| Tournament Name: | Embassy World Snooker Championship |
| Venue: | Crucible Theatre |
| Location: | Sheffield |
| Country: | England |
| Organisation: | WPBSA |
| Format: | Ranking event |
| Total Prize Fund: | £1,323,000 |
| Winners Share: | £220,000 |
| Highest Break: | (143) (143) |
| Score: | 18–12 |
| Previous: | 1997 |
| Next: | 1999 |
The 1998 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1998 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1998 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
John Higgins won his first World title by defeating defending champion Ken Doherty 18–12 in the final. Doherty became another World Champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title. However, Doherty has come closer than any other first-time champion bar Joe Johnson to retaining his championship. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[11] [12] [13]
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).[11] [12] [14] [15]
There were 59 century breaks in the championship, a new record which would last until 2002.[11] [16] [17] John Higgins' 14 centuries in the tournament was a new record, beating the 12 made by Stephen Hendry in 1995.[18]
The qualifying matches were held between 2 January and March 1998 at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales.
| Round 1 (Best of 19 frames) | Round 1 (Best of 19 frames) | Round 2 (Best of 19 frames) |
 Leo Fernandez 10–3 Evan Munro | ||
| Robert Milkins 10–2 Michael O'Sullivan | ||
| Philip Williams 10–2 John Burns | ||
| Brian Rowswell 10–7 Sean Lanigan | ||
| Joe Jogia 10–8 Hugh Abernethy | ||
| Jeff Cundy 10–7 Dylan Leary | ||
| Chris Shade 10–3 Nick Manning | ||
 Bjorn Haneveer 10–6 James McGouran | ||
| Ali Carter 10–8 Scott Cooney | ||
| Surinder Gill 10–5 Stuart Parnell | ||
| Stuart Reardon10–8 Jason Weston | ||
| Barry Pinches 10–3 Mario Geudens | ||
| Nic Barrow 10–4 Mario Wehrmann | ||
| Nick Terry 10–6 Leigh Robinson | ||
| Garry Baldrey 10–8 Graham Horne | ||
| Simon Bedford 10–4 Justin Buckingham | ||
| Mark Johnston-Allen 10–5 Joe O'Boye | ||
| Jason Wallace 10–9 Andrew Cairns | ||
Oliver King 10–7  Robin Hull | ||
| Joe Delaney 10–4 Ryan Mitchell | ||
| Gary Lees 10–6 Paul McPhillips | ||
| Munraj Pal 10–8 Les Dodd | ||
| Christopher McGee 10–6 Lee Mallin | ||
| Adrian Rosa 10–9 Darryn Walker | ||
| Stuart Bingham 10–1 Ian Hurdman | ||
 Marco Fu 10–5 Paul Sweeny | ||
| Mike Hallett 10–4 Garoid O'Connor | ||
| Andrew Higginson 10–6 David McDonnell | ||
| Simon Parker 10–4 Stephen Murphy | ||
| Ian Sargeant 10–8 Steve Day | ||
| Andy Neck 10–5 David Coles | ||
| Round 1 (Best of 19 frames) |
| Leo Fernandez 10–8 Robert Milkins |
| Philip Williams 10–6 Steve Meakin |
| Brian Rowswell 10–4 Joe Jogia |
| Bjorn Haneveer 10–5 Ali Carter |
| Surinder Gill 10–4 Stuart Reardon |
| Barry Pinches 10–3 Nic Barrow |
| Nick Terry 10–1 Garry Baldrey |
| Simon Bedford 10–6 Mark Johnston-Allen |
| Jason Wallace 10–4 Oliver King |
| Joe Delaney 10–8 Gary Lees |
