European Championship
Tournament information
VenueWestfalenhallen
LocationDortmund
Country Germany
Established2008
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£500,000 (2020)
Month(s) PlayedVarious (2008–2013)
October/November (2014–)
Current champion(s)
Scotland Peter Wright

The European Championship is a PDC darts tournament which was created to allow the top European players to compete with the highest ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit. Since 2016, the tournament has taken place at the end of October, and features the top 32 players on the PDC European Tour Order of Merit.

History

The inaugural tournament – the 2008 European Championship – was held at the Südbahnhof in Frankfurt, Germany and featured a prize fund of £200,000.[1]

The tournament moved to the Claus Hotel & Event Center in Hoofddorp, Netherlands for 2009 featuring a similar prize fund.[2] The tournament returned to Germany in 2010, where it was held at Dinslaken. The 2011 tournament remained in Germany, only this time, it took place in Düsseldorf – the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. From 2012 to 2014, the tournament took place in Mülheim, Germany, then between 2015 and 2017, the tournament took place in Hasselt, Belgium, but in 2018, the tournament returned to Germany, moving to the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. It moved to Göttingen in 2019, before moving to the König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen in 2020, and then the Salzburgarena in Salzburg, Austria in 2021, before returning to Dortmund again in 2022.

Phil Taylor won the tournament on each of the first four stagings of the event, before Simon Whitlock took the title in 2012. Adrian Lewis gained his third major win after beating Whitlock in the 2013 edition of the tournament. Michael van Gerwen won the tournament for the first time in 2014 beating Terry Jenkins in the final. In 2015, van Gerwen came back from 7–10 behind to defeat Gary Anderson 11–10 in the final, then he beat Mensur Suljović 11–1 in the 2016 final, and he won it for a fourth year in a row in 2017, when he defeated Rob Cross 11–7 in the 2017 final. In 2018, James Wade won the title, and in 2019 Rob Cross became European champion, then Peter Wright won in 2020, before Cross regained the title in 2021.

Finals

Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
2008 England Phil Taylor (104.35) 11–5 England Adrian Lewis (96.56) £200,000 £50,000 £25,000 PartyPoker.net Germany Südbahnhof, Frankfurt
2009 England Phil Taylor (109.35) 11–3 England Steve Beaton (97.16) £20,000 Netherlands Claus Event Center, Hoofddorp
2010 England Phil Taylor (105.74) 11–1 England Wayne Jones (94.64) Germany Stadthalle Dinslaken, Dinslaken
2011 England Phil Taylor (109.29) 11–8 England Adrian Lewis (98.72) Germany Maritim Hotel, Düsseldorf
2012 Australia Simon Whitlock (94.91) 11–5 England Wes Newton (89.47) Germany RWE-Sporthalle, Mülheim
2013 England Adrian Lewis (103.34) 11–6 Australia Simon Whitlock (99.59)
2014 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (98.16) 11–4 England Terry Jenkins (92.90) £250,000 £55,000 £25,000 888.com
2015 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (107.28) 11–10 Scotland Gary Anderson (102.42) £300,000 £65,000 £35,000 Unibet Belgium Ethias Arena, Hasselt
2016 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (111.62) 11–1 Austria Mensur Suljović (85.91) £400,000 £100,000 £40,000
2017 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (108.91) 11–7 England Rob Cross (102.39)
2018 England James Wade (91.44) 11–8 Australia Simon Whitlock (88.81) Germany Westfalenhallen, Dortmund
2019 England Rob Cross (93.12) 11–6 Wales Gerwyn Price (84.51) £500,000 £120,000 £60,000 Germany Lokhalle, Göttingen
2020 Scotland Peter Wright (104.33) 11–4 England James Wade (95.28) Germany König Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen
2021 England Rob Cross (92.91) 11–8 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen (93.66) Cazoo Austria Salzburgarena, Salzburg
2022 England Ross Smith (101.32) 11–8 England Michael Smith (100.47) Germany Westfalenhallen, Dortmund
2023 Scotland Peter Wright (97.39) 11–6 England James Wade (92.09) Machineseeker

