendry won his first World Snooker Championship title when he was aged 21 years and 106 days. He rewrote Alex Higgins’ record for being the youngest world champion. The Scottish legend holds the record to date.
Nicknamed‘The King of the Crucible’and ‘The Golden Bairn’,Stephen Hendry retired from the sport in 2012. He features as a commentator and studio pundit for snooker coverage on BBC and ITV.
Dennis Taylor
Net worth in 2023:USD 23.4 million
One of the richest snooker players in the world, according to multiple reports, Dennis Taylor is a former Northern Irish player who retired from the sport in 2000. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, defeating the then-defending champion Steve Davis in the final.
Notably, the final ranks among the most popular games of snooker in the history of the sport. Despite losing the first eight frames, Taylor made a comeback for the ages to win the match by a margin of 18-17 in a dramatic battle for the last black ball. The final match attracted as many as 18.5 million viewers, setting the United Kingdom’s viewership records for any post-midnight broadcast and any broadcast on BBC Two. These two records stand to date.
Jimmy White
Net worth in 2023: USD 19.4 million
Nicknamed‘The Whirlwind’owing to his fluid, swift and attacking style of play, Jimmy White is an English professional snooker player, who has won the World Seniors Championship a record four times (in 2010, 2019, 2020 and 2023). In addition, he has also won the World Amateur Championship in 1980, the Six-red World Grand Prix in 2009 and the World Doubles Championship in 1984 (alongside Alex Higgins).
White has won the UK Championship in 1992 and the Masters title in 1984. He reached six World Snooker Championship finals, but never won the title. The closest he came to lifting the crown was in 1994 when he lost in a final-frame decider against Stephen Hendry.
Cliff Thorburn
Net worth in 2023:USD 15.5 million
A former world champion, Cliff Thorburn is one of the most distinguished snooker players of his generation. He is popularly known as ‘The Grinder’ because of his slow, determined style of play. He won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18-16 in the final. Thorburn is generally recognised as the sport’s first world champion from outside the United Kingdom.
The Canadian became the first non-British player to top the snooker world rankings when he reached the pole position in the 1981-82 season. He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2014.
Later in his career, the snooker player competed in the Snooker Legends events and was a part of the World Seniors Tour. In 2018, Thorburn won the Seniors Masters title. Even though he retired from competitive snooker after the 2022 UK Seniors Championship, the North American remains one of the richest snooker players in the world.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Net worth in 2023:USD 14 million
A part of the global snooker landscape for over three decades, Ronnie O’Sullivan is arguably one of the most accomplished players in the history of the sport. He has been the world champion a record seven times and has reached the top of the world rankings several times in his career.
At the age of 46 years and 148 days, O’Sullivan became the oldest world champion in the history of snooker when he won the 2022 World Snooker Championship. He also surpassed Stephen Hendry’s record of 70 wins at the Crucible Theatre with his 74th in the 2022 World Championship final. The Briton eventually broke Steve Davis’ record of most appearances in the World Championships (30 appearances) with his 31st at the 2023 World Championship.
By virtue of being one of the greatest snooker players of all time, Ronnie O’Sullivan ranks among the wealthiest sports personalities in the world, according to a 2023 report by Celebrity Net Worth.
Mark Selby
Net worth in 2023:USD 12 million
A popular snooker player of his generation, Mark Selby is a former world number one, who has won several titles. He is a four-time winner of the World Snooker Championship and has a total of nine Triple Crown titles to his name (Selby has won the Masters title thrice and the UK Championship crown on two occasions). The Englishman has earned a total of 22 ranking titles and ranks eighth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners.
Selby turned professional in 1999 at a young age of 16. He made his debut appearance in the World Snooker Championship in 2005, and reached his first final in the tournament in 2007 (he lost the title clash to John Higgins). The Briton won his first major title at the 2008 Masters and his first ranking title at the 2008 Welsh Open.
Notably, Mark Selby has compiled more than 750 century breaks in his professional career, including five maximum breaks (one of them remains the only one to be made in the final of the World Championships). The Englishman is also a pool player — he won the 2006 World Eight-ball Pool Federation Championship. Interestingly, Selby remains the only player to date to become the world champion in both pool and snooker.
John Parrott
Net worth in 2023: USD 11.6 million
In the late 1980s and the 1990s, John Parrott was a popular sports personality in England. The Briton achieved the feat of staying in the top 16 of the world rankings for fourteen consecutive seasons. However, he also holds the record for the heaviest defeat in a World Snooker Championship final in the modern era. Parrott scripted this unwanted record against Steve Davis in the final of the 1989 World Championship when he lost by a margin of 3-18.
The English snooker player won the world title two years later, defeating Jimmy White in the final. Later that year, he replicated his win against White, this time in the final of the 1991 UK Championship. With this win, John Parrot joined an elite group of players to win both championships in the same year. To date, only six players (including Parrott) have achieved this feat.
John Higgins
Net worth in 2023:USD 11.2 million
Known as‘The Wizard of Wishaw’, John Higgins is one of the most accomplished snooker players in the history of the sport. A member of the “Class of ’92” alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams (all of them made their professional debuts that season), Higgins holds the third spot in the list of the most ranking event winners with 31 ranking titles.
The Scottish professional snooker player has won four World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters titles for a total of nine Triple Crown titles. Higgins has compiled over 900-century breaks in professional competitions to date, including 12 maximum breaks (which ranks him second to O’Sullivan’s 15). He has reached the pole position in the world rankings four times in the past, and even though he hasn’t been a consistent performer in recent years, Higgins remains one of the richest players of the game in the world.
Mark Williams
Net worth in 2023:USD 9 million
Summing up the list of the richest snooker players in the world is Mark Williams, a Welsh professional, who has won the World Championship thrice (in 2000, 2003 and 2018). Renowned for his long potting ability, Williams has been given the nickname ‘The Welsh Potting Machine’.
In the 2002-03 season, Williams won the Triple Crown — the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Snooker Championship. Owing to this achievement, the Welsh player also became the third individual in the history of the sport, after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, to win all three Triple Crown events in a single season.
To date, Mark Williams remains the only player to have won all three versions of the professional World Championship, namely the World Snooker Championship, the World Seniors Championship (in 2015) and the Six-red World Championship (in 2017).
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By Uddipta Banerjee, Oct 22
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By Robin Bose, Oct 07
(Hero Image Credits: Courtesy Stephen Hendry/Instagram and Ronnie O’Sullivan/Instagram; Featured Image Credits: Courtesy Stephen Hendry/Instagram)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Who is the richest snooker player of all time?
According to reports, Steve Davis is the richest snooker player of all time.
– How much is Cliff Thorburn’s net worth?
As of December 2023, Cliff Thorburn enjoys a net worth of an estimated USD 15.5 million.
