European Championship
Tournament information
Venue	Westfalenhallen
Location	Dortmund
Country	Germany
Established	2008
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs
Prize fund	£500,000 (2020)
Month(s) Played	Various (2008–2013) October/November (2014–)
Current champion(s)
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	Phil Taylor (104.35)	11–5	Adrian Lewis (96.56)	£200,000	£50,000	£25,000	PartyPoker.net	Südbahnhof, Frankfurt
2009	Phil Taylor (109.35)	11–3	Steve Beaton (97.16)			£20,000		Claus Event Center, Hoofddorp
2010	Phil Taylor (105.74)	11–1	Wayne Jones (94.64)					Stadthalle Dinslaken, Dinslaken
2011	Phil Taylor (109.29)	11–8	Adrian Lewis (98.72)					Maritim Hotel, Düsseldorf
2012	Simon Whitlock (94.91)	11–5	Wes Newton (89.47)					RWE-Sporthalle, Mülheim
2013	Adrian Lewis (103.34)	11–6	Simon Whitlock (99.59)
2014	Michael van Gerwen (98.16)	11–4	Terry Jenkins (92.90)	£250,000	£55,000	£25,000	888.com
2015	Michael van Gerwen (107.28)	11–10	Gary Anderson (102.42)	£300,000	£65,000	£35,000	Unibet	Ethias Arena, Hasselt
2016	Michael van Gerwen (111.62)	11–1	Mensur Suljović (85.91)	£400,000	£100,000	£40,000
2017	Michael van Gerwen (108.91)	11–7	Rob Cross (102.39)
2018	James Wade (91.44)	11–8	Simon Whitlock (88.81)					Westfalenhallen, Dortmund
2019	Rob Cross (93.12)	11–6	Gerwyn Price (84.51)	£500,000	£120,000	£60,000		Lokhalle, Göttingen
2020	Peter Wright (104.33)	11–4	James Wade (95.28)					König Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen
2021	Rob Cross (92.91)	11–8	Michael van Gerwen (93.66)				Cazoo	Salzburgarena, Salzburg
2022	Ross Smith (101.32)	11–8	Michael Smith (100.47)					Westfalenhallen, Dortmund
2023	Peter Wright (97.39)	11–6	James Wade (92.09)				Machineseeker

Records and statistics

As of 29 October 2023

Total finalist appearances

Rank	Player	Won	Runner-up	Finals	Appearances
1	Michael van Gerwen	4	1	5	15
2	Phil Taylor	4	0	4	9
3	Rob Cross	2	1	3	7
4	Peter Wright	2	0	2	12
5	Adrian Lewis	1	2	3	10
	Simon Whitlock	1	2	3	11
	James Wade	1	2	3	15
8	Ross Smith	1	0	1	4
9	Gary Anderson	0	1	1	6
	Steve Beaton	0	1	1	5
	Terry Jenkins	0	1	1	9
	Wayne Jones	0	1	1	4
	Michael Smith	0	1	1	10
	Wes Newton	0	1	1	6
	Gerwyn Price	0	1	1	9
	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
Adrian Lewis	2011, Semi-Final	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	Raymond van Barneveld	11–10
Michael van Gerwen	2014, Semi-Final	2 x T20, T19; 3 x T20; 2 x T20, D12	Raymond van Barneveld	11–6
Kyle Anderson	2017, Semi-Final	3 x T20; 3 x T20, T20, T19, D12	Michael van Gerwen	10–11
José de Sousa	2020, Last 32	3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12	Jeffrey de Zwaan	6–3

High averages

Ten highest European Championship one-match averages
Average	Player	Year (+ Round)	Opponent	Result
118.14	Phil Taylor	2009, Quarter-Final	Gary Anderson	10–3
113.92	Phil Taylor	2008, Last 16	Mervyn King	9–3
113.33	Phil Taylor	2008, Semi-Final	Robert Thornton	11–7
113.04	Raymond van Barneveld	2012, Last 32	Terry Jenkins	6–1
111.62	Michael van Gerwen	2016, Final	Mensur Suljović	11–1
111.33	Jonny Clayton	2019, Last 32	James Wade	6–0
111.03	Phil Taylor	2009, Last 32	Toon Greebe	6–2
111.00	Michael van Gerwen	2014, Quarter-Final	Dave Chisnall	10–5
110.88	Phil Taylor	2009, Last 16	Robert Thornton	9–0
110.32	Michael van Gerwen	2018, Last 32	Paul Nicholson	6–2

Five highest losing averages
Average	Player	Year (+ Round)	Opponent	Result
107.56	Gerwyn Price	2021, Quarter-Final	Michael van Gerwen	8–10
106.12	Gary Anderson	2009, Quarter-Final	Phil Taylor	3–10
106.12	Phil Taylor	2015, Quarter-Final	Adrian Lewis	9–10
105.10	Michael van Gerwen	2019, Last 32	Ross Smith	5–6
104.92	Madars Razma	2023, Last 32	Michael van Gerwen	5–6

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

Five highest tournament averages
Average	Player	Year
111.54	Phil Taylor	2009
108.20	Phil Taylor	2008
105.87	Phil Taylor	2016
105.53	Michael van Gerwen	2016
105.15	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.

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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darts.

References

External links

• European Championship page on the PDC website
• European Championship on Darts Database