European Darts Championship 2026

22 October – 25 October 2026 · Westfalenhalle, Dortmund

The European Darts Championship is the PDC's European championship, where the 32 best players on the European Tour compete for the title. The 19th edition took place from 22 to 25 October 2026 at the Westfalenhalle Dortmund and ended with Ross Smith's 11-8 win in the final against Martin Schindler.

The European Darts Championship is the PDC's European championship and the highlight of the European Tour season. The 19th edition – staged in 2026 as the Machineseeker European Championship – took place from 22 to 25 October 2026 at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund. The 32 best players in the European Tour Order of Merit, who had qualified through 15 ET events, were entitled to compete. After the Dutch Darts Championship, the last European Tour event of the season, the field and the draw were confirmed. Top seed was Ross Smith, who won two European Tour titles in the 2026 season with the International Darts Open and the Hungarian Darts Trophy. Behind him came Wessel Nijman (against Martin Schindler) and Krzysztof Ratajski (against Dave Chisnall). The event was played in a draw bracket, meaning no. 1 in the ranking against no. 32, no. 2 against no. 31 and so on. Defending champion Gian van Veen faced Andrew Gilding, Luke Littler met William O'Connor and Michael van Gerwen played Kevin Doets. Luke Humphries, last year's finalist and seeded 12th, had to withdraw on 22 October for health reasons; Kim Huybrechts took his place. The German starters were Martin Schindler and Niko Springer; Kevin Doets and Niels Zonneveld made their debut at this tournament. The tournament was played as a knockout, rising from Best of 11 Legs in round 1 to Best of 21 Legs in the semi-finals and the final. Total prize money was increased by £150,000 on the previous year to £750,000 in all. In 2026 the European champion received £150,000 for the first time. The first exclamation mark of the tournament came right in the opening match: Luke Woodhouse won 6-3 against Dirk van Duijvenbode and threw a nine-darter in the process – the fifth perfect leg in the history of the Darts European Championship. Stephen Bunting then came through 6-5 against Danny Noppert, Cameron Menzies won 6-3 against Niels Zonneveld and Gerwyn Price beat Rob Cross 6-2 with an Average of 99.26 points. Damon Heta defeated James Wade 6-5, before replacement Kim Huybrechts posted the best figure of the evening with an Average of 103.81 points in his 6-1 win over Ryan Searle. Defending champion Gian van Veen kept his title hopes alive with a 6-4 against Andrew Gilding, and top seed Ross Smith closed the Thursday session with a 6-4 against Karel Sedláček. On Friday evening Jermaine Wattimena opened the second first-round session with a 6-3 against Ryan Joyce. Krzysztof Ratajski then came through 6-2 against Dave Chisnall, and Nathan Aspinall also booked his ticket for round 2 with a 6-3 against Cristo Reyes. For German starter Niko Springer the tournament then ended with a 3-6 defeat to Jonny Clayton. Luke Littler went on to win 6-3 against William O'Connor, posting the highest Average of round 1 with 105.05 points. In the thriller of the evening the second German starter, Martin Schindler, prevailed 6-5 against Wessel Nijman. Debutant Kevin Doets then produced the next surprise with a 6-3 against Michael van Gerwen. Josh Rock closed the session with a 6-1 against Chris Dobey. That completed all 16 first-round matches, which produced 146 Legs, 82 180s and 22 Checkouts of at least 100 points, with a Double rate of 35.0 per cent. The last 16 were played on Saturday 24 October. Gerwyn Price opened the afternoon session from 13:00 with a clear 10-4 against Cameron Menzies and became the first player into the quarter-finals; Price posted an Average of 95.75 points, Menzies 94.66. Stephen Bunting then came through 10-3 against replacement Kim Huybrechts (96.83 to 94.99). Top seed Ross Smith qualified as the third quarter-finalist, beating Damon Heta 10-7 with an Average of 96.19 points (Heta: 90.70). To close the afternoon session, Luke Woodhouse knocked out defending champion Gian van Veen 10-6 (95.34 to 91.47). Krzysztof Ratajski opened the evening session from 19:00 with a 10-8 against debutant Kevin Doets (96.95 to 93.16). Martin Schindler then won 10-4 against Jermaine Wattimena despite the lower Average (90.25 to 92.05). Luke Littler followed with the statistically strongest match of the tournament in his 10-5 against Nathan Aspinall: his Average of 114.47 points is the second-highest in the history of the European Championship, and even Aspinall reached 105.57 points – the fifth-highest Losing Average in the event's history. Jonny Clayton closed the session at 22:00, coming through 10-8 against Josh Rock (98.28 to 93.15) and completing the quarter-final line-up. On Sunday 25 October, Ross Smith opened the quarter-final session at 13:00 with a 10-6 against Luke Woodhouse; Smith posted an Average of 107.00 points, Woodhouse 103.40. In the second quarter-final at 14:00, Gerwyn Price came through 10-3 against Stephen Bunting (103.03 to 95.20). At 15:00 Martin Schindler outclassed Jonny Clayton 10-1 with an Average of 103.16 points (Clayton: 98.92). The last quarter-final at 16:00 went to Krzysztof Ratajski, who beat Luke Littler 10-6 (100.79 to 99.08); Littler therefore missed out again on the only major title still missing from his collection. All of Sunday's matches ran on CET, as summer time had ended the night before. In the first semi-final from 19:00, Ross Smith came through 11-7 against Gerwyn Price; the top seed turned around a 1-4 deficit and won despite the slightly lower Average (92.55 to 93.69). In the second semi-final, Martin Schindler prevailed 11-6 against Krzysztof Ratajski with an Average of 98.88 points (Ratajski: 93.39). Schindler thereby made darts history: he is the first German in a major final. Ross Smith won the Best of 21 Legs final 11-8 with an Average of 92.92 points (Schindler: 91.49). For Smith it is his second European title after 2022 and the third major success of his career. The highest Checkout of the tournament was hit by Martin Schindler with 167 points. The reigning European champion is therefore Ross Smith, who takes over from Gian van Veen; van Veen had beaten Luke Humphries in the deciding 21st Leg of the 2025 final. The tournament was first staged in Frankfurt in 2008 and has since been held at changing venues, continuously in Dortmund since 2022. The record winners are Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen with four titles each. From 2027 the field will be expanded from 32 to 48 players, the tournament extended to six days and total prize money increased to £1,000,000.