2025 European Championship Darts Preview – JP
2025 European Championship Preview
Nathan Aspinall took home the title in the final Euro Tour event of the season last weekend. We now have the 2025 European Championship in Dortmund, Germany and James Punt has a bumper, player-by-player preview. Find out who he is backing below.
2025 European Championship Darts
This will be the 18th European Championship but the tournament, as it is now, really started in 2016 when the qualifying criteria was based purely on money won on the European Tour. The top 32 players on the Euro Tour OOM qualify, with the number one seed playing the 32nd seed, the number 2 seed plays the 31st seed and so on. The venue is the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany.
First-round matches are played in a best of eleven leg format, the second round and quarter finals are best of nineteen legs and the semi-final and final are best of twenty one legs. The first-round matches will be played on Thursday and Friday, the second round on Saturday and the quarter finals, semi-finals and final are all played on Sunday.
No Defending Champ
We have no defending champion in the field this year, as Ritchie Edhouse failed to qualify. Other notable absentees are Michael Smith, Joe Cullen and Dimitri van den Bergh.
Looking at past winners since 2016, we have had six different winners. MVG (X2), Rob Cross (x2), Peter Wright (x2) James Wade, Ross Smith and Ritchie Edhouse.
The number 1 seed has not won since 2017 and there has been a trend towards those further down the money list making the final and winning the title. Last year saw the player in 20th place , Edhouse, beating the 23rd ranked player, Wattimena.
Up until 2020 you were looking at two players in the top 10 on the OOM making the final, but the last five winners have been 15th, 14th, 27th, 9th and 20th. The runners up between 2016 and 2022 were all ranked in the top 10, but the last two have been ranked 26th and 23rd. In other words, it is a wide-open competition.
Early Shocks
The short format in round one can see a lot of the more fancied players making an early exit. For example, the number 1 seed has lost in the first round in four of the last six years and not made the final since 2017.
Last year, we saw seven of the top ten players out in the first round and twelve of the top sixteen! In 2023, four of the top ten went out in round one, and five of the top ten in 2022. It has been a bit of a trend for the players nearer the top of the Euro Tour OOM to get dumped out in the first round.
It is a very straight forward format and past form in the tournament is not that important, but recent form is.
2025 European Championship: The Players
1 Nathan Aspinall
Winner of three Euro Tour events in 2025 and runner up in another. He won the German Darts Championship last Sunday so he comes into this in top form, which is not always the case with the number 1 seed.
Aspinall is a two-time Major winner, so he knows how to get the job done. Winning in back-to-back weekends is hard, but you can’t knock his form and he is a confidence player. Plays Rob Cross in the first round and he is on a run of eight straight wins over the former two-time champ.
2 Martin Schindler
Last year’s number 1 seed and he lost in the first round. Schindler is not in great form, losing five of his last ten matches and he has lost all five of his previous first round matches in this tournament. He will face Dave Chisnall in the first round and I fancy he might win that, but he is no stick on.
3 Stephen Bunting
One of the form players of 2025. He won two Euro Tour titles, including the penultimate event the Swiss Darts Trophy. He has won seven of his last ten matches.
Bunting has only ever won one TV title and has yet to win a ranking Major. In 2025, he has reached the semi-final of the World Championship and the quarter finals of the new, ranking World Masters and World Matchplay.
He has won six titles across the Players Championships, the Euro Tour and World Series. An obvious contender, but Chris Dobey is a potential banana skin in round one.
4 Luke Littler
Winner of every ranking TV Major of the year, with the exception of the World Masters. Littler only played in five Euro Tour events. He was the winner of ET1 and a semi-finalist at the German Darts Grand Prix.
It was at that stage he decided that he would not play in anymore Euro Tour events in Germany. He believed that the Germans ‘don’t like us English’, and said so on social media. A big mistake.
Maybe Littler forgot that the European Championship is played in Dortmund, in Germany. He may be the best player in the world, but he is going to get a very rough ride from the German crowd.
I believe that he will find it very hard to win this. He has not had to cope with hostile crowds in the UK but he has made an entire country dislike him here in Germany, and it has rattled him. I half expected him to withdraw. He hardly needs the money. If you want to back Littler, good luck, but I see this as the one Major he is not likely to win.
5 Luke Humphries
Skipped five of the Euro Tour events but won the Czech Darts Open six weeks ago. Humphries has won all of the ranking TV Majors, with the exception of the UK Open and this one. He has lost at the quarter final stage for the last three years.
Cool Hand was given a bit of a going over in the final of the Grand Prix by Luke Littler but he may be able to win this if Littler does struggle with the German crowd. Humphries has won six of his last ten matches.
He didn’t play in last weekend’s German Darts Championship and there are players in better form. Faces Ratajski on round one, which is never easy, but he has won his last six against The Polish Eagle.
