An earlier ranking event, the German Open, was held in Germany from 1995 to 1997.

The four lowest ranked qualifiers played the wild-card players, winning all their four matches and advancing to the last-32.

[3] The 1996 event was again held in December, at the British military base at Osnabrück.

[5] Ronnie O'Sullivan met Alain Robidoux in the final, winning 9–7.

[a] The trophy was named after former World Snooker Tour director Brandon Parker in 2021.

The format received occasional criticism over the years,[citation needed] but the 2023 German Masters received notable criticism[citation needed] as a result of many top players failing to reach the main stages of the tournament and Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrawing before his first round qualifying match.

This led to only four players ranked inside the top 16 appearing in the main draw, two of whom failed to progress beyond the Last 16.