| Tournament Name: | European Championship |
| Venue: | Westfalenhallen |
| Location: | Dortmund |
| Establishment: | 2008 |
| Organisation: | PDC |
| Format: | Legs |
| Prizefund: | £500,000 (2020) |
| Month Played: | Various (2008–2013) October/November (2014–) |
| Current Champion: | 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.
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.
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Prize money | Sponsor | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Champion | Runner-up | ||||||
| 2008 | £200,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 | PartyPoker.net | ||||
| 2009 | Phil Taylor (109.35) | 11–3 | Steve Beaton (97.16) | £20,000 | ||||
| 2010 | Phil Taylor (105.74) | 11–1 | Wayne Jones (94.64) | |||||
| 2011 | Phil Taylor (109.29) | 11–8 | Adrian Lewis (98.72) | Maritim Hotel, Düsseldorf | ||||
| 2012 | 11–5 | Wes Newton (89.47) | RWE-Sporthalle, Mülheim | |||||
| 2013 | Adrian Lewis (103.34) | 11–6 | ||||||
| 2014 | 11–4 | Terry Jenkins (92.90) | £250,000 | £55,000 | £25,000 | 888.com | ||
| 2015 | £300,000 | £65,000 | £35,000 | Unibet |  Ethias Arena, Hasselt | |||
| 2016 | £400,000 | £100,000 | £40,000 | |||||
| 2017 | ||||||||
| 2018 | Westfalenhallen, Dortmund | |||||||
| 2019 | £500,000 | £120,000 | £60,000 | Lokhalle, Göttingen | ||||
| 2020 | ||||||||
| 2021 | Cazoo | |||||||
| 2022 | ||||||||
| 2023 | Machineseeker | |||||||
| 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 |
| Country | Players | Total | First title | Last title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 9 | 2008 | 2022 | ||
 Netherlands | 1 | 4 | 2014 | 2017 | |
| 1 | 2 | 2020 | 2023 | ||
| Australia | 1 | 1 | 2012 | 2012 |
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 |
| 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 | ||
The PDC announced on August 12, 2008 that ITV4 would broadcast the entire event. 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.
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.