The draw for the 2025 Masters snooker invitational event has been made

With a record prize fund of over £1 million - and a winner's pot of £350,000 - the second Triple Crown event of the 2024/25 season will take place between January 12-19 in the English capital city.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is the reigning and defending Masters champion; 'The Rocket' defeated Ali Carter 10-7 in the 2024 final to claim a record-extending eighth crown in professional snooker's most prestigious invitational tournament.

This will be the 51st edition of the Masters, 50 years on from its introduction in 1975 when John Spencer ousted Ray Reardon on a re-spotted black ball in the deciding frame.

Conducted live on BBC television during the first mid-session interval of the 2024 UK Championship, the draw for the 2025 Masters saw the world's top eight players - who were fixed into the drawsheet as per their seeding for the competition - being randomly drawn against those seeded 9 to 16.

Title holder O'Sullivan is the number one seed, and he’ll begin his defence of The Paul Hunter Trophy with a blockbuster opening round tie against John Higgins who will be making a record 31st consecutive Masters appearance. The ‘Class of 92’ members have played together in three Masters finals in the past, the first of which was in 1995.

World number one Judd Trump is scheduled to meet Barry Hawkins while reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson has been pitched with Zhang Anda.

Si Jiahui and Chris Wakelin will be making their Masters debuts having broken into the world’s top 16 rankings for the first time in their careers in recent months, while Gary Wilson - who competed at the 2021 Masters which was held in Milton Keynes behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 Pandemic - also tastes the Ally Pally experience for the first time.

Si, Wakelin and Gary Wilson will play Mark Allen, Luca Brecel and Shaun Murphy, respectively.

All matches at the 2025 Masters are the best of 11 frames, with the exception of the two-session final on Sunday 19th January which is the best of 19.

2025 Masters Snooker first round draw and bracket order in full:

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1) v John Higgins

Shaun Murphy (8) v Gary Wilson

Mark Allen (5) v Si Jiahui

Mark Selby (4) v Ali Carter

Judd Trump (3) v Barry Hawkins

Mark Williams (6) v Ding Junhui

Luca Brecel (7) v Chris Wakelin

Kyren Wilson (2) v Zhang Anda

Seeding positions in brackets. This is the full draw with the top seeds in their correct positions for the tournament.

The schedule for the first round matches at the 2025 Masters will be released in due course, although the opening round takes place across four days (12th-15th January).