1996–97 snooker world rankings: The professional world rankings for the top 64 snooker players in the 199697 season are listed below.
{| class="wikitable"
! No.
! align="left" | Name
! align="left" | Nationality
! align="left" | Points
|-
| 1
| Stephen Hendry
|
| 36911
|-
| 2
| John Higgins
|
| 32341
|-
| 3
| Peter Ebdon
|
| 28115
|-
| 4
| John Parrott
|
| 24339
|-
| 5
| Nigel Bond
|
| 22669
|-
| 6
| Alan McManus
|
| 21492
|-
| 7
| Ken Doherty
|
| 21161
|-
| 8
| Ronnie O'Sullivan
|
| 21007
|-
| 9
| Darren Morgan
|
| 19142
|-
| 10
| Steve Davis
|
| 18252
|-
| 11
| Dave Harold
|
| 18247
|-
| 12
| James Wattana
|
| 17641
|-
| 13
| Jimmy White
|
| 16620
|-
| 14
| Alain Robidoux
|
| 16058
|-
| 15
| Tony Drago
|
| 16031
|-
| 16
| Mark Williams
|
| 15988
|-
| 17
| Joe Swail
|
| 15966
|-
| 18
| Andy Hicks
|
| 15371
|-
| 19
| Gary Wilkinson
|
| 15251
|-
| 20
| Rod Lawler
|
| 14565
|-
| 21
| Neal Foulds
|
| 14430
|-
| 22
| Anthony Hamilton
|
| 14415
|-
| 23
| Terry Griffiths
|
| 14226
|-
| 24
| Steve James
|
| 13699
|-
| 25
| Willie Thorne
|
| 13534
|-
| 26
| Dennis Taylor
|
| 13229
|-
| 27
| Dene O'Kane
|
| 13176
|-
| 28
| David Finbow
|
| 12946
|-
| 29
| Jason Ferguson
|
| 12839
|-
| 30
| Chris Small
|
| 12788
|-
| 31
| Stephen Lee
|
| 12751
|-
| 32
| Mick Price
|
| 12101
|-
| 33
| Martin Clark
|
| 11840
|-
| 34
| David Roe
|
| 11804
|-
| 35
| Billy Snaddon
|
| 11487
|-
| 36
| Fergal O'Brien
|
| 11415
|-
| 37
| Anthony Davies
|
| 11288
|-
| 38
| Dean Reynolds
|
| 11019
|-
| 39
| Mark King
|
| 10943
|-
| 40
| Drew Henry
|
| 10913
|-
| 41
| Terry Murphy
|
| 10855
|-
| 42
| Tony Knowles
|
| 10853
|-
| 43
| Mark Bennett
|
| 10786
|-
| 44
| Mark Johnston-Allen
|
| 10541
|-
| 45
| Tony Chappel
|
| 10358
|-
| 46
| Mike Hallett
|
| 10035
|-
| 47
| Joe Johnson
|
| 9785
|-
| 48
| Wayne Jones
|
| 9725
|-
| 49
| Brian Morgan
|
| 9719
|-
| 50
| Mark Flowerdew
|
| 9510
|-
| 51
| Karl Payne
|
| 9438
|-
| 52
| Nick Terry
|
| 9320
|-
| 53
| Paul Davies
|
| 9165
|-
| 54
| Jamie Burnett
|
| 9115
|-
| 55
| Mark Davis
|
| 8950
|-
| 56
| Jason Prince
|
| 8864
|-
| 57
| Karl Broughton
|
| 8643
|-
| 58
| Graeme Dott
|
| 8584
|-
| 59
| Doug Mountjoy
|
| 8445
|-
| 60
| Jimmy Michie
|
| 8410
|-
| 61
| Stephen Murphy
|
| 8238
|-
| 62
| Euan Henderson
|
| 8173
|-
| 63
| Tony Jones
|
| 8168
|-
| 64
| Jonathan Birch
|
| 8044
|}