Who is playing in the 2025 German Masters Snooker at the Tempodrom? Opening round draw and schedule

One of the most recognisable and popular stops on the professional snooker circuit, this latest edition of the German Masters features an increased overall prize fund and winner's kitty, with the champion set to pocket a six-figure sum for the first time of £100,000.

The 2025 staging has also seen a change to the format, with a tiered draw being used. The same structure as applied to this season's Home Nations Series events, the top 32 seeds all go straight through to the main venue stages at the Tempodrom for the round of 64 where they are joined by the 32 players who emerged from the two qualifying rounds before Christmas.

Qualification took place at Ponds Forge, Sheffield in December; for a review of the biggest stories there, please visit our round-up here.

World number one and reigning German Masters champion Judd Trump is scheduled to begin his title defence against David Grace on the evening of the opening day.

Several weeks ago, Trump stated that he may skip events throughout the rest of the season in order to be fresh for the World Championship at the Crucible in April. Whether the defending champion will withdraw from this tournament remains to be seen, but it is an event he excels at having lifted the trophy three times in the last five years.

World Champion Kyren Wilson tasted Tempodrom glory in 2019 and the world number two will prepare to face rookie professional Ka Wai Cheung in the opening session of the competition.

Winner of this title in 2012, Ronnie O'Sullivan hasn't played at the Tempodrom since 2017, but 'The Rocket' has entered this year's event and is meant to be playing amateur player Dylan Emery on the evening of Tuesday 28th January.

Whether O'Sullivan appears for this assignment is another thing, though. He has withdrawn from several tournaments this season, and has either not entered or withdrawn from this competition several times in the past.

However, the likelihood of O'Sullivan travelling to Berlin could be enhanced due to his current ranking position on this season's one-year list which determines qualification for the lucrative three-pronged Players Series later in the term.

Having yet to reach a ranking event final during this ongoing 2024/25 campaign, O'Sullivan finds himself positioned 18th on the seasonal list and in real danger of not qualifying for the final two Players Series stops. Only the top 16 from these standings make the Players Championship, and just the top 12 get invited to the Tour Championship.

Seven tables are expected to initially be in operation for the opening sessions at the Tempodrom. All matches up to and including the quarter-finals are the best of nine frames.

The arena gets transformed into a one-table set-up for the weekend's action with Saturday's semi-finals being the best of 11 frames, and Sunday's two-session final played over the best of 19.

Round one match schedule for the 2025 German Masters at the Tempodrom:

Monday 27th January

14:00GMT

• Robert Milkins v Xu Si
• Neil Robertson v Antoni Kowalski
• Chris Wakelin v Hammad Miah
• Zhang Anda v Graeme Dott
• Zhou Yuelong v Artemijs Zizins
• Kyren Wilson v Ka Wai Cheung
• John Higgins v Mark Davis

19:00GMT

• Stuart Bingham v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
• Shaun Murphy v Liam Graham
• Barry Hawkins v Alfie Burden
• Stephen Maguire v Joe O'Connor
• Judd Trump v David Grace
• David Gilbert v Ben Woollaston
• Jak Jones v Allan Taylor

Tuesday 28th January

09:00GMT

• Hossein Vafaei v Yuan Sijun
• Pang Junxu v Anthony McGill
• Elliot Slessor v Lyu Haotian
• Mark Selby v Liu Hongyu
• Si Jiahui v Ken Doherty
• Ding Junhui v Ross Muir

14:00GMT

• Luca Brecel v Jiang Jun
• Wu Yize v Jackson Page
• Jack Lisowski v Alexander Ursenbacher
• Xiao Guodong v Fan Zhengyi
• Mark Allen v David Lilley
• Ali Carter v He Guoqiang

19:00GMT

• Ronnie O'Sullivan v Dylan Emery
• Noppon Saengkham v Jimmy Robertson
• Ryan Day v Ricky Walden
• Mark Williams v Aaron Hill
• Tom Ford v Dominic Dale
• Gary Wilson v Daniel Wells

What is the prize money for the 2025 German Masters snooker?

There is an overall prize fund of £550,400 for the 2025 German Masters. The prize payouts are as follows:

• Champion: £100,000
• Runner-up: £45,000
• Losing semi-finalists: £21,000 each
• Losing quarter-finalists: £13,200 each
• Last 16 losers: £9,000 each
• Last 32 losers: £5,400 each
• Last 64 losers: £3,600 each
• Last 96 losers (final qualifying round): £1,000 each
• Highest tournament break: £5,000