Judd Trump will begin the 2026/27 snooker season as world number one, but his grip on the sport’s top ranking position appears increasingly vulnerable.
Trump has been world number one for almost two years – the Englishman regaining the coveted status in the summer of 2024.
Indeed, since the rankings changed to the rolling two-year format in 2010, only Mark Selby has spent more time as the sport’s highest-ranked competitor.
This will be the fourth time that Trump begins a new term in pole position on the official list, but whether he can stay there for much longer is very uncertain.
By the end of August, the likelihood of the 36 year-old already being replaced is high.
Trump currently boasts a healthy-looking lead of more than £400,000 to the chasing pack of Neil Robertson, Zhao Xintong, and Wu Yize.
Official rankings at the start of the 2026/27 snooker season
1. Judd Trump – £1,655,550
2. Neil Robertson – £1,210,550
3. Zhao Xintong – £1,176,550
4. Wu Yize – £1,120,900
5. John Higgins – £968,350
However, a huge chunk of his earnings is set to be deducted from his tally in the coming months.
Trump earned a staggering £1,193,200 during the 2024/25 campaign, with £576,000 of that total set to disappear from his ranking tally by the end of August.
Most of that sum can’t even be defended in fact, with the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters already dumped from the calendar after only two of its promised ten editions.
Trump bagged £500,000 for capturing the inaugural ranking event crown in Saudi, while an additional £76,000 is to come off through his run to the final of the 2024 Xi’an Grand Prix.
The situation for Robertson, Zhao, and Wu in the early-season stretch is markedly different.
In September. Robertson and Wu will have to defend the points they earned for reaching the 2024 English Open final.
But before that, Robertson has less than £60,000 being deducted while recent world snooker champion Wu has just £26,000 coming off.
The outlook is even more promising for Zhao, who wasn’t even on the main tour during the 2024/25 campaign and will have basically no points to defend until the World Championship comes around at the end of the season.
Provisional rankings – end of August
(2024 Championship League Snooker, Xi’an Grand Prix, Saudi Arabia Masters points deducted)
1. Zhao Xintong – £1,176,550
2. Neil Robertson – £1,152,200
3. Wu Yize – £1,094,900
4. Judd Trump – £1,079,550
5. John Higgins – £942,000
With these points removed, Trump provisionally drops down to fourth with Zhao set to become only the second world number one in the sport’s history from China.
A lot of course will depend on how the likes of Trump and Zhao get on in the first few events of the campaign, with the best sportsbooks in the UK offering a range of betting odds for upcoming snooker tournaments.
Championship League Snooker will launch the 2026/27 calendar as the opening ranking event, but it has traditionally boasted a low prize fund.
A lot of the biggest names choose not to enter anyway, so its influence on the upcoming rankings race will likely be very small.
Beyond that, though, there are two ranking events in August that could determine whether or not there is an immediate change at the summit.
The China Open (Aug 8-16) returns to the schedule for the first time since 2019 with £250,000 up for grabs for the winner.
The Wuhan Open, which carried a top prize of £140,000 in 2025, takes place shortly after from August 23 to 29.
Can Trump begin the new season strongly and maintain his current stranglehold on the world number one position, or will Robertson return to the top spot for the first time since 2015?
Perhaps more likely is that either Zhao or Wu will rise to the peak to become just the 13th world number one in snooker history.
With at least three players realistically capable of overtaking Trump before autumn arrives, the battle for world number one could become one of the defining narratives of the opening months of the 2026/27 season.
Featured photo credit: WST
