2024 European Championship Darts Preview

Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2024 European Championship Darts outright betting preview. The Czech Darts Open didn’t go to plan but James is hoping for much better this weekend.

2024 European Championship Darts

The 2024 European Championship, the seventeenth renewal, takes place at the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany, this weekend. It is the culmination of the 2024 PDC Euro Tour, with the top 32 players on the OOM qualifying.

The top ranked player plays the lowest ranked player, the second ranked player plays the thirty first ranked player and so on. The idea being that the ‘best player’ plays the worst player, but it doesn’t quite end up like that. A lot of the ‘top’ players now tend to skip a number of Euro Tour events, and they do not accumulate a lot of prizemoney as a result.

Strong Field

That means we have players like Michael Smith only ranked 29th, but it is fair to say that there are no poor players in the event. This format has been in place since 2016 when the tournament was won by MVG, the number 1 seed, and the runner up was Suljovic, the number two seed.

Since then the combined numbers of the finalists has gone up, and up. From 3 in 2016, 7 in 2007, 14 in 2018, 12 in 2019, 24 in 2020, 22 in 2021, and 35 for the last two years. The lowest ranked winner was Ross smith in 2022 when he was the 27th seed.

Strangely, all but one of the last eight runners up were ranked top 10, but just five of the winners. Past form says you can rule no one out based on the rankings, but the top ten have enjoyed most of the success.

The last ten years have seen just five different winners. Michael van Gerwen (x4), Peter Wright (x2), Rob Cross (x2), James Wade and Ross Smith.

The format is matchplay with the first round being best of eleven leg matches, rising to best of nineteen for round two and the quarter finals, The semi-finals and final are played as best of twenty one. Thursday and Friday are for the first round matches, the second round is on Saturday, and Sunday sees the quarters, semi-finals and final, a long day for the two finalists.

2024 European Championship Darts – The Players

1 Martin Schindler 

Has won six of his last ten matches, and he might have just come off the boil a little. There have been five sub 92 averages in those last ten matches and that may get him caught out. His good stuff is very good, and he will have home advantage. Schindler has lost all four of his previous first round matches.

2 Luke Humphries 

Warmed up for the 2024 European Championship by winning the Czech Darts Trophy on Sunday. Humphries has won eight of his last ten matches and his form last weekend was extraordinary. All five of his matches saw ton plus averages.

Humphries has reached the quarter final here for the last two years. He has also reached the final of the last six ranked Major championships, winning four. He will take some stopping if he can keep his form going.

3 Luke Littler 

A change of darts saw a dip in form for Littler, but he put the old ones back into play last weekend and hit averages of 110, 116, 110 and 107. He actually lost the semi-final 4-7 to Luke Humphries, which tells you how good Humphries was playing. He has lost five of his last ten matches, but most of those defeats were down to the new darts.

4 Dave Chisnall 

Has lost five of his last ten matches and since winning ET10 last month, Chizzy has won just two of his six stage matches. Worrying form. Chisnall has never gone beyond the quarter final stage in his previous twelve European Championships.

5 Michael van Gerwen 

Has won eight of his last ten matches, but his defeat to Luke Littler at the weekend will have rattled him. MVG averaged 107 and lost 1-6. Even his A game was nowhere near good enough. Van Gerwen has at least started winning tournaments again, picking up three titles in the last month, but these young guns are giving him sleepless nights. MVG is a four time European Champion, but the last was in 2017.

6 Josh Rock 

Has won seven of his last ten matches, but the last two were losses, and stinging losses. The first saw Rock miss six match darts to win the final of PC28, the second was a 5-6 loss to Pavel Drtil in the second round of the Czech Darts Open.

Needless to say, he should have won both, but he just got very flaky on the important throws. The pressure got to him. Rock has not progressed beyond the second round from his two previous European Championships.

7 Rob Cross 

Two time winner and three time European Championship finalist, Rob Cross had won the finals twice before he ever won a Euro Tour event. He has won six of his last ten matches but is not at his best right now.

8 Ryan Searle 

Only managed to reach the second round twice in his three previous European Championships. He has had a very good Euro Tour season but went out early last weekend against a very impressive display by Michael Smith.

However, he miscounted when checking out to win the ninth leg, and Smith took the leg to win the match. Annoying if you had backed over 9.5 legs. His record in Major championships does leave a lot to be desired, just one final in 2021 and a couple of quarter finals.

9 Ross Smith 

Like Searle, Smith’s record in the Majors is not great, but he did win this back in 2022, so he is defending £120k of ranking money. The pressure will be on him to at least make some progress, otherwise he could have a dramatic fall down the rankings. Smith has lost six of his last ten matches, and he is hard to fancy right now.