Records and statistics

As of 29 October 2023

Total finalist appearances

Rank Player Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 4 1 5 15
2 England Phil Taylor 4 0 4 9
3 England Rob Cross 2 1 3 7
4 Scotland Peter Wright 2 0 2 12
5 England Adrian Lewis 1 2 3 10
Australia Simon Whitlock 1 2 3 11
England James Wade 1 2 3 15
8 England Ross Smith 1 0 1 4
9 Scotland Gary Anderson 0 1 1 6
England Steve Beaton 0 1 1 5
England Terry Jenkins 0 1 1 9
England Wayne Jones 0 1 1 4
England Michael Smith 0 1 1 10
England Wes Newton 0 1 1 6
Wales Gerwyn Price 0 1 1 9
Austria Mensur Suljović 0 1 1 13

Champions by country

Country Players Total First title Last title
 England 5 9 2008 2022
 Netherlands 1 4 2014 2017
 Scotland 1 2 2020 2023
 Australia 1 1 2012 2012

Nine-dart finishes

Four nine-darters have been thrown at the European Championship. The first one was in 2011.

Player Year (+ Round) Method Opponent Result
England Adrian Lewis 2011, Semi-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 11–10
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2014, Semi-Final 2 x T20, T19; 3 x T20; 2 x T20, D12 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 11–6
Australia Kyle Anderson 2017, Semi-Final 3 x T20; 3 x T20, T20, T19, D12 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 10–11
Portugal José de Sousa 2020, Last 32 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12 Netherlands Jeffrey de Zwaan 6–3

High averages

Ten highest European Championship one-match averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
118.14 England Phil Taylor 2009, Quarter-Final Scotland Gary Anderson 10–3
113.92 England Phil Taylor 2008, Last 16 England Mervyn King 9–3
113.33 England Phil Taylor 2008, Semi-Final Scotland Robert Thornton 11–7
113.04 Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 2012, Last 32 England Terry Jenkins 6–1
111.62 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2016, Final Austria Mensur Suljović 11–1
111.33 Wales Jonny Clayton 2019, Last 32 England James Wade 6–0
111.03 England Phil Taylor 2009, Last 32 Netherlands Toon Greebe 6–2
111.00 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2014, Quarter-Final England Dave Chisnall 10–5
110.88 England Phil Taylor 2009, Last 16 Scotland Robert Thornton 9–0
110.32 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2018, Last 32 Australia Paul Nicholson 6–2
Five highest losing averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
107.56 Wales Gerwyn Price 2021, Quarter-Final Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 8–10
106.12 Scotland Gary Anderson 2009, Quarter-Final England Phil Taylor 3–10
106.12 England Phil Taylor 2015, Quarter-Final England Adrian Lewis 9–10
105.10 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2019, Last 32 England Ross Smith 5–6
104.92 Latvia Madars Razma 2023, Last 32 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 5–6
Different players with a 100+ match average (Updated 29/10/23)
Player Total Highest Av. Year (+ Round)
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 29 111.62 2016, Final
England Phil Taylor 26 118.14 2009, Quarter-Final
Scotland Peter Wright 14 104.74 2015, Semi-Final
England Adrian Lewis 8 108.62 2008, Quarter-Final
Wales Gerwyn Price 8 107.56 2021, Quarter-Final
Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld 7 113.04 2012, Last 32
England Dave Chisnall 6 109.75 2019, Last 16
England Michael Smith 6 106.09 2019, Last 32
Wales Jonny Clayton 4 111.33 2019, Last 32
Scotland Gary Anderson 4 106.26 2015, Semi-Final
England Mervyn King 4 104.00 2009, Last 16
England Colin Lloyd 4 104.00 2009, Last 16
England Nathan Aspinall 4 103.34 2021, Quarter-Final
England Stephen Bunting 4 102.68 2014, Last 32
Netherlands Danny Noppert 4 102.31 2021, Last 32
Austria Mensur Suljović 3 105.50 2016, Quarter-Final
Netherlands Dirk van Duijvenbode 3 104.15 2022, Quarter-Final
England Ryan Searle 3 102.43 2022, Last 32
England Rob Cross 3 102.39 2017, Final
England Ross Smith 3 101.63 2022, Last 32
South Africa Devon Petersen 2 106.30 2020, Quarter-Final
England Chris Dobey 2 104.63 2022, Quarter-Final
England Mark Walsh 2 104.10 2008, Last 32
Netherlands Jelle Klaasen 2 103.76 2013, Last 16
England Ian White 2 103.64 2020, Last 16
Australia Simon Whitlock 2 102.52 2011, Last 32
Scotland Robert Thornton 2 102.12 2008, Semi-Final
England James Wade 2 101.81 2011, Last 16
Northern Ireland Josh Rock 2 101.69 2022, Last 16
Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh 2 101.53 2022, Last 32
Netherlands Gian van Veen 1 107.34 2023, Last 32
England Wes Newton 1 106.09 2012, Last 32
England Jamie Caven 1 106.09 2013, Last 32
Portugal José de Sousa 1 105.28 2022, Last 32
Latvia Madars Razma 1 104.92 2023, Last 32
Northern Ireland Brendan Dolan 1 104.68 2014, Last 32
Germany Ricardo Pietreczko 1 104.28 2023, Last 32
England James Wilson 1 103.64 2018, Last 32
England Dennis Priestley 1 102.35 2008, Last 16
England Luke Humphries 1 102.15 2022, Last 32
Netherlands Jeffrey de Zwaan 1 101.87 2019, Last 32
England Colin Osborne 1 101.80 2009, Last 16
England Steve West 1 101.67 2018, Quarter-Final
Australia Damon Heta 1 101.66 2021, Last 16
Australia Paul Nicholson 1 101.61 2011, Last 32
England Ronnie Baxter 1 101.45 2011, Last 32
Germany Martin Schindler 1 101.15 2022, Last 32
Australia Kyle Anderson 1 101.09 2018, Last 32
Netherlands Vincent van der Voort 1 101.09 2014, Last 32
Belgium Ronny Huybrechts 1 100.97 2013, Last 32
Belgium Kim Huybrechts 1 100.86 2015, Last 32
Spain Cristo Reyes 1 100.69 2015, Last 32
Norway Robert Wagner 1 100.59 2014, Last 32
Germany Gabriel Clemens 1 100.36 2020, Last 32
Lithuania Darius Labanauskas 1 100.06 2020, Last 32
England Terry Jenkins 1 100.06 2014, Last 32
Five highest tournament averages
Average Player Year
111.54 England Phil Taylor 2009
108.20 England Phil Taylor 2008
105.87 England Phil Taylor 2016
105.53 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2016
105.15 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 2015

