Class of ’92’s Incredible Three Decade Plus Snooker Streak Under Threat of Ending This Year

Time is running out for snooker’s fabled ‘Class of 92’ to preserve and extend a 32-year title sequence that they jointly own.

Three of the sport’s undisputed all-time greats - who are now in their 50s but still ranked inside the elite world’s top 16 - Ronnie O’ Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams all turned professional at the same time in 1992.

Every year since 1993, at least one of the Class of 92 members has won a world ranking event title. However, that streak is under serious threat of ending.

Neither O’Sullivan, Higgins nor Williams has lifted a trophy on the World Snooker Tour in 2026, and there are only four more ranking competitions to come this year: the International Championship, UK Championship, Shoot Out, Scottish Open.

Former world junior champion O’Sullivan had the biggest reputation of the three teenagers when they entered snooker’s top-flight for the 1992/93 season, and he was the first to claim silverware at that level.

And memorably so during only his second professional season, when he defeated world champion and world number one Stephen Hendry, 10-6, in the final to win the 1993 UK Championship at the Guild Hall in Preston.

O’Sullivan was aged only 17 years and 358 days at the time, making him the youngest player ever to become a ranking event champion in the sport - a record he still holds today.

‘The Rocket’ notched up his second ranking accolade later that same season at the British Open, and has gone on to amass a record 41 ranking crowns throughout his long and illustrious career - overtaking Hendry’s previous benchmark of 36.

But O’Sullivan is currently in the midst of a title drought on the professional circuit, with his last ranking glory coming in January 2024 at the World Grand Prix. For the first time, he went back-to-back trophyless seasons.

The Englishman has come very close to gold since then, though. He was ousted 10-9 by Neil Robertson in last year’s Saudi Arabia Masters final, and earlier this year he was denied by an inspired Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the World Open final, with the Thai completing a maximum 147 break during a 10-7 outcome.

More recently, O’Sullivan has lost his opening match in consecutive tournaments at the Shenzhen Open and Northern Ireland Open.

The first of Higgins' 33 career ranking event titles came at the 1994 Grand Prix. Less than six months on he had also added the International Open and British Open honours to his CV - the quickest span for a player to win their first three ranking titles.

Within the last 15 years, Higgins' ranking title successes have become more sparse - racking up nine during that period.

In 2025, he ended a four-year wait for a ranked title at the World Open, and just a month or so later, the Scot won again, this time at the Tour Championship.

Higgins nearly made it an annual hat-trick at the International Championship in November but had to settle for silver behind Wu Yize who secured his maiden World Snooker Tour top prize.

In February of this year, Higgins was locked 7-7 with Zhao Xintong in the final of the Players Championship before the reigning world champion went on a three-frame scoring blitz to the finish line.

It has been a tough start to this season for Higgins - who admitted to motivation struggles at the British Open - having yet to feature in the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament.

Of the three players to keep this Class of 92 run going, Williams looks like the most likely candidate.

The oldest of the trio, the 51-year-old Welshman reached the final of last month's English Open against Ali Carter where he led after the first session before losing 9-6.

At last week's Northern Ireland Open, 27-time ranking event winner Williams was pipped 6-5 by compatriot Jak Jones in a dramatic semi-final.

Williams had to wait longer than his contemporaries for his maiden ranking distinction at the 1996 Welsh Open when aged 20. By the end of 2000, though, he was already on double figures.

‘The Welsh Potting Machine’ is the last Class of 92 member to win a ranking title. He did so in October 2025 at the Xi’an Grand Prix where he got the better of an in-form Shaun Murphy to become snooker’s oldest-ever ranking event champion.

Unlike O’Sullivan and Higgins, Williams has won a ranking title in each of the last three years - 2023 British Open, 2024 Tour Championship, 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix.

Looking at the quartet of ranked competitions left in 2026, we’ll probably only see O’Sullivan in one of them - the UK Championship. He withdrew from the International Championship qualifiers a few weeks ago, hasn’t entered the Scottish Open, and it’s highly unlikely that he’d make a very rare Shoot Out appearance.

Both Higgins and Williams are in the draws for the International and Scottish, and are set to be top 16 seeds - like O’Sullivan - at the UK in York.