6 Gerwyn Price
A runner up here in 2019 but he has never won this. His recent form sees six wins from his last ten matches. He has found Luke Littler hard to get past but while he is playing very well there is something missing.
The Iceman hasn’t won a Major since 2021 and he just seems a bit shy of the player he was in that 2018 2021 period. He has the game and is never far off his best form.
7 Jonny Clayton
After a lean time in the 2024 Majors, Jonny Clayton has made one final and three consecutive semi-finals. The Ferret has picked up a Players Championship and a Euro Tour title in 2025 and he has been consistent but is another that has tended to run into Littler at the latter stages of a couple of Majors.
He has won six of his last ten matches and he is not coming into this in the same kind of very good form as the last couple of Majors.
8 Josh Rock
Was runner up in PC29 three weeks ago, but since then he has played seven matches and lost five of them. He just seems to have lost his best form.
9 Niko Springer
Surprisingly high up the rankings for a player in his first year with a tour card, but he won ET 12 and was runner up in ET7. He lacks experience in the Majors and has won two matches at the UK Open but lost in the first round of World Championship and World Grand Prix.
Since winning ET12, Springer has played fourteen matches and lost seven. He is playing well enough, but lacking the kind of consistency required to have a deep run.
10 Gian Van Veen
A semi-finalist on his debut in 2023 and he has reached three ranking Major quarter finals since then. Van Veen has reached the semi-final in three of the last four Euro Tour events and he is playing to a very high level but just can’t get one over the line on stage.
It will come, but there is a danger that he will get frustrated by getting so close and losing. He lost in a deciding leg in the last two Euro Tour semi-finals and that is not a habit he wants to get into. Has the talent to win anything so he must be on the short list
11 Ross Smith
The 2022 European Champion, Smudger has lost his last two first round matches here. His 2025 Major form is poor, winning just one match at the UK Open. His recent form has seen him win PC29 shortly after the death of his mother, but since then he has played six matches and lost five of them.
12 Gary Anderson
Not surprisingly, this is Anderson’s least successful and least played in of the ranking Majors. He doesn’t like travelling around Europe. He reached the quarter finals last year, his first appearance in the finals for seven years.
This year Anderson played in five Euro Tour events, more than the last two years put together, and he won one, runner up in another and a semi-finalist in another. That is a good strike rate and you think he might want to play in a few more to keep his ranking healthy, but no, he really doesn’t like travelling.
Mindset
That may impact on his mindset coming into the finals. He has only played in seven European Championships over the years, making one final, two quarter finals, a second round and three first round exits. Does he really care that much about the European Championships?
He hasn’t played for two weeks but had won seven of his last ten matches. His last Major title was back in 2018 and this would seem to be the least likely of tournaments where that might change.
13 James Wade
Has made three of the last seven European Championship finals and won it back in 2018, a couple of weeks after the birth of his first son. The Nappy Factor in full effect. Wade has reached two Major finals in 2025 and he has to be considered and a viable runner and at quite big odds.
He has admittedly lost six of his last ten matches, but he is not playing badly. He averaged 106 in Germany last weekend and lost 3-6 to a rampant Jermaine Wattimena.
This is the state of darts these days, players are just shooting some huge numbers and it is more common to just walk into someone averaging 110+. That makes winning titles very difficult, but he is still knocking on the door.
14 Wessel Nijman
A rising talent but he is yet to make much impact in the Majors. He has only played in nine Majors and won just four matches. He still has a lot of experience to pick up. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten matches and he is playing well, but is he ready, and consistent enough, to actually win one?
15 Ryan Joyce
Is playing some very good stuff and will be a dangerous opponent, but maybe he is lacking the consistency to have a deep run. He reached the 3rd round in Germany last weekend and played brilliantly in the first two rounds, before being very flat in a 2-6 loss to Ratajski.
Joyce has lost five of his last ten matches and he hasn’t made much impact in the Majors in 2025. He made the fourth round at the World Championships and the 6th round of the UK Open, was out in the first round of the Matchplay and Grand Prix. This is his European Championship debut.
16 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Hit top form in last weekend’s German Darts Championship. He had a nine darter in the first round against Karel Sedlacek. In round two he hit his best ever stage average of 117.74. In round three he wasn’t great in a 6-5 win over Schindler, but he made it all the way to the final, which he lost 6-8 to Nathan Aspinall. That first Euro Tour win will have to wait for another year, at least.
Dirk has made a final on the floor and one on the Euro Tour and lost both in 2025. He doesn’t take losing finals well. Rather than taking the positives, and there were plenty last weekend, he is likely to dwell on another lost final.
His record in Majors sees one runner up spot, two losing semi-finals and eight losing quarter finals. He has lost three European Championship quarter finals and a semi-final. This and the Players Championship finals are his best two Majors in terms of past form. The form is there, but where will his head be?