Television coverage

The PDC announced on August 12, 2008 that ITV4 would broadcast the entire event.[1] This was the second PDC darts tournament that ITV4 have broadcast, after the inaugural Grand Slam of Darts – after its rating success ITV had chosen to broadcast this event as well as the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.

The 2009 event was not televised in the UK, but the 2010 event was broadcast on Bravo, which screened live darts for the first time in its history.[3] However, Bravo ceased broadcasting at the start of 2011. On June 26, 2011, it was announced that ITV4 would broadcast the 2011 event.[4] In the Netherlands it is broadcast on RTL7 and in Germany it is broadcast on Sport1. On August 8, 2012 it was announced that ESPN would televise the event, becoming the first broadcaster to show both BDO and PDC dart tournaments. From 2013, the tournament returned to ITV4 as part of a deal between ITV and the PDC to show 4 tournaments from the PDC calendar.

List of United Kingdom broadcasters

Sponsorship

PartyPoker.net sponsored first six editions of the tournament – they also sponsored the US Open and the Las Vegas Desert Classic, two other non-defunct televised PDC events. In 2014, 888.com took over sponsoring of the tournament for one edition, with the tournament being sponsored by Unibet since 2015. [5] In 2021, the tournament will be sponsored by Cazoo, who will also sponsor the PDC World Cup of Darts and the Grand Slam of Darts.

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References

  1. ^ a b PDC website report – European Championship Details Confirmed Archived 2008-08-15 at the Wayback Machine from the Professional Darts Corporation, retrieved 12-08-2008
  2. ^ "European Championship Venue". pdc.tv. 2009-04-22. Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  3. ^ "PDC Link Up With Bravo". pdc.tv. 2010-05-22. Archived from the original on 2010-05-25. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  4. ^ "European Championship On ITV4". pdc.tv. 2011-06-24. Archived from the original on 2011-06-27. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  5. ^ "888.com European Championship Darts Preview , Schedule of Play & Results - SportsNewsIRELAND". Archived from the original on 2014-10-25. Retrieved 2014-10-25.

External links

European Championship
European Championships
Professional Darts Corporation
Categories