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🎱Judd Trump vs Alex Higgins

Head to head · Snooker

Judd Trump
#9

Judd Trump

England · 2005-present

VS
#11

Alex Higgins

Northern Ireland · 1971-1997

Stat by stat

1 World titles 2
3 World finals reached 4
30+ Ranking titles 1
4 Triple Crown titles 5

Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.

The verdict

Alex Higgins leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Judd Trump at #9 and Alex Higgins at #11.

Head-to-head FAQ

Who leads more shared metrics?
Alex Higgins leads 3 of 4 shared teaching metrics on this page.
How do the published ranks compare?
Judd Trump is ranked #9; Alex Higgins is ranked #11 in this sport’s GOAT list.
Are these live stats?
No — bars and FAQ answers are editorial, scaled teaching marks. Open the GOAT lab to rescale your own selection.

The case for Judd Trump

The most prolific scorer of the post-Hendry generation and the player who normalised attacking snooker from impossible angles. Trump won the world title in 2019, beating John Higgins 18-9 in a final containing a record seven century breaks from the champion, and reached two other finals, in 2011 and 2022. He has passed 30 ranking titles, a total exceeded by only a handful of players in history, and became the second man after Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach 1,000 career centuries. In 2019-20 he became the second player to make 100 centuries in a single season. His Triple Crown haul includes the 2011 UK Championship and the Masters in 2019 and 2023. Trump's signature is shot selection that other professionals would refuse: pots from the cushion, deep screw shots across the table, and a willingness to attack from safety positions, married to a positional game that has grown steadily more disciplined.

The case for Alex Higgins

The player whose record understates his importance more than anyone's. Higgins won the world title in 1972 at 22, then the youngest champion, having qualified from the amateur ranks in his first professional season, and won it again a decade later in 1982, when he called his wife and daughter to the table in tears — the most replayed image in the sport. He reached four world finals, won the UK Championship in 1983 and the Masters in 1978 and 1981, giving him five Triple Crown titles. The 69 break he made against Jimmy White from a hopeless position in the 1982 semi-final is still cited as the finest clearance under pressure ever played. Nicknamed Hurricane for his speed, he brought crowds and controversy in equal measure and made snooker a spectacle rather than a pastime, at enormous personal cost. He died in 2010 at 61.

More head-to-heads

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