German Masters

The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It originated as the German Open, a ranking event held in Germany from 1995 to 1997. The tournament became the German Masters in 1998, when it was staged once as a non-ranking invitational event. Revived as a ranking event in 2011, the tournament has been staged annually since then at the Tempodrom in Berlin, although the 2021 edition was held at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most successful player in the tournament's history is Judd Trump, who has won the title three times, in 2020, 2021, and 2024. Ali Carter, Mark Williams, and Kyren Wilson have all won the title twice. The reigning champion is Wilson.

History

File:Tempodrom.jpg

The event has been held at the Tempodrom in Berlin since 2011.

The tournament started as the German Open and was a ranking tournament from 1995 to 1997. The first event was played in Frankfurt in December 1995, replacing the European Open in the December place in the calendar, the European Open being moved to early 1996.<ref name=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk>Template:Cite web</ref> The tournament involved the top 16 players in the world ranking who were joined by 16 qualifiers and 4 wild-card players. The four lowest ranked qualifiers played the wild-card players, winning all their four matches and advancing to the last-32.<ref name=go1995/> John Higgins met Ken Doherty in the final. The match was level at three frame each before Higgins won the next six frames to win 9–3 and take the first prize of £40,000. Higgins made a break of 139 in the final to also win the high break prize of £5,000.<ref name=go1995/>

The 1996 event was again held in December, at the British military base at Osnabrück.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Only 16 players competed in Germany. The final qualifying round in which the top-16 seeds played 16 players from earlier qualifying rounds was played in Preston, Lancashire in November.<ref name=go1996/> Ronnie O'Sullivan met Alain Robidoux in the final, winning 9–7. O'Sullivan led 7–3 before Robidoux won the next four frames to level the match at 7–7. O'Sullivan then won the next two frames to win the match, finishing with a break of 108. Robidoux took the high break prize for a break of 145 in the final.<ref name=go1996/>

File:2014 German Masters-Venue (LF)-06.JPG

View of the setup during the 2014 event.

The 1997 event was held in Bingen am Rhein using the same format as in 1996. The final qualifying round was held in Hereford in September.<ref name=go1997/> John Higgins met John Parrott in the final, Higgins led 5–3 lead after the first session and then won the first three frames in the evening session to lead 8–3. Parrott won frame 12 but Higgins finished the match with a break of 105 in the next frame, winning the first prize of £50,000.<ref name=go1997/> In 1998 the event was again held at Bingen am Rhein but became an invitation event with 12 players competing. The name of the tournament was changed to German Masters. The winner received £25,000 with all 12 players guaranteed a minimum of £5,000.<ref name=gm1998/> John Parrott beat Mark Williams 6–4 in the final. Williams led 4–3 but Parrott won the next three to win the match.<ref name=gm1998/> The event then was discontinued, but returned for the 2010/2011 season as a ranking tournament.<ref name=cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/>

The revived tournament has been held at the Tempodrom in Berlin since the 2011 edition.Template:Efn The trophy was named after former World Snooker Tour director Brandon Parker in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024 the World Snooker Tour announcedthat the televised stages of the tournament were to be increased from its normal five days to the traditional seven days.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score	Venue	City	Season
German Open (ranking, 1995–1997)<ref name="Snooker.org 90's">Template:Cite web</ref>
1995<ref name=go1995>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–3	Messe Frankfurt	Frankfurt, Germany	1995/96
1996<ref name=go1996>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–7	Roberts Barracks	Osnabrück, Germany	1996/97
1997<ref name=go1997>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–4	Atlantis Rheinhotel	Bingen am Rhein, Germany	1997/98
German Masters (non-ranking, 1998)<ref name="Snooker.org 90's"/>
1998<ref name=gm1998>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	6–4	Template:Nowrap	Template:Nowrap	1998/99
German Masters (ranking, 2011–present)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2011<ref name=gm2011>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–7	Tempodrom	Berlin, Germany	2010/11
2012<ref name=gm2012>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Nowrap	Template:Nowrap	9–7			2011/12
2013<ref name=gm2013>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–6			2012/13
2014<ref name=gm2014>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–5			2013/14
2015<ref name=gm2015>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–7			2014/15
2016<ref name=gm2016>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–5			2015/16
2017<ref name=gm2017>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–6			2016/17
2018<ref name=gm2018>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–1			2017/18
2019<ref name=gm2019>Template:Cite news</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–7			2018/19
2020<ref name=gm2020>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–6			2019/20
2021<ref name=gm2021>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–2	Marshall Arena	Milton Keynes, England	2020/21
2022<ref name=gm2022>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	9–0	Tempodrom	Berlin, Germany	2021/22
2023<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	10–3			2022/23
2024<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	10–5			2023/24
2025<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	10–9			2024/25

See also

• Paul Hunter Classic
• Sport in Berlin