10 Peter Wright 

Two time winner and defending champion, Wright is not in great form, losing five of his last ten matches. However, he won this from out of the blue last year, so you can never write him off. He faces the in-form Wattimena in the first round, so that is a tough draw.

11 Danny Noppert 

Has won seven of his last ten matches, and while he did win PC8 back in May, since then he has just got stuck, having decent runs but losing seven quarter finals and three semi-finals in various tournaments.

Either he is due a breakthrough, or he isn’t handling the pressure of the big matches. Not surprisingly, his record in this event is good. In the last three years he has reached two quarter finals and the semi-final last year.

12 Stephen Bunting 

Bunting is much like Noppert, but he has gone one step further and since he won the non-ranking Masters in February, has lost eleven quarter finals, two semi-finals and five finals. Bunting has won six of his last ten matches, but his tournament record sees just a single quarter final appearance back in 2014. Since then, he has seen five second round exits and two first round. He has that losing quarter finalist vibe.

13 Gian van Veen 

Made the semi-final on his debut last year. In 2024 he has been a Euro Tour runner up and made a couple of Players Championship semi-finals. He is still playing Development tour matches, winning two more titles, but he is still work in progress. His recent form sees just four wins from his last ten senior level matches, but he is playing OK and will be no push over.

14 Ricardo Pietreczko 

It always amazes me to see Pietreczko so high up the rankings. He won the German Darts Championship just over a year ago, and since then he has been runner up in the Flanders Darts Trophy, very much out of the blue, and a semi-finalist at the Belgian Darts Open at the start of the Euro Tour season.

He has done nothing on the floor, nor made much impression in the Majors. His win rate in 2024 is just 42% and his seasonal average is just 90.82. That is all very ordinary. His recent form sees just four wins from his last ten matches, but he has started to play better in his last couple of tournaments. He made the second round last year on debut.

15 Chris Dobey 

The 2022 semi-finalist and a quarter finalist last year, Dobey has a decent tournament record. He has never reached a ranking Major final, losing eight quarter finals and three semi-finals. Dobey reached two Euro Tour semi-finals this season, he has won three Players Championships and was runner up in two more. T

here is nothing wrong with his floor form, but there is a mental block in taking that ability to win tournaments on the floor, onto the stage. His recent form sess five wins from his last ten. It must be very frustrating to be as good as Dobey is, but not being able to win the big ones. He is very hard to back with any real confidence.

He is defending £40000 of ranking money, so there is a bit more pressure on the early rounds.

16 Gerwyn Price 

Has a reasonable record in the event. He was runner up in 2019 and made three other quarter finals, including last year. Since then, his record in the ranking Majors is not good, going out in the second round of the Grand Slam, the Players Championship finals, the third round of the World Championship, fourth round of the UK Open and the second round of the Matchplay and Grand Prix.

His game is not what it was three years ago. Price did not win a Euro Tour title for the first time in seven seasons in 2024, nor has he won a Players Championship title. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches, and he was runner up in PC27 just over a week ago, losing to MVG. He retains his ability, but the fight is just not there anymore.

17 Daryl Gurney 

Superchin keeps on getting bigged up by the pundits, and there are some signs that his form is improving, but he is not the player he was seven or eight years ago. Back then, he was reaching quarter and semifinals in the Majors for fun. And won two.

However, the fact is that his last semi-final was in 2020. Gurney is a two time semi-finalist in this event, but the last was back in 2019. Since then he has won just one match. His recent form sees just five wins from his last ten.

18 Jonny Clayton 

Much like Price and Gurney, Clayton is not the player he was three years ago. There are flashes of his best form, but in terms of winning tournaments, he is not there. He did reach the quarter final of the Grand Prix which was a positive and since then, he has had two Players Championship quarter finals and a Euro Tour quarter final, but he did win a Players Championship title back in July.

Outside of that, it has been a case of close but no cigar, much like Noppert, Bunting and Dobey. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches, so he could have another good run, but actually winning?

19 Damon Heta 

Another player who has a lot of good runs but struggles to turn that into titles. In the ranking Majors, Heta has lost one semi-final and six quarter finals. He has reached a Euro Tour semi-final and two quarter finals in 2024, but he did win two Players Championship titles.

Like Dobey, he needs to bring that floor form to the stage. Heta has won just five of his last ten matches, but he has played some good stuff, hitting seven ton plus averages. Heta should have a good run, but the frustration in him must be growing.

