German Masters Snooker: Information and a Potted History

The ranking event is currently part of the BetVictor European Series and ranking points also count towards qualification for Players Series events. It is open to all professional tour card holders. 

Held at the iconic Tempodrom in Berlin, the tournament has always received fantastic support with many enthusiastic continental fans in attendance. 

The country used to host the German Open ranking event in the mid 1990s before a 12-player German Masters invitational was held in Bingen am Rhein in 1998. This event was won by John Parrott who defeated Mark Williams 6-4 in the final. 

However, that was the last top-tier tournament Germany held until the resurrection of the German Masters as a ranking event in 2011. 

German Masters Snooker: Most successful players, stats, stories, best finals 

Judd Trump is the most successful player in German Masters snooker history with a record three triumphs to his name. He is also the only player to successfully defend the title. 

Having lost to Ding Junhui in the 2014 final, Trump got his hands on the trophy for the first time in 2020. 

Twelve months later, held behind closed doors and played in England due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Trump retained the title having recovered from 5-1 down to deny Barry Hawkins 6-5 in the semi-finals before coasting to a 9-2 victory against Jack Lisowski in the final. 

Trump made it a hat-trick in 2024. 

Mark Williams (2011, 2018) and Ali Carter (2013, 2023) are the other players to have claimed multiple German Masters titles with two each. 

Williams won the inaugural edition (under this current guise) and was dominant seven years later when he breezed past Trump 6-1 in the last four and Graeme Dott 9-1 in the final. At the end of that season, Williams secured his third world title. 

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 2012 German Masters victory was very significant for his career. 

Enduring a barren spell and facing the prospect of falling outside the world’s top 16 rankings, O’Sullivan was 4-0 down to Andrew Higginson in round one before coming back to win 5-4; a five-frame streak which included a 67 clearance in frame six when he came to the table 63-0 down. 

‘The Rocket’ made it to the final where he came back from 5-2 behind to defeat Stephen Maguire 9-7 and earn his first world ranking event accolade in nearly two-and-a-half years. A few months later, O’Sullivan collected his fourth world title at the Crucible Theatre. 

Martin Gould and Anthony Hamilton won their first ranking titles at this event. 

Hamilton’s unexpected triumph in 2017 was particularly emotional. A professional for nearly 26 years, the 45-year-old became the oldest ranking event winner since 1989 when he turned around a 5-2 deficit in the final against Carter.  

In 2019, Kyren Wilson completed a unique German ranking event double having won the Paul Hunter Classic earlier in the same season. 

There has yet to be a deciding frame finish to a German Masters final, although there was a whitewash when Zhao Xintong – not long after his breakthrough at the UK Championship – swept aside fellow Chinese cueist Yan Bingtao.

German Masters Snooker: Roll of Honour and Winner's Prize Money 

2011: Mark Williams 9-7 Mark Selby | 50,000 Euros 

2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-7 Stephen Maguire | 50,000 Euros 

2013: Ali Carter 9-6 Marco Fu | 60,000 Euros 

2014: Ding Junhui 9-5 Judd Trump | 80,000 Euros 

2015: Mark Selby 9-7 Shaun Murphy | 80,000 Euros 

2016: Martin Gould 9-5 Luca Brecel | £60,000 

2017: Anthony Hamilton 9-6 Ali Carter | 80,000 Euros 

2018: Mark Williams 9-1 Graeme Dott | £80,000 

2019: Kyren Wilson 9-7 David Gilbert | £80,000 

2020: Judd Trump 9-6 Neil Robertson | £80,000 

2021: Judd Trump 9-2 Jack Lisowski | £80,000 (held in Milton Keynes, England) 

2022: Zhao Xintong 9-0 Yan Bingtao | £80,000 

2023: Ali Carter 10-3 Tom Ford | £80,000 

2024: Judd Trump 10-5 Si Jiahui | £80,000 

German Masters Snooker 147 Breaks 

2011: Mike Dunn (qualifying for the main venue stages of the 2012 event) 

2013: Dechawat Poomjaeng, Gary Wilson (qualifying for the main venue stages of the 2014 event) 

2015: Judd Trump 

2016: Ali Carter, Ross Muir (qualifying for the main venue stages of the 2017 event) 

2017: Tom Ford 

2018: Judd Trump (qualifying for the main venue stages of the 2019 event) 

2020: Shaun Murphy (qualifying for the main venue stages of the 2021 event) 

2021: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (qualifying for the main venue stages of the 2022 event) 

2023: Robert Milkins 

There have been 11 maximum 147 breaks made in German Masters history, although only three of those came at the Tempodrom during the final stages, with the other eight compiled in ‘qualifying’ rounds held in England before the New Year. 

Mike Dunn, Dechawat Poomjaeng, Gary Wilson and Ross Muir made their first 147s in professional competition in this event. 

Three maximum 147 breaks were constructed during the 2017 event – Ali Carter and Ross Muir made theirs during the same session in the qualifiers and Tom Ford made his at the venue in Berlin several weeks later.