17 Danny Noppert
Captain Steady Eddie made another quarter final in last weekend German Darts Championship, his fifth in the 2025 Euro Tour season, but he won just one. He has reached two Major TV semi-finals in 2025, and he reached four Players Championship semi-finals, but he has not won a title in 2025.
There is a pattern to his career. Close but no cigar. He has won a lot of matches in the European Championships. In the last four years he has finished QF/QF/SF/SF. I would not be surprised to see another deep run, but I would be if he went on to win it.
18 Luke Woodhouse
Woody has learned how to be a better player, and to get the most out of his game. He is not as hard on himself as he used to be. He doesn’t let his head drop so easily and while his actual game hasn’t really changed, he is winning more money and having deeper runs.
Woodhouse is a decent player, but a journeyman pro. There are more dynamic, more consistent and heavier scorers around and that makes it hard for him to actually win tournaments.
His recent form is not good, losing five of his last ten matches and he is struggling to score well. Woodhouse made the semi-final here last year, his best ever Major result, but it is hard to see a repeat of that right now.
19 Michael van Gerwen
MVG has said that he was taking a time out of playing on the Euro Tour and Players Championships as he tries to sort out his private life. He will play in the Majors, but it is hard, even for a great player like MVG, to play less competitive darts and retain performance levels. It is hard to fancy his chances until his head is back in the right place.
20 Mike De Decker
Won last year’s Grand Prix and was a quarter finalist in the Players Championship quarter finals, but 2025 has been a bit flat. One Euro Tour final, way back in March and a couple of Players Championship semi-finals and quarter finals.
His best form was in the first half of the year. he can still have his moments, like a 109 average in a Players Championship match a few weeks ago, but he doesn’t look likely to go far.
21 Cameron Menzies
Continues to mature and get better results. Last year he made the quarter finals at the Grand Slam and he made the quarter finals of the World Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago.
Menzies has won a Players Championship title in 2025 and been runner up in two others. His best form was earlier in the year but he is playing OK right now, capable of winning a match or two, but a proper run at the title? I doubt it.
22 Peter Wright
Winner of this title in 2020 and 2023, but it is fair to say that his game has declined since then. He refuses to give up and even last weekend he dug deep in his defence of the German Darts Championship, reaching the third round and taking Van Duijvenbode to a deciding leg.
The problem is that he doesn’t have the scoring power to live with the top players, and he will run into one increasingly early these days. It is twenty-seven matches since he hit a ton plus average, and in the same period he has hit four sub 80 averages.
Snakebite has lost six of his last ten matches, and that represents an uptick on his recent form.
23 Damon Heta
The Heat has only won one match at the European Championships and he comes here in poor form. He has won six of his last ten matches, but five saw sub 90 averages and he cut a sad figure in last weekend’s German Darts Championship when he lost 5-6 to Steve Lennon. It was a match he threw away and he was clearly very disappointed with himself.
Heta did reach the final of PC30 but lost that 3-8 to Wessel Nijman. That was just three weeks ago and he has really struggled since then. Perhaps the frustration is getting to him.
24 Jermaine Wattimena
The Machine Gun was runner up here last year, his best result in a Major championship. Maybe he is an Autumn kind of guy because he has hit another run of great form. He won PC 21 just over a week ago, followed that up with a semi-final and reached the quarter final in last week’s Euro Tour event.
Wattimena was shooting the lights out and looking every inch a potential winner, until a very flat performance in the quarter final against Aspinall. From a 111.00 average in round three to an 85.41 in the quarter final a few hours apart.
He does still have that sub 90 average in his game. He can get away with it against the journeymen, but at the top level, you can’t. That said, it would be no surprise to see him have another big run this weekend.
25 Ricardo Pietreczko
A quarter finalist here last year, Pikachu really has dined out well on winning one Euro Tour event in 2023. He doesn’t really do much these days but here he is in another Major. Pietreczko has lost six of his last ten matches and hit six sub 90 averages. He makes the most of home advantage but he really should be out early.
26 Ryan Searle
Has finally had a season where he has won more than one title. He has picked up two Players Championship titles in 2025. Those two wins have bookended an otherwise unremarkable season.
He has reached a couple of Euro Tour quarter finals but he hasn’t made much impression on the Majors. He has won three of his four first round matches and is playing well enough to think that he could do so again.
The problem is that when you are getting in at the bottom end of the OOM, you get drawn against the better players. Heavy Metal has won six of his last ten matches but lost his last three and since winning PC28 three weeks ago, he really hasn’t played that well. He will face Jonny Clayton in round one. A tough draw.
27 Daryl Gurney
A two-time semi-finalist back in his pomp, but he has become very much the journeyman pro these days. Doing enough to stay in the top 32, get into the Majors and bank enough money to repeat the cycle.