20 Ritchie Edhouse 

Has only played in seventeen ranking Majors over the years, and he has only won seven matches. His last winning match was a first round win over Michael Smith the Players Championship finals in 2022. He has since lost eight in a row.

He has had a good season, by his standards, reaching two Euro Tour quarter finals and two Players Championship semi-finals, but the reality is that there are many more likely candidates in the field than Edhouse. His recent form is five wins from his last ten and there is no consistency in his game right now.

21 Gary Anderson 

Has not bothered with the Euro Tour for years, but he played in two events in 2024, winning the European Darts Grand Prix. That was enough to get a place in the finals, so he hasn’t bothered in playing in any more of the thirteen events. I presume he will turn up for the finals as he gets £7500 just for playing the first round.

Anderson’s last ranking Major title was back in 2018 and his last final in 2021. It just isn’t happening for Anderson on stage these days. The competition is at a very high level, and while Anderson can still win on the floor, and hit big averages, he is not the same player on stage.

He says he prefers the floor events nowadays. He certainly hates travelling and just getting to Dortmund is likely to have pissed him off. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten, and they included five ton plus averages.

22 Joe Cullen 

A two time semi-finalist, Cullen reached the quarter finals of the Grand Prix two weeks ago, which was above expectations. By his own admission his floor form has been s**t in 2024. He was runner up in the Austrian Darts Open at the end of April, and that sort of sums his season up.

Generally poor, his win rate is just 46%, but occasionally he pops up at the business end. His last ten matches have seen six defeats and he really is not playing well at all.

23 Jermaine Wattimena 

Has only played in three European Championships and won just one match, and that was back in 2019. I have often said that Wattimena was the most overrated player in darts, but credit where it is due, he has played better in 2024. He has slowed his game done a bit and his results are improving.

Wattimena has won seven of his last ten matches and played some good stuff, not least when averaging 107 and beating Chris Dobey 6-0 at the weekend. However, he followed it with two sub 90 averages and lost the quarter final to Kim Huybrechts. He can now be called a dangerous opponent, but that lack of consistency will make having long runs difficult.

24 Luke Woodhouse

Making his debut, which tells us he has had a better than usual season. He made two Euro Tour quarter finals and two Players Championships semi-finals. He reached the quarter finals of the Players Championship finals last year, but outside of the, his Major record is sparse.

Woodhouse has won five of his last ten matches, and he is not playing with any great consistency. Hard to see a deep run.

25 Raymond van Barneveld 

Returned after an eight year hiatus last year but lost in the first round. His best days are behind him, but Barney still plays to a good standard. He made a Players Championship semi-final at the start of the month.

RVB rarely smashes in big averages, but hits a lot of mid 90s, and that will win plenty of matches. He lost in the first round of the last two Majors and he faces a stiff task against Ryan Searle in the first round here. Barney has won five of his last ten matches.

26 James Wade 

Has made his way back into the top 16 on the PDC OOM, and he is aiming to get back into the top ten. A good run here would help, and Wade has a good record in the European Championship.

He won it in 2018, shortly after becoming a dad for the first time and he reached the final in 2020 and again last year. Three finals in the last six years makes him a tournament specialist.

Wade’s recent form sees six wins from his last ten matches, and while his consistency is not rock solid, he is usually averaging in the 90s and close to his seasonal average of 94.59.

27 Mike de Decker 

He may only be the 27th seed, but the Belgian is one of the top players on recent form. De Decker picked up his first senior title back in August and backed it up by winning his first Major two weeks ago at the Grand Prix.

He hit three ton plus averages in the Czech Open at the weekend but lost the quarter final to a rampant Luke Humphries. He is at the top of his game, enjoying his darts and feeling confident. There are still a few players who are in better form, but he is flying high right now and another good run looks likely.

28 Gabriel Clemens 

Winless from his four previous European Championships, which will prey on his mind. Clemens has won five of his last ten matches, and he is playing with a decent level of consistency, but he has not looked like winning anything this season. Clemens remains without a senior PDC title of any sort. Hard to fancy.

29 Michael Smith 

Runner up in 2022, so he is defending £60k. His tournament record is patchy, he made a semi-final and a quarter final to go with that final, but in the other seven he has not got beyond the second round.

Smith’s recent form is good, winning seven of his last ten, but there are still too many off matches to think he will win the title. His A game is looking very good, but he has too many matches where his doubling radar isn’t working.

30 Andrew Gilding 

Yet to win a match in two previous appearances in the European Championships. He comes here in decent form, winning six of his last ten matches, but he is lacking the consistency needed for a deep run.

