Who are the top seeds at the 2025 Masters Snooker and what are the seed numbers?

Unlike its Triple Crown event counterparts the UK Championship and the World Championship which are open to all professional players, the Masters has always exclusively been ‘invite only’.

In years gone by, there were limited wildcard spots for the Masters, but in recent times - every year since 2011 to be exact - the elite, lucrative tournament has fielded only 16 players.

How do players qualify for the Masters Snooker?

Only the world’s top 16 players are initially invited to the Masters at the Alexandra Palace.

The World Snooker Tour uses a two-year rolling world ranking list - this is used to determine who gets into the Masters. The world ranking list is based on cumulative prize money won at ranking events from across the past 24 months.

For the 2025 Masters edition, the qualification cut-off came after the completion of the 2024 UK Championship. The top 16 ranked players in the world after the event held at the York Barbican were invited to the extravaganza in London.

As the Masters is an invitational event, it is non-ranked, therefore it has no affect on the ranking lists.

How do the Masters Snooker draw and seedings work? Where do the seeds go in the draw?

The Masters is a 16-player knockout event. If a player loses, they’re out.

The world’s top eight players (at the time of the qualification cut-off) are the tournament’s ‘top’ seeds, while those ranked 9 to 16 are sometimes referred to as the ‘bottom’ or ‘lower’ seeds.

The ‘top’ seeds are already fixed into the draw bracket pre-draw. The defending champion is the number one seed and is at the top of the draw, while the reigning World Champion is the number two seed at the bottom of the draw.

The remaining seed positions are then determined by the players’ positions on the world ranking list. So, in the case of the 2025 Masters, world number one Judd Trump - who is neither the current Masters or World Champion - is the number three seed and goes in the bottom half along with the number two seed. The number four seed is in the top half along with the number one seed.

Should all the top seeds win their opening match, the seed numbers and match-ups for the quarter-finals would be: 1 v 8, 5 v 4, 3 v 6, 7 v 2.

These top eight seeds - who were already positioned in the draw - were then randomly drawn against the players ranked/seeded 9 to 16. The draw for the 2025 Masters took place during the first mid-session interval of the 2024 UK Championship live on BBC Sport. There were two bags of balls - one containing the top eight seeds, and the other containing those numbered 9 to 16.

Why did Ronnie O’Sullivan withdraw from the Masters and why was Neil Robertson his replacement in the draw?

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the current Masters champion having won a record-extending eighth crown in 2024 when he came from 6-3 behind to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 in the final and lift The Paul Hunter Trophy.

O’Sullivan accepted his invite for the 2025 staging and was in the initial draw when it was made, however, he withdrew a few days before the event was due to start on medical grounds.

As per the competition rules, a replacement came in for O’Sullivan, and that was Neil Robertson who was ‘first reserve’ to get an invite should someone withdraw.

Robertson was first in line to get the call up as he was 17th in the world rankings at the time of the qualification cut-off after the 2024 UK Championship.

In 2020, O’Sullivan did not take up his Masters invite, therefore Carter - who was 17th following that cut-off - got an unexpected invitation. Carter went all the way to the final, but was denied the title by Stuart Bingham.

Full list of seed numbers for the 2025 Masters Snooker, who is the number one seed?

• 1: Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) - withdrew
• 2: Kyren Wilson (England)
• 3: Judd Trump (England)
• 4: Mark Selby (England)
• 5: Mark Allen (Northern Ireland)
• 6: Mark Williams (Wales)
• 7: Luca Brecel (Belgium)
• 8: Shaun Murphy (England)
• 9: Ding Junhui (China)
• 10: Zhang Anda (China)
• 11: Gary Wilson (England)
• 12: Ali Carter (England)
• 13: Barry Hawkins (England)
• 14: Si Jiahui (China)
• 15: John Higgins (Scotland)
• 16: Chris Wakelin (England)
• 17/Reserve: Neil Robertson (Australia) - replaced O’Sullivan

For the full first round draw and match schedule for the 2025 Masters, please visit here.