Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player. He has won the Snooker World Championship, Shanghai Masters, English Open, Championship League, and various other events during his extensive career. He also made history as the sport’s oldest first-time world champion, and has won the Triple Crown twice. Stuart Bingham married his wife Michelle in 2013 and they have three children.

Stuart Bingham: Early Snooker Victories

Bingham achieved his first successes during his amateur career in 1996, when he won the English Amateur and World Amateur Championships. He played his way to the World Amateur Championship final the following year, and took part in the 1999 World Snooker Tour. Further success came when he reached the Welsh Open’s quarter-final after beating snooker legend and then-world champion John Higgins. He also beat Stephen Hendry, the defending champion, in the 2000 World Championship.

Further solid performances and victories followed this impressive run. In 2005, Bingham reached the Grand Prix quarter-finals after defeating Shaun Murphy (world championship winner at the time) and performed well in the UK Championship that same year. Later, Bingham won two Masters’ qualifying tournaments in a row in 2006 and 2007 (beating Mark Selby in the latter's final). He also made it to the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals that same year.

He continued to hone his skills and improve his rankings over the years: he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan and Marco Fu to make it to the World Championship quarter-finals in 2010, but narrowly lost to Mark Allen. He also qualified for the World Snooker Championship in 2011 — bringing him closer to his first world title and ranking event win.

Stuart Bingham Wins First Ranking Title

Bingham stormed to the finals at the Australian Goldfields Open in 2011. He started strong with a 5-3 victory during the opening round at the Crucible Theatre, then beat Tom Ford, Allen, and Shaun Murphy to reach the final. Bingham faced Mark Williams — and won his first ranking title with a 9-8 win. This was Bingham’s first win at a ranking event since he turned professional 16 years earlier, and propelled him to 11th place in the world rankings.

Further success came hot on the heels of this milestone achievement. Bingham claimed top spot at the Premier League Snooker tournament in 2012 after beating Judd Trump in the final, and later played in the Wuxi Classic final (during which he took on Ricky Walden).

As the Premier League Snooker champion 2012, Bingham was also invited to take part in the Champion of Champions event in 2013. He lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final. Bingham played in the UK Championship 2013, too, and again reached the semi-final stage.

When Did Stuart Bingham Win the Snooker World Championship?

Bingham won his first World Championship in 2015. He claimed his first Triple Crown after winning the UK Championship, the invitational Masters, and the World Championship.

Bingham beat Shaun Murphy (a former world snooker champion) at the Crucible Theatre in a thrilling final, having defeated Robbie Williams, Graeme Dott, Judd Trump, and Ronnie O’Sullivan along the way. The victory against Murphy was a massive breakthrough for Bingham after years of professional play.

But when he discussed his World Championship triumph with BBC Sport in 2015, it was clear that Bingham remained focused on maintaining his edge and winning further tournaments. “If you enter 25 tournaments then surely your number has to come up once or twice?” he said. “The opportunity is there to earn big money.”

The world champion continued: “my goal is always the same, to win one tournament; it is so competitive winning one tournament means you have had a good season.”

Bingham Wins at the Masters

Bingham won his second ranking title at the Shanghai Masters in 2014. He defeated Allen with a 10-3 win, having already beaten Li Hang, Dominic Dale, and Alan McManus. He also reached the semi-finals at the 2015 Shanghai Masters, and played against O’Sullivan in the final of the 2016 Masters (after beating John Higgins and Ding Junhui). He also participated in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals that same year, and took on Liang Wenbo at the English Open semi-finals.

However, Bingham finally became Masters champion in 2020 after defeating Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert, and Ali Carter. He received the top prize of £250,000 (from a £725,000 pool). He told BBC Sport that Carter’s performance was so impressive for much of the final that Bingham was “starting to think about what to say after being beaten”, and had no idea how he “turned it around”.

Bingham earned his second Triple Crown by becoming the Masters champion, and he was the oldest player to win the tournament at 43 years of age (that honour had previously belonged to Ray Reardon, who was just five months younger when he claimed the top spot at the Masters in 1976).

Winning the English Open and Taking on the UK Championship in 2018 2018 brought further success for Stuart Bingham, when he competed in the English Open: the sixth ranking event of the season. Ronnie O’Sullivan sought to remain champion after beating Kyren Wilson at the previous year’s event — but he ultimately lost to Mark Davis in the semi-final.

However, Bingham beat Davis in the final and won 9-7 to claim his fifth professional ranking title. This also made him the first winner of two Home Nations Series events. Before the final, Bingham had defeated Duane Jones, Hossein Vafaei, and Ricky Walden.

In December 2018, Bingham entered the UK Championship and played his way to the semi-finals, where he lost in a deciding frame. O’Sullivan, himself a former world champion, ultimately won the tournament after beating Mark Allen in the final. Bingham defeated James Wattana, Kurt Maflin, Sunny Akani, and Kyren Wilson, but was narrowly beaten 5-6 by Mark Allen in the semi-finals.

The two-time Triple Crown winner also participated in the 2021 World Championship event and beat Ding Junhui in the first round. He followed this up with a 13-6 victory against Jamie Jones in the second round, then beat Anthony McGill during the quarter-finals. Bingham faced Mark Selby in the semi-final and narrowly lost 15-17.

Bingham's Success

The former world champion has completed more than 500 century breaks during professional competition. He's 10th on the all-time list. Bingham has also made eight maximum breaks, the fourth most of any snooker player behind O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, and Higgins. Amazingly Stuart Bingham and Ken Doherty are the only players to have been victorious at both amateur and professional world championships events. With an estimated networth of $2 million, Bingham is on track for being one of the most successful snooker players in British history.… show more