Darts European Championship: Past, Present & 2024 Outlook Where is the European Championship darts? The European Championship is held at the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany The European Championship is one of the biggest darts tournaments held outside of the UK. First held in 2008, the European Championship is staged by the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) every October and sees 32 of the world’s best players battling it out to be crowned the European champion. The 2024 edition of the European Championship will be the 17th staging of the competition and will take place over four days from October 24-27. Peter Wright is the defending champion and will be part of a star-studded line up in this year’s event with Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen all in the 32-player field. What is the European Championship of Darts? The European Championship darts tournament has been held every year since 2008 and has grown a reputation as one of the hardest events to win. Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen hold the record for the most European Championship titles with four wins each, whilst Rob Cross and Peter Wright (both two titles) are the only other players to have won this event more than once. The European Championship is the fourth ranking major event of the season. The UK Open, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix are the first three majors held each year, with the season concluding with the Grand Slam of Darts, Players Championship Finals and PDC World Darts Championship all taking place between November and January. The format of the European Championship The Westfalenhallen attracted a record 30,000 fans for the European Championship last year The European Championship is played under the popular legs format where the first player to win a certain number of legs wins the match. For example, first round matches are played over the best of 11 legs with the player who wins six legs first declared the winner. The number of legs a player must win increases as the tournament progresses, with the semi-finals and final both contested over the best of 21 legs (or first to 11 legs). The format for each round has remained mostly the same since the event’s inception in 2008. Here is a breakdown of the European Championship’s format for 2024:- Round 1 – best of 11 legs Round 2 – best of 19 legs Quarter-finals – best of 19 legs Semi-finals – best of 21 legs Final – best of 21 legs How do players qualify for the tournament? In 2016, the qualification structure for the European Championship underwent a radical change with players qualifying solely based on their performances on the European Tour. Each year the PDC stages a number of European Tour events in countries including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and prize money won from those events makes up the European Tour Order of Merit. After the final European Tour event of the season, the top 32 players on the European Tour Order of Merit will qualify for the European Championship. The seedings are also based on these rankings, with the number one player on the Order of Merit facing the 32nd-ranked player, the number two player taking on the 31st-ranked player and so on. The European Championship darts 2024 line up will be finalised following the Czech Darts Open (October 18-20), which is the 13th and final European Tour event of the season. The provisional line up includes the 2024 PDC world champion Luke Humphries, 2024 Premier League winner Luke Littler and the four-time European champion Michael van Gerwen. The newly-crowned World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker is currently in 30th place on the Order of Merit and also set to qualify as things stand. How much is the prize money? Gian van Veen pocketed £40,000 from his run to the 2023 European Championship semi-finals The prize money for the European Championship has increased many times during its near 20-year history. The inaugural edition of the European Championship in 2008 had a prize fund of £200,000, including £50,000 for the winner. The total prize pot has risen several times since then, with the latest jump coming in 2019 when the prize fund increased to £500,000, with £120,000 going to the champion. All of the prize money from the European Championship is added to the PDC Order of Merit – the official world rankings of the PDC. Peter Wright won his eighth singles major title at last year’s European Championship which moved him back up to world number two on the Order of Merit. Gian van Veen’s run to a first major semi-final in that event saw him break the world’s top 64 for the first time, with the Dutchman continuing his rise since then and moving into the top 32 earlier this year. Below is the European Championship darts prize money breakdown for 2024:- Winner - £120,000 Runner-up - £60,000 Semi-finalists - £40,000 Quarter-finalists - £25,000 Round 2 (last 16) - £15,000 Round 1 (last 32) - £7,500 The tournament’s history The European Championship was first held in 2008 and saw Phil Taylor beat Adrian Lewis 11-5 to win the title. Taylor would go on to win the first four editions of the European Championship, with his last success coming in 2011. More history has been written in the European Championship since then with Michael van Gerwen claiming a record-equalling four titles on the spin from 2014 to 2017. Simon Whitlock and Ross Smith both won their first PDC major titles in this event, with the latter seeing off Michael Smith 11-8 in the 2022 decider with a 101 average. Where is the European Championship of Darts held? The European Championship has been held in 10 different venues with Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands all having staged the event over the years. The first edition in 2008 was held at the Südbahnhof, in Frankfurt, Germany, before moving to the Claus Event Center, in Goofddorp, the Netherlands the year after. The European Championship has mostly taken place in Germany, with Dinsalken, Düsseldorf, Mülheim, Göttingen and Oberhausen having all played host to the tournament. Between 2015 and 2017 the event was held in Belgium, at the Ethias Arena, in Hasselt, whilst the 2021 edition took place in Salzburg, Austria. The tournament moved to its current home at the Westfalenhallen, in Dortmund, in 2022. European Championship of Darts winners Michael van Gerwen has won the European Championship a joint-record four times Here is a list of European Championship darts winners since its inaugural staging in 2008. Phil Taylor dominated the competition during its early years, winning the first four editions, whilst Michael van Gerwen reeled off four titles on the bounce from 2014 to 2017. Peter Wright became a two-time winner with his success in 2023. European Championship roll of honour 2008 – Phil Taylor 2009 – Phil Taylor 2010 – Phil Taylor 2011 – Phil Taylor 2012 – Simon Whitlock 2013 – Adrian Lewis 2014 – Michael van Gerwen 2015 – Michael van Gerwen 2016 – Michael van Gerwen 2017 – Michael van Gerwen 2018 – James Wade 2019 – Rob Cross 2020 – Peter Wright 2021 – Rob Cross 2022 – Ross Smith 2023 – Peter Wright Nine-dart Legs Jose De Sousa was the last player to throw a nine-dart leg at the European Championship in 2020 The European Championship has seen four nine-dart legs thrown during its history, with Adrian Lewis the first player to achieve the perfect leg during the 2011 tournament. ‘Jackpot’ hit a nine darter in his 11-10 semi-final win against Raymond van Barneveld, and it was his second televised nine-dart finish that year having also struck perfection in the PDC World Darts Championship final at the start of 2011. More history was made at the 2014 European Championship when Michael van Gerwen threw a nine-dart leg in his semi-final clash against van Barneveld. In 2017, the late Kyle Anderson also threw a nine darter in an epic semi-final encounter with van Gerwen. Portugal’s Jose De Sousa was the fourth player to throw the perfect leg, and to date the last in the European Championship. ‘The Special One’ threw a nine darter in his first-round tie against Jeffrey de Zwaan in 2020. 2023 winner Peter Wright Peter Wright added his name to the short list of multiple time European champions after claiming victory at the European Championship in October last year. ‘Snakebite’ defeated the 2018 champion James Wade 11-6 in the final to double his title tally in the event. Wright, who had won the European Championship for the first time in 2020, recorded victories over Gabriel Clemens, Michael Smith, Chris Dobey, Danny Noppert and Wade in Dortmund to pocket the £120,000 top prize last year. Reflecting on his second European Championship success, Wright said: “The old guy can still do it. I was fortunate in my first game against Gabriel Clemens. I pulled out two 180s to get back in the match, but it was just brilliant to play in front of this amazing crowd this weekend. My throwing action went totally out the window in the last two matches. I didn’t know what I was doing, but luckily enough I got over the line.” Wright’s triumph in Dortmund 12 months ago was his most recent major win, with the two-time PDC world champion going on to suffer early exits in the World Darts Championship, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix. The Scot has since slipped down to number 14 on the PDC Order of Merit, but showed signs of his form returning with an impressive victory on the European Tour in Hildesheim last month. ‘Snakebite’ returns to the scene of his last major success as one of the top 16 seeds for the 2024 European Championship (October 24-27). He will be aiming to become only the third player to successfully defend the title, with Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen the only men to have won the European Championship in back-to-back years. WRIGHT IS THE CHAMPION! 🏆Peter Wright defeats James Wade 11-6 to win the Machineseeker European Championship!#ECDarts | Final📺 https://t.co/krogNobX5o pic.twitter.com/N42kKO4snT — PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 29, 2023 What’s in store for the darts European Championship 2024? The next edition of the European Championship is almost upon us as 32 of the top darts players get ready to battle it out for the title. The 2024 European Championship takes place from October 24-27 at the Westfalenhallen, in Dortmund, and will be broadcast live on ITV. The 2024 Premier League champion Luke Littler will be amongst the debutants in the European Championship in 2024. The newest PDC major winner Mike De Decker and Luke Woodhouse are also on track to make their first appearances in the competition this year. Get in touch with Darts Corner and let us know your predictions for this year’s European Championship. You can tweet us your predicted winner on X (Twitter) or leave a comment on our Facebook page. Keep up to date with all the action at this year’s European Championship with updates in the ‘Darts News’ section of our blog. Pictures: PDC/PDC Europe Alex Moss is a content creator for Darts Corner and the co-host of the Weekly Dartscast podcast. Alex co-founded the Weekly Dartscast in 2017 and has helped produce 350+ episodes of the podcast, with their list of previous guests on the show a who’s who in the world of darts. Alex also writes content for the Darts Corner blog, including the weekly darts news round-ups and how-to guides.
