David Lilley (born 19 October 1975) is an English professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2019, after 30 years as an amateur.

Lilley is from Washington in Sunderland, and is a supporter of Newcastle United F.C.

Career Lilley began playing snooker at the age of 13. His first big success was his victory at the (amateur) European Championships in 1995, defeating his compatriot David Gray 8–7. In the same year, he lost to Paul Hunter in the final of the Northern Amateur championship. In 1997, he reached the final of the English Amateur Championship for the first time and won it with a score of 8–7 against Robert Marshall. However, unable to find sponsorship in the wake of the sport's ban on tobacco advertising, and with only around six tournaments a year at that point, he felt he could not afford to turn professional and so remained an amateur.

In 1999, he won by an 8–5 victory in the final against Andrew Norman.. In the same year, he reached the semifinals of the Amateur European Championships and the final of the World Amateur Snooker Championship, in which he was defeated by Ian Preece 11–8.

In 2000, he lost the final of the English Amateur Championship, 5–8 against Nick Marsh.

In February 2002, he participated for the first time in qualifying for the World Snooker Championship, but lost in the second qualifying round against Timothy Paling.

In 2004, Lilley won the English Amateur Championship for a third time, with an 8–6 victory over Wayne Cooper in the final. In the 2004 World Amateur Snooker Championship, he was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals 6–8 by the eventual champion Mark Allen. In qualifying for the 2005 World Snooker Championship, he retired in the third round against Stuart Mann. In the English Amateur Championship 2007, he lost in the of the final against Martin Gould by 7–8.

He participated in the Players Tour Championship 2012/2013 – Event 2 in August 2012 and lost in the first qualifying round against Ben Harrison.

Lilley tried to qualify for the main tour via the 2016 Q School. In the first tournament he reached the final of his group but then lost against Chen Zhe; in the second tournament he retired in the second round. Although he missed the qualification for the Main Tour, as 17th on the Q-School Order of Merit he could participate as a substitute for tournaments of the 2016–17 snooker season.

At the 2016 Indian Open, the second world ranking tournament of the season, he qualified for a ranking tournament for the first time. After defeating Tian Pengfei 4–3 in qualifying, he eliminated Mike Dunn, Mark Williams and Robert Milkins in the main round to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to England's Shaun Murphy 2–4.

He was first on the 2018 Q School Order of Merit. In the 18/19 season, he just missed out on gaining a tour card for the 19/20 season numerous times; he was 4th on the challenge tour list, and lost 5–4 to Kacper Filipiak in the 2019 EBSA European Snooker Championship, where a win would have granted him a place on the tour.

Lilley beat Sean Maddocks 4–0 in the final qualifying round of the first event of the 2019 Q School, finally becoming a professional after 30 years as an amateur. While an amateur, he had worked in the insurance industry. Lilley later remarked that his timing was bad, as no sooner had he joined the professional tour then the COVID-19 pandemic led to the mass cancellation of tournaments.

On 9 May 2021, Lilley overcame Jimmy White 5–3 to become the World Seniors Champion, entitling him to play in the 2021 Champion of Champions tournament. On 7 January 2022, Lilley was runner up to Peter Lines in the 2022 UK Seniors Championship, losing 4–1 in the final.

After a successful 2023–2024 season - the best of his career in terms of ranking points - David finished the season ranked 64th, reaching the top 64 for the first time at the age of 48. In November 2025, at the age of 50 years-old, Lilley reached the last-32 for the first time at the UK Championship.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2001/02 2004/05 2012/13 2016/17 2017/18 2018/192019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27RankingIt shows the ranking at the beginning of the seasonHe was an amateurNew players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking90Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points69645760Ranking tournamentsChampionship LeagueNot HeldNon-Ranking EventRR2RRRRR3R2RRRChina OpenAAAAALQTournament Not HeldLQWuhan OpenTournament Not HeldLQ2RLQLQBritish OpenAATournament Not Held2RLQLQLQ2RLQEnglish OpenNot HeldALQ2R1R3RLQLQ1RLQLQLQShenzhen OpenThe event was called the Xi'an Grand Prix (2024/2025–2025/2026)Tournament Not Held1R2RLQNorthern Ireland OpenNot Held1RA2R2R1RLQ2RLQLQ1RLQInternational ChampionshipNot HeldALQA2RLQNot HeldLQLQ1RUK ChampionshipAAAAA1R1R1R1RLQLQLQ1RShoot OutNot HeldNRA2RA2R1R2R3R3R2R1RScottish OpenANot HeldAA3R1R1R2R1RLQ2RLQGerman MastersNot HeldAAALQLQLQLQLQ2R1RLQWelsh OpenAAAAA1R1R2RLQ2R1RLQ1RWorld Grand PrixNot HeldDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQPlayers ChampionshipNot HeldDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQWorld OpenThe event was called the LG Cup (2001/2002) and Grand Prix (2004/2005)AAAAA1RLQNot Held3R3R1RTour ChampionshipTournament Not HeldDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQWorld ChampionshipLQLQAAALQLQLQLQLQLQLQLQNon-ranking tournamentsChampion of ChampionsNot HeldAAAAA1RAAAAWorld Seniors ChampionshipNot HeldAAANHAAWSFAAAAFormer ranking tournamentsPaul Hunter ClassicThe event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005)NHPAMR1RAANRTournament Not HeldIndian OpenNot HeldQFAATournament Not HeldRiga MastersNot HeldAA1RLQTournament Not HeldChina ChampionshipNot HeldNRAALQTournament Not HeldWST Pro SeriesTournament Not HeldRRTournament Not HeldTurkish MastersTournament Not HeldLQTournament Not HeldGibraltar OpenNot HeldLQA1R2R2R2RTournament Not HeldWST ClassicTournament Not Held1RTournament Not HeldEuropean MastersAANHAALQ1RWDLQLQLQNot HeldSaudi Arabia MastersTournament Not Held2R2RNHFormer non-ranking tournamentsSix-red World ChampionshipNot HeldAAAAANot HeldLQTournament Not Held

Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.

Career finals Seniors finals: 2 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2021 World Seniors Championship Jimmy White 5–3Runner-up 1. 2022 UK Seniors Championship Peter Lines 1–4

Amateur finals: 13 (6 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 1995 EBSA European Snooker Championship David Gray 8–7Runner-up 1. 1995 IBSF World Snooker Championship Sakchai Sim-Ngam 7–11Winner 2. 1997 English Amateur Championship Robert Marshall 8–7Winner 3. 1999 English Amateur Championship (2) Andrew Norman 8–5 Runner-up 2. 1999 IBSF World Snooker Championship (2) Ian Preece 8–11Runner-up 3. 2000 English Amateur Championship Nick Marsh 5–8Winner 4. 2004 English Amateur Championship (3) Wayne Cooper 8–6Runner-up 4. 2007 English Amateur Championship (2) Martin Gould 7–8Runner-up 5. 2017 English Amateur Championship (3) Billy Joe Castle 7–10Winner 5. 2018 Challenge Tour – Event 5 Brandon Sargeant 3–1Runner-up 6. 2018 Challenge Tour – Event 8 Simon Bedford 1–3Runner-up 7. 2019 EBSA European Snooker Championship Kacper Filipiak 4–5Winner 6. 2021 Q Tour – Event 1 Si Jiahui 5–1

References

External links