After 14 events in varying locations across Europe, the world’s best darts players descend on Dortmund’s Westfalenhallen to compete for the grand prize. The competition commences on Thursday, 23rd October, as the opening first-round matches unfold, with the final scheduled for Sunday, 27th October.
2025 European Championship of Darts – Overview
The PDC European Tour Order of Merit determines who qualifies for the European Championship of Darts, with only the 32 highest-earning players receiving an invitation.
England’s Nathan Aspinall occupies first place on the leaderboard, having amassed £83.5k for his efforts so far, but could be leapfrogged at the summit following the upcoming German Championships, the fourteenth and final event of the regular season tour. Indeed, this weekend’s outcome in Hildesheim will likely cause movement throughout the rankings, subsequently impacting who will finish the regular season among the top 32 places.
Therefore, those currently below the cut-off line – such as two-time World Grand Prix finalist Dave Chisnall, 2022 World Masters champion Joe Cullen, and Irish star William O'Connor – could potentially squeeze their way onto the participant list should they progress to the latter stages of the German Championships. However, last year's surprise package, Ritchie Edhouse, won’t be given an opportunity to defend his European crown, which he earned by defeating Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena in a one-sided 2024 final. The 42-year-old failed to qualify for this weekend’s final event after a series of underwhelming performances on the tour, leaving him languishing in 33rd position.
The seedings for the PDC European Championships are also yet to be finalised, so we’re still unable to gain confirmation of any first-round matches. This competition employs a simple ranking-based draw, with the highest and lowest positioned qualifiers pitted against each other within a descending model. Therefore, the opening round will see the 1st-ranked and 32nd-ranked qualifiers meet each other, with 2nd facing 31st, 3rd against 30th, and so on.
Format
The European Championship of Darts follows a straightforward knockout round format, as the 32 players are gradually whittled down to two finalists. Unlike some tournaments, the top-ranked seeds do not enter the tournament at a later stage, with all participants competing from the start.
The sixteen first round ties are scheduled across the opening two days of the tournament, before all second round meetings land on the Saturday. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final are then hosted on a busy Sunday, which concludes with the evening’s trophy presentation.
All matches are contested using the legs play model, whereby each opponent aims to build up an unassailable lead. The maximum volume of legs to be played is determined in advance, so the tie takes on a ‘best of’ framework. This means that the winner is declared as soon as one player’s leading margin exceeds the number of legs remaining (i.e., if a player leads by a scoreline of 5-2 heading into the ninth leg of an eleven-leg tie, they would only need one more point to secure victory as there are just three legs remaining).
As the European Championship progresses, the maximum volume of legs played in any one match gradually increases. This means that matches played towards the end of the tournament tend to last much longer than those at the beginning.
We’ve provided an overview of the match structure below:
First Round: Best of 11 legs
Second Round: Best of 19 legs
Quarter-finals: Best of 19 legs
Semi-finals: Best of 21 legs
Final: Best of 21 legs
Prize Money
The tournament’s prize pot has steadily risen since its inaugural edition in 2008, when players competed for a share of a £200,000 kitty. This figure rose to an eye-watering £600,000 in 2019, where it has remained ever since. Over the previous five years, the winner of the PDC European Championships was awarded £120,000 – the same amount will be given to this season’s champion.
Although the victor deservedly takes home the biggest slice of the pie, all players receive a sum of money relative to how far they advanced in the competition. The better their performance, the more cash they receive.
Here is this year’s full prize breakdown:
First Round (last 32): £7,500
Second Round (last 16): £15,000
Quarter-finalist: £25,000
Semi-finalist: £40,000
Runner-up: £60,000
Winner: £120,000
Past winners
The two most successful players in the tournament’s short history are legendary archer Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and fan favourite Michael van Gerwen, who have both been crowned champion on four separate occasions. Taylor lifted silverware in each of the first four editions of the European Championships (2008 to 2011), while ‘Mighty Mike’ secured all of his titles between 2014 and 2017.
Rob Cross and Peter Wright are the only other players to win the European Championships more than once, having both triumphed twice in recent years. There have been nine different winners since the competition’s inception just under 17 years ago, with six of these players hailing from England.
While establishing his early hegemony, Phil Taylor set a scoring benchmark that is yet to be matched. The 14-time PDC World Champion still boasts the three highest match averages at a European Championships, with his second and third best scores set way back in 2008. Taylor’s best-ever performance in this event came the following year, when he concluded his convincing quarter-final victory over Gary Anderson with an average score of 118.14 – no one has come close to challenging this record.
There have been four nine-dart finishes in this competition, three of which have arrived in semi-final ties. Stoke-born Adrian Lewis was the first player to achieve this milestone, doing so during his last-four meeting with Raymond van Barneveld back in 2011. Michael van Gerwen then replicated this feat against the same opponent three years later, before the dynamic Dutchman found himself on the receiving end of a perfect leg of darts from Kyle Anderson in 2017. The last player to hit a nine-darter at the European Championships was Portuguese veteran José de Sousa, who delivered his scintillating finish while overcoming Jeffrey de Zwaan in the first round of the competition’s COVID-impacted 2020 edition.
Full list of past winners (beaten finalist in brackets):
2024: Ritchie Edhouse (vs. Jermaine Wattimena)
2023: Peter Wright (vs. James Wade)
2022: Ross Smith (vs. Michael Smith)
2021: Rob Cross (vs. Michael van Gerwen)
2020: Peter Wright (vs. James Wade)
2019: Rob Cross (vs. Gerwyn Price)
2018: James Wade (vs. Simon Whitlock)
2017: Michael van Gerwen (vs. Rob Cross)
2016: Michael van Gerwen (vs. Mensur Suljović)
2015: Michael van Gerwen (vs. Gary Anderson)
2014: Michael van Gerwen (vs. Terry Jenkins)
2013: Adrian Lewis (vs. Simon Whitlock)
2012: Simon Whitlock (vs. Wes Newton)
2011: Phil Taylor (vs. Adrian Lewis)
2010: Phil Taylor (vs. Wayne Jones)
2009: Phil Taylor (vs. Steve Beaton)
2008: Phil Taylor (vs. Adrian Lewis)
Who is the favourite?
Several players are considered to be in with a chance of winning this year’s European Championships, but most darts fans will expect Luke Littler to emerge triumphant.
The teenage sensation continues to enjoy a remarkable year, having incredibly won four of the 2025’s opening five PDC-ranked televised events. The only notable blot on his near-perfect copybook came less than a month after becoming world champion, losing to Welshman Jonny Clayton at the quarter-final stage of the World Masters. Littler then bounced back to scoop his first UK Open and World Matchplay titles, although he did fail to defend his Premier League of Darts crown after suffering an 11-8 defeat to familiar foe Luke Humphries in the play-off final.
The current world number two added further silverware to his already bustling trophy cabinet at the beginning of October, clinching the World Grand Prix title after avenging his Premier League loss to Humphries. Littler hammered the reigning Masters champion in the final, recording a 6-1 sets victory amidst a raucous atmosphere at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.
Although he missed several events on this season’s European Tour, the ‘Nuke’ has also managed to claim two continental triumphs – both of which came on Belgian soil – ahead of this weekend’s German Championship. Littler retained his Belgian Championship after overcoming 2024 World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker in his native homeland, before defeating Northern Irishman Josh Rock in a thrilling finale to land the coveted Flanders Darts Trophy.
Having disappointingly been eliminated in the first round of last year’s European Championship, the Warrington-born superstar will feel like he has a score to settle when he arrives in Dortmund later this month. Therefore, don’t be surprised if he goes all the way.