Daryl has reached the second round here for the last two years, and he will be a tough first round opponent but is unlikely to need the hotel at the weekend. Superchin has lost six of his last ten matches and is not playing well. He faces his old nemesis, Gerwyn Price in round one. Not a gimme, but he will be a decent favourite.
28 Krzysztof Ratajski
Much the same can be said about Ratajski. He can be around for years, pick up the odd Pro Tour title and have the decent good run in a Major, but he isn’t a title contender.
He had to play well in the final Euro Tour event of the year just to qualify for this. He went all the way to the semi-final but was lucky that Ryan Joyce just didn’t turn up in the third round, got past a struggling Dave Chisnall in the quarters, before losing easily to Van Duivenbode.
Ratajski has only ever won one match in his previous five European Championships.
29 Raymond van Barneveld
Another old player who is making up the numbers these days. He has lost seven of his last ten matches and will face Luke Littler in the first round. At least he will have the crowd on his side for that one, and he has already beaten Littler this month. Even if he could take advantage of Littler’s German problem, he isn’t going far.
30 Chris Dobey
Dobey scraping in as the 30th ranked player is poor. He is better than that, but he is poor in Europe. He is a former semi and quarter finalist here in 2022 and 2023.
His recent form sees five wins from his last ten matches, but he has been a bit unlucky to be up against some very good performances against him. He can and should win more matches, but by only just qualifying, he gets to face Stephen Bunting in round one.
That is a hard one for both, but Dobey has won four of their last five matches, all in 2025.
31 Dave Chisnall
A player who has been on the slide in 2025. He injured his back at the back end of last year and he has not been the same player ever since.
However, Chizzy managed to reach the quarter final at the German Darts Championship at the weekend to ensure he qualified. He played well enough but it was against a background of poor form, losing six of his last ten matches and a seasonal win rate of 53%.
32 Rob Cross
The two-time European Champion only just made it into the finals which is a fair reflection of his record in 2025. He is a player who averages 96.14 and has averaged just over 96 for the last four years but has only won 55% of his matches in 2025. Voltage should be doing better but he just seems to be missing a spark in his game.
2025 European Championship: The Draw
First Quarter
There are two players in great form in this quarter. The number 1 seed Nathan Aspinall and last year’s runner up Jermaine Wattimena. I would not be surprised to see them meet in the quarter final of the 2025 European Championship , just as they did in last weekend’s German Darts Championship, which The Asp won 6-4. Aspinall is 9-2 against Wattimena, but they have met twice in the last ten days and it is 1-1. The proverbial coin toss.
Both are good odds to win the title. Aspinall 26.00 and Wattimena 41.00.
Second Quarter
This quarter features the two Lukes and James Wade. I do not fancy Littler’s chances in a tournament played in Germany. He hates it here, and the feeling is mutual. Humphries is the obvious choice. He was runner up at the Grand Prix, despite not being at his best. James Wade is playing well in the Majors and he plays well in this event. Humphries is the 7.50 second favourite, James Wade a generous 41.00.
Third Quarter
There is only player in this quarter that is going to carry my money. Gian van Veen. He is the best player in the quarter and the draw has fallen nicely for him, which is not usually the case.
Fourth Quarter
Stephen Bunting is the form player in the quarter, but he has a dangerous opponent in round 1 in the shape of Chris Dobey. Gerwyn Price looks the obvious choice in the bottom of the quarter.
Should Bunting beat Dobey, he faces the winner of Nijman vs. MVG. He has the tougher path to the quarters. I can’t see Price being too bothered by Gurney, or the winner of Ross Smith vs. Peter Wright. Bunting is 19.00 to win the title, his first Major, and Price 10.00, in what would be his first for four years.
2025 European Championship Selections
I am going to have split my stakes in the first quarter of the 2025 European Championship, but the first bet is in the 3rd quarter and Gian Van Veen. He is not a huge price, but he does have a decent draw.
2025 European Championship Tip: 1 e/w point Gian van Veen to win @ 13.00 with Betfred, Pokerstars
This second quarter is dominated by the first and second favourites to win the tournament, but that leaves 2018 European Championship winner and 2020 and 2023 runner up James Wadeat big odds. He has made the last two Major semi-finals in 2025.
2025 European Championship Tip: 0.5 point e/w James Wade to win @ 41.00 generally available
The fourth quarter is a toss-up between Bunting and Price. Bunting has yet to get one over the line in the Majors and that is just enough to push me towards Price.
2025 European Championship Tip: 0.5 point e/w Gerwyn Price to win @ 10.00 with Betfred, Boylesports,BET365
The final 2025 European Championship picks will be split stakes on Aspinall and Wattimena. Both are in excellent form and both are available at decent odds. They can’t both cash in, but hopefully one can.
