Major honours
A small population, but Wales has produced world champions across three separate generations. Ray Reardon, a former miner and policeman, won six titles between 1970 and 1978, taking this country to the top just before the television era, and his 1978 win at 45 stood as the oldest-champion record until Ronnie O'Sullivan surpassed it in 2022. Terry Griffiths pulled off the upset of winning the world title in his very first season as a professional in 1979, and went on to coach the next generation of Welsh players. Mark Williams won in 2000 and 2003, then returned after a gap of well over a decade to win again in 2018 at 43, completing this sport's most remarkable second act, and reached another final in 2025 at 50, the oldest finalist in Crucible history. Welsh snooker is widely regarded as an overwhelmingly successful programme relative to the size of its population.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
The relationship with England is closer to cooperation than rivalry — Williams, active alongside O'Sullivan and Higgins from the 1990s onward, formed part of what became known as the Class of 1992, a friendship that crossed the border entirely.