European Masters Snooker: Information and a Potted History

A ranking event, the competition is currently part of the BetVictor European Series and counts towards qualification for Players Series events. The tournament is open to all professional tour card holders. 

Evidence of snooker’s increasing popularity across the continent, the European Masters has been held in several different countries – Romania, Belgium, Austria and Germany. The event was played in England in 2020 (behind closed doors) and 2022 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

There was previously an event on the professional snooker circuit called the European Open. This was a ranking event held for several years between 1989 – 2004. 

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

Judd Trump is the most successful player in European Masters history having won the title twice and been runner-up once. 

Trump is the only player to win the European Masters on multiple occasions, and he did so when securing back-to-back titles with the opening two editions. In the inaugural final, Trump came back from 8-6 down to oust Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8. 

Jimmy Robertson and Fan Zhengyi were both surprise winners of the tournament, claiming their maiden (and to date, only) ranking event titles in the process. 

Robertson survived deciding frame finishes in each of his opening four rounds – including three consecutive matches on the final black. Prior to his week in Belgium, Robertson’s best result in a ranking event had been a solitary quarter-final appearance. 

Fan’s victory in February 2022 was even more remarkable; he had previously never been past the last 32 of a ranking event. The 21-year-old stunned the snooker world when he pipped O’Sullivan 10-9 in the final to become arguably the most unlikely winner of a ranking event, ever. 

There have been seven different champions from the eight installments held to date. 

Three finals have gone to a deciding frame, and one was a whitewash when Neil Robertson swept Zhou Yuelong 9-0 in Austria in 2020. This was the second time in snooker history that a two-session ranking event final had been won to nil. 

Besides Trump, Barry Hawkins is the only other player to make successive European Masters finals. O’Sullivan is the only other player to appear in the final more than once. 

European Masters Snooker Roll of Honour and Event Locations

2016: Judd Trump 9-8 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Bucharest, Romania)

2017: Judd Trump 9-7 Stuart Bingham (Lommel, Belgium)

2018: Jimmy Robertson 9-6 Joe Perry (Lommel, Belgium)

2020 (Jan): Neil Robertson 9-0 Zhou Yuelong (Dornbirn, Austria)

2020 (Sept): Mark Selby 9-8 Martin Gould (Milton Keynes, England)

2022 (Feb): Fan Zhengyi 10-9 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Milton Keynes, England)

2022 (Aug): Kyren Wilson 9-3 Barry Hawkins (Furth, Germany)

2023: Barry Hawkins 9-6 Judd Trump (Nuremberg, Germany)

European Masters Snooker 147 Breaks

2016: Shaun Murphy

2022 (August): Zhang Anda, Hossein Vafaei

2023: Sean O’Sullivan

There have been four maximum 147 breaks made in the European Masters, although all of these were compiled in ‘qualifying’ matches away from the main venue. 

Zhang Anda and Hossien Vafaei constructed their maiden maximums in professional competition in consecutive days in 2022. Sean O’Sullivan’s feat of perfection in 2023 was also his first.