There is a slim but very real possibility that Zhao Xintong could end the 2025/26 snooker season as the world number one.
If he wins the upcoming World Snooker Championship and Judd Trump loses in the first round, Zhao will climb to the top of the official two-year rankings list.
It is a simple equation, yet one that feels a little absurd when placed into context.
Less than two years ago, Zhao was off the main tour and serving the end of a 20-month suspension for his behind-the-scenes involvement in a match-fixing scandal.
Zhao’s career appeared in jeopardy, his reputation damaged, and his future uncertain.
Now he arrives in Sheffield as the reigning world champion, the form player in the sport, and a man with a realistic chance of becoming the sport’s newest world number one.
From amateur to world champion to world number one in less than a year would be an unprecedented and meteoric rise.
Zhao, who plays Liam Highfield in the opening round at the Crucible, currently sits fourth in the official world rankings with £1,126,550 behind Trump, Kyren Wilson, and Neil Robertson.
But with the rolling two-year system about to remove the points earned at the 2024 World Championship, the outlook significantly shifts.
Trump’s tally drops to £1,625,550, Robertson falls to £1,160,550, and Wilson plummets after losing the £500,000 he earned for his Crucible triumph two years ago.
Zhao, by contrast, remains unchanged. It is a quirk of his disrupted career path, but one that has placed him in an incredibly strong position at exactly the right time.
Win the World Championship again in 2026, and Zhao would climb to £1,626,550.
If Trump were to suffer a shock first-round exit – a result that would add nothing to his total – Zhao would edge ahead by just £1,000.
It is the narrowest of margins but a genuine scenario, especially since Trump was handed one of the hardest qualifiers in Gary Wilson when the World Snooker Championship draw was made on Thursday.
Robertson remains in contention too and could snatch top spot with a World Championship victory combined with an early exit for Trump.
Right now, however, Zhao looks like the best player in the world and the most likely bet to become snooker’s next top dog.
The 29 year-old has been virtually untouchable since the turn of the year – winning the World Grand Prix, the Players Championship, and the Tour Championship to complete a clean sweep of the Players Series.
His 10-3 demolition of Trump in the Tour Championship final seemed particularly important, a performance that felt less like a victory and more like a statement.
Zhao scores heavily, plays with speed and clarity, and carries a confidence that can overwhelm even the strongest opponents.
It is that combination of form and freedom that makes him the most dangerous player on the planet at present, and he enters the 2026 edition at the Crucible as a 2/1 favourite for glory.
In terms of the rankings, there is no immediate pressure on Zhao to deliver.
While others are desperately trying to defend large sums of prize money, Zhao is effectively building from a clean base.
His suspension meant that he missed significant chunks of the previous two-year cycle, leaving him with almost nothing to lose from his current tally until next year’s World Championship.
Even if he falls short in Sheffield this year, his trajectory remains firmly upward.
Indeed, it would be a surprise at this stage if were to fail in his attempt to claim the world number one spot at some point during the 2026/27 campaign, at the very latest.
Since turning professional in 2016, Zhao had long been regarded as one of snooker’s most naturally gifted talents.
His breakthrough later came with victory at the UK Championship in 2021, but few could have anticipated the twists that would follow.
His suspension threatened to derail everything, forcing him to rebuild from scratch upon his return in September, 2024.
Competing on the Q Tour as an amateur, Zhao immediately reasserted his class by winning four consecutive events to earn a route back onto the biggest stages.
He seized that opportunity emphatically.
After qualifying for both the UK Championship and the World Championship, Zhao produced one of the most extraordinary runs in Crucible history, coming through the preliminary rounds and going all the way to lift the trophy as an amateur.
His victory over Mark Williams in the final not only secured his place in history as China’s first world champion, but it also laid the foundation for everything that has followed since.
Now, less than a year later, he will look to break the fabled Curse of the Crucible and, if other results go his way, end an incredible period as snooker’s newest world number one.
Featured photo credit: WST
Considering the way earnings are skewed in favour of the top 12 or 16 and only played 2 matches in 24/25, it is unbelievable that there is even a possibility of over taking the best that played or had the chance to play 24 months while he only play twice in 2024. Mathematically what he has accomplished in the modern era is astonishing. Yes, yes the time off was his own doing but when you consider him receiving a 20 month suspension while not involved in the match and the tiny 5 months John Higgins for being got on tape fixing 4 matches for 200,000 large ones is criminal. He was never charged with match fixing because the matches did not take place because the newspapers already outed him.
I would love to see someone like Gary Wilson win, but I am not here to change the facts of what has happened.
I am digressing here, and I feel extremely sorry for what happened to Mr John Higgin’s son’s alcohol poisoning, I know in the UK they call it suicide instead. But in 2006 the father (John Higgins) was escorted off a plane after losing in my homeland in the Malta Cup because he was a drunk disturbing the safety of the passengers and crew. In 2011, his son was not as lucky as he was. To say it was because alcohol is too cheap is just sad. The biggest problem we all face today is that parenting has fallen to the wayside. In the 80’s the baby boomers turned a decade into a “Me Society” and by the nineties most couples were divorced and men and women both had to work to survive. The children were either left alone to fend for themselves and deal with parents more occupied with their career. Personally I blame all of it not to cheap beer but capitalism brain washing us that governments are bad and to feel selfish and maybe go to the strippers or a lady buying more shoes that she will ever wear became what we call life.
Love your children.
Again, I am sorry for this, but sometimes sport hits home.
Who you are referring to is not the snooker player John Higgins. This is a snooker website – please keep your comments related to snooker.
Sorry Dave.