Peter Francisco (born 14 February 1962) is a South African former professional snooker player who won the African Snooker Championship 4 times and South African Snooker Championship 8 times and the South African Billiards Championship 13 times as an amateur and professional.
Francisco won the South African amateur snooker championship each year from 1981 to 1983. He turned professional in 1984, and reached the final stages of the World Snooker Championship on five occasions. He reached the semifinals in two ranking events: the 1986 International Open and the 1987 Grand Prix.
In June 2013 he won the ABSF African Snooker Championship.
Francisco participated in the 2015 Six-red World Championship, playing five matches in his group. He lost 1âÂÂ5 to Marco Fu and Jamie Clarke, 3âÂÂ5 to Mark Williams and 4âÂÂ5 to eventual champion Thepchaiya and was eliminated after the group stage, but defeated Darren Paris 5âÂÂ1.
In 1995, Francisco faced Jimmy White in the first round of the World Championship. Throughout the match, Francisco played numerous shots which caused bafflement on the part of BBC commentators Clive Everton, John Virgo and Dennis Taylor. There were an unusual number of bets made that the scoreline would be 10âÂÂ2 in favour of Jimmy White, which was the eventual outcome. Betting had been suspended on the match against the South African shortly before it began and a World Snooker Association panel analysed the match and later banned Francisco for five years for not conducting himself in a manner consistent with his status as a professional sportsman. At the same hearing he was not found guilty of match rigging.
He is the son of snooker player Manuel Francisco and another professional player, Silvino Francisco, was his uncle.