Since turning professional in 1992, he has won four World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters titles, for a total of nine Triple Crown titles; this puts him behind only O’Sullivan (23), Hendry (18) and Steve Davis (15), and level with Mark Selby.

A prolific break-builder, Higgins has compiled over 900 century breaks in professional competition, including 13 maximum breaks, second only to O’Sullivan’s 15. He is also the oldest player to make a maximum break in professional competition, having set the record at the 2024 Championship League when he was aged 48 years and 268 days.

He has reached the world number one ranking position four times. Alongside O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, he is one of the three players known as the “Class of ’92”, who all turned professional during the 1992–93 snooker season.

John Higgins
MBE

Higgins at the 2014 German Masters
Born	18 May 1975 (age 49) Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Sport country	Scotland
Nickname	The Wizard of Wishaw[1]
Professional	1992–present
Highest ranking	1 (May 1998 – May 2000, May 2007 – May 2008, May–September 2010, December 2010 – May 2011)
Current ranking	16 (as of 7 May 2024)
Maximum breaks	13
Century breaks	995 (as of 6 May 2024)
Tournament wins
Ranking	31
Minor-ranking	3
World Champion	1998 2007 2009 2011

In 2010, a tabloid newspaper carried out a sting operation in Ukraine, which claimed to show Higgins and his 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, Higgins’ form became less consistent.

He reached three consecutive World Championship finals between 2017 and 2019, but lost each time, to Mark Selby in 2017, Mark Williams in 2018 and Judd Trump in 2019. In the 2021–22 season, he lost five major finals, including the 2022 Tour Championship, when he led Neil Robertson 9–4 but lost the match 9–10.