31 Nathan Aspinall 

Just about manged to qualify having had an injury affected season which meant he did not play in six Euro Tour events. Some of that was by choice, and it nearly backfired, but he got in in the end.

Outside of a semi-final here in 2021, The Asp doesn’t have a great record in the event, failing to make it past the second round in five of his six starts. Aspinall has won just four of his last ten matches, but he is playing better than that sounds, but clearly, he is not at his best.

32 Dirk van Duijvenbode 

Still not fully fit, but his game is in very good shape. I am not sure about his head. We saw him in last week’s Players Championship events where he reached the semi-final of PC28. He lost that match to Josh Rock, but he should have won it. Dirk doesn’t take losing big matches well and he will have been very disappointed to let that chance slip through his fingers.

On the plus side, he is back hitting big averages and if he can mentally settle, he could do some damage. Dirk has had a quarter final and a semi-final in this event, and he is defending £40k, so he is under extra pressure to win a few matches. He gets drawn against the number 1 seed, but he is not without a chance to win that match.

The 2024 european Championship Draw

First Quarter

This looks very doable for Gerwyn Price, but I don’t think I can back him. He has a great record against his likely opponents and he is in decent form, but there is something just not quite right with him.

Schindler has home advantage, and that might help him have a good run, to reflect a great Euro Tour season, but he has a very tricky first round match against Dirk van Duijvenbode. The Dutchman has been hitting some big averages, and in a first to six leg format, anything can happen. Schindler is yet to win a match in the finals, and the number 1 seed has lost in the first round three of the last five years.

Ryan Searle is a threat, but his stage form is not encouraging. Dirk has a dreadful record vs. Price, as does Gurney. Price would seem well placed to come through the quarter, but at 3.50, his odds are only OK.

Second Quarter 

Michael van Gerwen looks to have a decent draw. Clemens shouldn’t bother him, but his recent win over the Dutchman is a danger sign. Anderson struggles against MVG, and he is up against Bunting in the first round. Bunting struggles with MVG and Mighty Mike looks good in the bottom of the quarter.

In the top half, Chisnall vs. Smith is a pivotal match, and on recent form, Smith gets the nod. He would then likely meet Gian van Veen, and it is the Dutch youngster who is 3-0 against Smith. In a longer format match, Smith may change that, but Van Veen did reach the semi-final here last year, so he cannot be dismissed.

Van Gerwen has good record against both Smith and Van Veen, and I’ll take MVG to win the quarter.

Third Quarter 

Luke Humphries was in irresistible form at the weekend. The standard of play was exceptional across the tournament, but nobody could stop Cool Hand. If he can keep that up, and his record in Majors suggests he will.

He should win the quarter, despite there being some very decent players in it. He is the best player in the world and in great form. This another Major he needs to win to get a step closer to a career super slam. This, and the UK Open, are the only ranking Majors that he hasn’t won.

Fourth Quarter 

The Littler quarter. I can’t see anyone stopping him now that he has gone back to his old darts. Mike de Decker is also in the quarter and he might be able to push Littler, but he was hitting some insane averages last weekend.

2024 European Championship Darts Selections

Price, MVG, Humphries and Littler. Hardly surprising choices, but it is hard to see past the two Lukes. Price and MVG are not so solid, but it is hard to see any obvious alternatives. Price has struggled in the Majors for the last year and I am not keen on his chances of victory. He is a 15.00 chance, which would have been huge a couple of years ago, but his fire has dimmed.

MVG has started winning titles again. His confidence will have been boosted, but he knows that the two Lukes are better than him now. I would not be surprised to see him make the final, but if he is to face any Luke that isn’t Woodhouse, I expect him to lose.

The Two Lukes

Which leaves the two Lukes. Humphries is just a Major machine these days. Making the final of seven of the last eight is unreal in this time of great strength in depth. Littler is the new kid on the block and has a 8-5 H2H record vs. Humphries.

Humphries has won their last two matches, including a 7-4 win in last weekend’s semi-final at the Czech Darts Open. Humphries averaged 109 to Littler’s 108. Outside of the Premier League, Humphries is 5-1 against Littler on stage. Littler was 5-0 in the PL matches, but three did go to a deciding leg.

2024 European Championship Darts Tip: 2 points Luke Humphries to win the European Championship @ 4.50 with SpreadEx

The only other bet I will strike at this stage is for MVG to win the second quarter. Not to big stakes, but the odds are just about enough for a bet.

2024 European Championship Darts Tip: 1 point Michael van Gerwen to win the second quarter @ 3.10 with SpreadEx

-JamesPunt