John Higgins,
MBE (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional
snooker player. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 30
ranking titles, including four
World Championships and three
UK Championships, as well as two
Masters titles, making him one of the most successful players in the history of the sport.
In terms of world titles in the modern era, Higgins is fifth behind
Stephen Hendry (7),
Steve Davis (6),
Ray Reardon (6) and
Ronnie O'Sullivan (5). His 30
career ranking titles
puts him in third place behind Hendry (36) and O'Sullivan (36). Known
as a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 750
century breaks in professional tournament play, placing him third behind O'Sullivan and Hendry. He has also compiled 9 competitive
maximum breaks, placing him third behind O'Sullivan (15) and Hendry (11). For 16 consecutive full seasons from
1996/1997 to
2011/2012, Higgins never fell below 6th in the
world rankings, and was
world number 1 on four occasions
in 2010, the
News of the World tabloid newspaper carried out a
sting operation in a hotel room in
Ukraine,
which claimed to show Higgins and his then-manager arranging to lose
specific frames in future matches for money. Although an investigation
cleared Higgins of match-fixing allegations, it found that he had
brought the sport into disrepute by failing to report, and giving the
impression of agreeing with, an invitation to breach the sport's betting
rules. The
WPBSA banned Higgins from professional competition for six months and fined him £75,000. He returned to the tour midway through the
2010/2011 season.
After his return to snooker, Higgins added a third UK Championship title
and claimed his fourth world title in 2011. He then experienced a slump
in form, and between
2012 and
2014 only won the
2012 Shanghai Masters.
He has spoken frequently in this period about his struggles with
confidence and consistency. However, in 2015, Higgins returned to
winning ways, capturing three ranking titles.
