STAR DARTS PREVIEW: 2026 European Championships

Another darts major tournament is upon us this week, with the European Championship taking place in Dortmund, writes EMILY WALLIS.

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It’s a competition that has thrown some surprising winners in the last couple of years and this year’s renewal should be just as exciting.

The 32-player field is determined by who has done the best on the European Tours throughout the year, this year we were treated to 15 of these tournaments. I love watching the Euro Tours when they are on as you get to see so many different players compared to at the major tournaments and what each player can do in a stage setting.

Of the 15 tournaments, there have been 11 different winners, showing the competitiveness of them. Those that won two were Luke Littler, Wessel Nijman and Ross Smith.

Last year’s winner of the European Championship was Gian van Veen where he claimed his first major title beating Luke Humphries in a last leg decider. This perhaps isn’t a shock to us now seeing him go on to make the World Championship final just over two months later but it was refreshing to see a new major winner after the year was so heavily dominated by both Humphries and Littler.

In 2024, Ritchie Edhouse claimed major glory in the European Championship which certainly was a surprise and it’s also unfortunate that Edhouse has not managed to even qualify for it again in the last two years.

Of course, qualification went down to the very final Euro Tour in Maastricht in the Netherlands and, to the crowd’s delight, the final was an all-Dutch affair between Danny Noppert and Niels Zonneveld both looking for their first-ever European Tour win. In the end it was Zonneveld’s weekend, and he played exceptionally well to claim the title which shot him all the way up to fourth in the European Tour rankings.

Also in Maastricht, we saw a European Tour record average when Gian van Veen beat Sebastian Bialecki 6-0 averaging 120.24 so it was a weekend to remember.

No one has done better than Ross Smith on the Euro Tours this year; he has made four finals and won two of them in both Riesa and Budapest, and that is why he is going into this weekend as the top seed. Of course, he has recently tasted major success when winning the World Series of Darts Finals, so he’s having a brilliant year and should be a big player this weekend.

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🏆 Outright

This has the feel of one of the most competitive major competitions there has been in a while with so many players hitting peak form at this time of year where it really matters.

Luke Littler is the outright favourite, but he has been in far from his best form in the last couple of months. Although he did win European Tour 12 in Prague, around that he has been beaten in the two Players Championship events he has played in this year, lost in the quarter-finals of the World Series Finals and lost in the first round of the World Grand Prix as well as in the semi-final of the World Youth Championship.

By his standards, this is all surprising to see, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can bounce back. He’ll be determined to get back to winning ways before trying to defend his Grand Slam title and of course, before trying to win a third consecutive World Darts Championship. He has other motives to win the European Championship, though as this is now one of the only tournaments he hasn’t won yet. He lost to Andrew Gilding in the first round two years ago and to James Wade in the second round last year. A determined Luke Littler is certainly not someone to underestimate.

He’s also got a very tough first-round match against Willie O’Connor, who had a positive weekend in Maastricht last week, reaching the last 16 but coming through a brilliant match against Michael van Gerwen on Saturday evening, where he had almost a 102 average and had three ton-plus checkouts, including to win a last-leg decider! O’Connor has reached new heights this year breaking into the Top 32 on the World Rankings and will be one of those players not fazed by playing Littler.

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2️⃣ Quarter 2

Although the main outright market looks tough, I do like the look of Danny Noppert to win his quarter of the draw. He has a brilliant record in this tournament, making the semi-finals for the last three years!

After having such a positive year in 2025, it felt like his form had dropped off slightly in recent months but making the final last week will help his mindset going into a tournament he loves.

He’ll face Stephen Bunting in the first round, which could be tough, but Noppert has an excellent record against him in major tournaments in the last couple of years, knocking him out of the World Masters in the last two years and the World Grand Prix and World Series Finals last year so he should be heading into it feeling confident.

Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price will be major hurdles in the quarter, but Noppert can beat anyone on his day and represents good value at 8/1 with starsports.bet.

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3️⃣ Quarter 3

I also think Jonny Clayton should have a brilliant chance in his quarter of the draw and 11/4 with starsports.bet looks like a big price.

He’s having another brilliant year and he has a nice draw to work from in this tournament. Niko Springer awaits in the first round and although he is a great player and a Euro Tour winner in 2025, experience should prevail and Clayton should come through this match for me.

He’ll then play the winner of Chris Dobey v Josh Rock, again two great players but not in their best form.

The danger in this quarter of the draw is Wessel Nijman, who is favourite to win the quarter. He’s having a breakthrough year winning multiple Players Championship events and two Euro Tours but he’s still yet to convert that form in a major tournament and should he come through his first couple of matches, I think Clayton’s experience and composure could once again help him win.

As always, Star Sports will have boosts up for each session of the tournament which runs from Thursday until the final which will take place on Sunday evening.

It’s going to be a great tournament and could have an interesting bearing on the big tournaments coming up for the rest of the year.

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