1991–92 snooker world rankings

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for professional snooker, first introduced a ranking system for professional players in 1976, with the aim of seeding players for the World Snooker Championship. The reigning champion would be automatically seeded first, the losing finalist from the previous year seeded second, and the other seedings based on the ranking list. Initially, the rankings were based on performances in the preceding three world championships. The 1983–84 snooker world rankings were the first to take tournaments other than the world championship into account and several additional tournaments were designated as ranking tournaments over the following years. The list for the 1986–87 snooker season was the first to only take account of results over two seasons and the rankings for 1991–92 were also based on results from the preceding two seasons. There were eighteen ranking events taken into consideration for the 1991–92 ranking list: ten in the 1989–90 snooker season and eight in the 1990–91 snooker season. The ranking list was published soon after the conclusion of the 1991 World Snooker Championship.

Stephen Hendry was ranked first, with 85 ranking points, ahead of Steve Davis with 57 and Jimmy White with 51. Snooker Scene magazine commented that Hendry's lead was larger than the equivalent of four ranking tournament wins. Gary Wilkinson and Tony Jones were in the top 16, regarded as the elite of the game, for the first time. Wilkinson, runner-up at the 1991 British Open, rose from 19th to 5th and the 1991 European Open champion Jones moved from 35th to 15th. Tony Knowles regained a place in the top 16, while Willie Thorne, John Virgo and Tony Meo dropped out of it.

Alan McManus at 41st and Ken Doherty at 51st were the highest placed of those who had been on the professional circuit for only one season. Alex Higgins had 25 ranking points deducted from his 1989–90 total and was banned for the 1990–91 season by the WPBSA following a disciplinary inquiry. He fell from 97th to 120th. There were 165 players on the original list issued by the WBPSA, but four players who did not pay their membership fees were subsequently excluded: Jimmy van Rensberg (originally 119th), Patsy Fagan (originally 146th), Mike Hines (originally 159th) and Frank Jonik (originally 160th).