1989–90 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 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 1989–90 were also based on results from the preceding two seasons. Barry Hearn, the manager of a number of leading players including Steve Davis and Jimmy White, made a proposal to the WPBSA to change the system so that only the best seven performances from the ten ranking tournaments were counted. It was rejected at an extraordinary meeting of the WPBSA in May 1989.

Davis retained top place in the rankings for the seventh consecutive year. John Parrott moved up five places to second, followed by Stephen Hendry who improved by one place from fourth. The top 16 in the rankings were exempted from the qualifying rounds for the World Snooker Championship and were included in certain invitational events. Doug Mountjoy, Tony Meo and Dean Reynolds returned to the top 16, and Steve James joined the top 16 for the first time. Cliff Wilson, Neal Foulds, Silvino Francisco and Peter Francisco dropped out of the top 16. Of the players who had only competed for one season, Mark Johnston-Allen and Darren Morgan placed highest, at 51st and 52nd respectively. At the end of his first full season as a professional, Alain Robidoux rose from 102nd to 35th place.

In April 1987, Alex Higgins had been excluded from competing in the first two ranking tournaments of the 1987–88 season as part of a six-month ban imposed by the WPBSA, following a hearing conducted for the Association by Gavin Lightman, a barrister, after Higgins had been found guilty in court of headbutting the tournament director at the 1986 UK Championship. Thorburn had two ranking points deducted for "bringing the game into disrepute" due to failing a drugs test at the 1988 British Open, and was barred from the first two ranking events of the 1988–89 season as part of his punishment. Bill Werbeniuk was expelled from the WPBSA in March 1989 after not paying a fine that the Association had imposed for his use of a beta blocker medication, but was readmitted in September and allowed to play in the 1990 World Snooker Championship.

Davis did not compete in the 1989 European Open, a ranking event, citing exhaustion. Reynolds also missed the event, saying that he needed a rest. Both were fined £200 by the WPBSA for missing the event. Among the other players fined for missing events was Kirk Stevens, who was penalised £200 for his absence at the 1988 International Open.

Points tariff and basis of ranking

Placing	[1988](1988-world-snooker-championship) and [1989](1988-world-snooker-championship) world championships	Other ranking tournaments 1987–88 and 1988–89	Champion	Runner-up	Losing semi-finalist	Losing Quarter-finalist	Last 16 Loser	Last 32 Loser	Final qualifying round loser	Penultimate qualifying round loser	Antepenultimate qualifying round loser	Preliminary round loser
10	6
8	5
6	4
4	3
2	2
1 ranking point or 2 merit points	1
2 merit points	1 merit point
1 merit point	1 A point
1 A point	Frames won counted
Frames won counted	–

Ranking was determined as follows:

• By number of ranking points.
• If players had an equal number of ranking points, precedence was given to the player with the better performances in the later season.
• If players were still equal, merit points were considered. If they were still tied, precedence was given to the player with the better performances in the later season.
• If players were still equal, A points were considered. If they were still tied, precedence was given to the player with the better performances in the later season.
• If players were still equal, frames won were considered. If they were still tied, precedence was given the player with the better performances in the later season.