| Munraj Pal 10–4 Christopher McGee |
| Adrian Rosa 10–7 Stuart Bingham |
| Marco Fu 10–2 Mike Hallett |
| Andrew Higginson 10–6 Simon Parker |
| Ian Sargeant 10–0 Andy Neck |
| Round 2 (Best of 19 frames) | Round 3 (Best of 19 frames) | |
| Leo Fernandez 10–6 Philip Williams | ||
| Brian Rowswell 10–9 Jeff Cundy | John Lardner 10–5 Brian Rowswell | |
| Bjorn Haneveer 10–5 Surinder Gill | Bjorn Haneveer 10–5 Troy Shaw | |
| Barry Pinches 10–2 Nick Terry | Joe Perry 10–7 Barry Pinches | |
| Simon Bedford 10–2 Jason Wallace | Simon Bedford 10–9 Mark Gray | |
| Joe Delaney 10–8 Munraj Pal | Joe Delaney 10–1 Peter McCullagh | |
| Adrian Rosa 10–8 Marco Fu | David Gray 10–5 Adrian Rosa | |
| Andrew Higginson 10–7 Ian Sargeant | Andrew Higginson 10–5 Craig MacGillivray |
| Round 1 (Best of 19 frames) | |
| Lee Walker 10–3 Jonathan Birch | |
| Leigh Griffin 10–4 Karl Broughton | |
| David Roe 10–7 Ian Brumby | |
| Graeme Dott 10–3 John Lardner | |
| Matthew Stevens 10–5 Stephen O'Connor | |
| Paul Hunter 10–5 Lee Richardson | |
| Steve Judd 10–8 Michael Judge | |
| Joe Johnson 10–6 Martin Dziewialtowski | |
| Nick Pearce 10–5 Bjorn Haneveer | |
| Nick Walker 10–3 Willie Thorne | |
Joe Perry 10–3  Shokat Ali | |
| Tony Jones 10–9 Paul Wykes | |
| Simon Bedford 10–3 Euan Henderson | |
 Quinten Hann 10–3 Wayne Jones | |
| Anthony Davies 10–6 Jamie Woodman | |
| Jason Ferguson 10–6 Darren Clarke | |
| Joe Delaney 10–8 Jamie Burnett | |
| Gary Ponting 10–6 Dennis Taylor | |
| Alfie Burden 10–6 Mark Bennett | |
| Wayne Brown 10–8 Dean Reynolds | |
| Peter Lines 10–7 David Finbow | |
Stuart Pettman 10–5  Dene O'Kane | |
| Matthew Couch 10–9 Paul Davies | |
| Stefan Mazrocis 10–6 Karl Payne | |
| Karl Burrows 10–5 Tony Chappel | |
| Jason Prince 10–4 John Read | |
| Andrew Higginson 10–5 Jimmy Michie | |
| Bradley Jones 10–5 Gerard Greene | |
| Ian McCulloch 10–7 Dominic Dale |
| Round 2 (Best of 19 frames) | Round 3 (Best of 19 frames) | |
| Lee Walker 10–5 Leigh Griffin | ||
| David Roe 10–9 Graeme Dott | Andy Hicks 10–1 David Roe | |
| Matthew Stevens 10–5 Drew Henry | Matthew Stevens 10–8 Neal Foulds | |
| Paul Hunter 10–5 Steve Judd | Mark King 10–9 Paul Hunter | |
| Nick Pearce 10–8 Joe Johnson | Terry Murphy 10–2 Nick Pearce | |
| Joe Perry 10–6 Nick Walker | Fergal O'Brien 10–7 Joe Perry | |
| Simon Bedford 10–7 Tony Jones | Simon Bedford 10–9 Gary Wilkinson | |
| Quinten Hann 10–3 Anthony Davies | Quinten Hann 10–6 Brian Morgan | |
| Jason Ferguson 10–6 Marcus Campbell | Jason Ferguson 10–7 Mick Price | |
| Joe Delaney 10–8 Gary Ponting | Dave Harold 10–7 Joe Delaney | |
| Alfie Burden 10–2 Wayne Brown | Alfie Burden 10–3 Rod Lawler | |
| Peter Lines 10–5 Stuart Pettman | Peter Lines 10–6 Steve James | |
| Matthew Couch 10–2 Stefan Mazrocis | Joe Swail 10–3 Matthew Couch | |
| David Gray 10–9 Karl Burrows | David Gray 10–5 Chris Small | |
| Jason Prince 10–6 Andrew Higginson | Jason Prince 10–8 Martin Clark | |
| Bradley Jones 10–9 Ian McCulloch | Jimmy White 10–5 Bradley Jones |