German Masters Snooker: The best moments, tournament history, list of winners


The 2025 German Masters begins on Monday 27th January, with 64 players set to battle it out to claim a handsome £100,000 winner’s prize.
The qualifiers for the 2025 German Masters took place just before Christmas, with 32 players fighting their way into the main draw where they will face the tour’s top 32 players in the round of 64. The matches will be played at the Tempodrom in Berlin, an arena with a sizable capacity of 3,500.
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This year’s edition has already seen some notable absentees - with Ronnie O’Sullivan dropping out for medical reasons. Ding Junhui, Dominic Dale and He Guoqiang have also withdrawn, handing byes to Dylan Emery, Ross Muir, Tom Ford and Ali Carter respectively.


Is the German Masters a ranking event? - History of the tournament’s format
The German Masters is currently a ranking event, with a total prize fund of £550,400, however, this has not always been the case.
The tournament was first created as a ranking event in 1995, under the name of the German Open. It remained this way until 1998 when it dropped to non-ranking status for a year and rebranded itself as the German Masters.
Despite the rebranding, the competition faced a 13-year hiatus before being reinstated in 2011 as a ranking event, keeping that status ever since. The German Open/Masters has been an important fixture of the snooker calendar, representing the sport’s growing global appeal and ambition to infiltrate the European market.
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German Open (Ranking event)
- 1995: John Higgins 9–3 Ken Doherty
- 1996: Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 Alain Robidoux
- 1997: John Higgins 9-4 John Parrott
German Masters (Invitational, non-ranking event)
- 1998: John Parrott 6-4 Mark Williams
German Masters (Ranking event)
- 2011: Mark Williams 9-7 Mark Selby
- 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-7 Stephen Maguire
- 2013: Ali Carter 9-6 Marco Fu
- 2014: Ding Junhui 9-5 Judd Trump
- 2015: Mark Selby 9-7 Shaun Murphy
- 2016: Martin Gould 9-5 Luca Brecel
- 2017: Anthony Hamilton 9-6 Ali Carter
- 2018: Mark Williams 9-1 Graeme Dott
- 2019: Kyren Wilson 9-7 David Gilbert
- 2020: Judd Trump 9-6 Neil Robertson
- 2021: Judd Trump 9-2 Jack Lisowski
- 2022: Zhao Xintong 9-0 Yan Bingtao
- 2023: Ali Carter 10-3 Tom Ford
- 2024: Judd Trump 10-5 Si Jiahui
The German Open/Masters has seen some memorable moments from the game’s best players, as well as some unlikely tournament winners throughout its history. We have picked out a few of the competition’s most notable moments:
1996 German Open: Ronnie O’Sullivan beats Alain Robidoux in fierce final
The 1996 German Open final saw Ronnie O’Sullivan and Alain Robidoux facing each other only months after a feisty Crucible encounter earlier in the year. During their 1996 World Championship opener, Robidoux famously refused to shake the hand of O’Sullivan after he played the last few frames of the match entirely left-handed. O'Sullivan emerged victorious once again against Robidoux in a close final in Osnabrück, winning 9–7.
2011 German Masters: Mark Williams beats Mark Selby in the new Tempodrom venue
After its thirteen-year absence, the German Masters returned to the snooker tour bigger and better than ever. The total prize fund had increased to over £200,000, the draw had expanded to 96 players including qualifying, and the main event was to be played in the impressive Berlin Tempodrom. Mark Williams outgunned Mark Selby in a close final, taking the last two frames to claim a 9-7 victory.
2015 German Masters: Judd Trump hits spectacular 147 against Mark Selby
Trump notched up a fantastic maximum 147 break in his quarter-final loss to Mark Selby in the 2015 edition, with Selby later going on to win the tournament. Trump’s 147 took place at the same time as Ronnie O’Sullivan facing Shaun Murphy on the other table, with O’Sullivan stopping play to watch Trump rattle in the final black and make only his second maximum at that point in his illustrious career.
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2016 German Masters: Martin Gould hits the jackpot with ranking success
The Pinner Potter was crowned the champion of the 2016 edition when he beat future World Champion Luca Brecel 9-5 at the Tempodrom, marking a first ranking event win in his career in his third ranking final. Gould’s victory was much-deserved, winning final-frame deciders against Mark Williams and Judd Trump earlier in the tournament, before sealing his victory with a clinical display against the Belgian Bullet.
2017 German Masters: Anthony Hamilton lifts maiden ranking title
Hamilton claimed another unlikely victory in jaw-dropping fashion, beating former World Champions Mark Williams, Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham along the way. The Sheriff of Pottingham completed his fairytale run by defeating Ali Carter 9-6 in the Berlin final, ending a 26-year wait for ranking success. Hamilton hilariously stated afterwards that he had not prepared enough clean shirts and underpants for the event, as he did not anticipate going so far in the tournament.
𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 #ShotOfTheSeason
— WST (@WeAreWST) May 21, 2021
Judd Trump | German Masters Semi Finals | 30th January 2021
Nicely done, @judd147t 👏 pic.twitter.com/uOyYkGqoRG
2021 German Masters: Judd Trump’s fires in sensational “Once in a Lifetime Pot”
Trump produced a scarcely believable shot in his comeback victory over Barry Hawkins in the 2021 semi-final, thumping in a long green with enough topspin to stop the ball completely dead off the cushion for perfect position on the brown. After defying the laws of physics, the Ace in the Pack continued his siege to claim his second German Masters title by battering Jack Lisowski 9-2 in the final.
For all the results from the 2025 German Masters at the Tempodrom, please visit our tournament information centre, here.
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