European Masters Snooker 2023 Preview, Dates & Draw Info

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The 2023 European Masters is the second ranking tournament of the 2023/24 snooker season, following on from the Championship League. The European Masters Snooker is hosted in Nuremberg, Germany between August 22nd and 27th.

Kyren Wilson is the defending champion in the field of 64, but he is not running as the favourite in snooker prediction betting odds. Ronnie O’Sullivan is at the head of the field, with the likes of Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson in close attendance.

It’s a stellar field and our snooker betting predictions follow the action from the First Round to the Final which concludes on August 27th.

2023 European Masters

The Kia Metropol Arena in Nuremberg is the setting for the European Masters Snooker 2023. It is early days in the new snooker season, with only the Players Championship, won by Shaun Murphy in the bag so far.

So form can be tricky to judge for snooker predictions in the tournament, so early in the season. The European Masters has a field of 64 players participating. The qualifying rounds for the tournament were held in Leicester in July.

All players must fight for their place in the main draw, making it a fascinating set-up. Seeded players Robert Milkins, Gary Wilson and Ryan Day were all dumped out of the qualifying round of the European Masters 2023.

Defending Champion Kyren Wilson and the other top eight ranked players play their qualification matches on August 22nd, the start of the tournament.

Top 8 Seeds Qualifying Draw

Kyren Wilson (ENG)(1) v Dean Young (SCO)
Mark Selby (ENG)(6) v Manasawin Phetmalaikul (THA)
Judd Trump (ENG)(5) v Mohamed Ibrahim (EGY)
Mark Allen (NIR)(4) v Anton Kazakov (UKR)
Luca Brecel (BEL)(2) v Jackson Page (WAL)
Shaun Murphy (ENG)(8) v Graeme Dott (SCO)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (ENG)(3) v Andy Hicks (ENG)
Neil Robertson (AUS)(7) v Wu Yize (CHN)

Important Dates

It’s important to mark the key dates in your diary, so you can follow the latest snooker predictions for upcoming matches at the European Masters. As mentioned, look for August 22nd when the top eight seeds play qualification matches on a busy day.

• Round 1- August 22nd
• Round 2 – August 22nd and 23rd
• Round 3 – August 23rd and 24th
• Round 4 – August 23rd and 25th
• Quarter-finals –August 25th
• Semi-finals – August 26th
• Final – August 27th

European Masters Snooker History

The tournament was first introduced in 1989, then known as the European Open. It also went by the name of the Malta Cup for a while, before switching to the European Masters title in 2016.

It has been a tournament that has gone through a lot of changes and one that has also drifted in and out of favour since its inception. But it did have a big claim to fame in being the only ranking event in Europe at the time that wasn’t hosted in Britain, predominantly during its time as the Malta Cup.

But the big relaunch and rebranding that it went through in 2016 has seen its status and stature as the European Masters grow. It’s now a prominent ranking event in the professional snooker season.

Previous European Masters Snooker Winners

Judd Trump won the first two editions of the new European Masters in 2016 and 2017. He remains the only player, in the new format, to win it twice. The biggest result in the Final of a European Masters Snooker event was produced in 202 when Australia’s Neil Robertson hammered China’s Zhou Yeulong 9-0.

In 2022 Kyren Wilson claimed a 9-3 win in the final over Barry Hawkins to win the title for the first time. Ronnie O’Sullivan incidentally has lost two European Masters Finals in 2016 and in 2022, but The Rocket did win it in its earlier incarnations as the European Open in 2003.

Here is a list of former European Masters Snooker champions from 2016 onwards. There is some overlap in years as editions of the tournament were moved around.

• 2016 Judd Trump
• 2017 Judd Trump
• 2018 Jimmy Robertson
• 2020 (January) Neil Roberton
• 2020 (September) Mark Selby
• 2022 (February) Fan Zhengyi
• 2022 (August) Kyren Wilson

Prize Money

Up for grabs for the winner, this year at the European Masters is a prize of £80,000. The runner-up will walk away with £35,000. Every player who makes it to the main draw will walk away with a monetary prize. There is a £5,000 bonus for the player who makes the highest break in the tournament.

• Winner: £80,000
• Runner-up: £35,000
• Semi-final: £17,500
• Quarter-final: £11,000
• Last 16: £7,500
• Last 32: £4,500
• Last 64: £3,000
• Highest break: £5,000
• Total: £427,000

Players And The Draw

There’s a good mix of players in the draw. As can be seen from the history of winners at the European Masters snooker, it is a wide-open tournament. There is a big field of 64 and relatively short Best of 9 Frames matches for most of the tournament. It all combines to add some exciting jeopardy.

Along with the likes of Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson, who will each first have to get through a qualifying round, some notable names have already booked a spot in the main draw.

John Higgins, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Ricky Walden, Jack Lisowski, Stuart Bingham and Joe Perry are among some of the potential dark horses to watch for in snooker predictions.

Where To Watch the 2023 World Snooker Championship

UK viewers can watch the European Masters on Eurosport and Discovery+, which requires a subscription. The Matchroom.live streaming service will be carrying streams to many other territories.

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