2026 German Darts GP Betting Preview – JP
2026 German Darts GP Betting Preview
James Punt’s PL nightmare continued in Manchester but we are back in the calmer waters of the Euro Tour this weekend. Check out his 2026 German Darts GP outright betting preview and tips below.
2026 German Darts GP
The 4th European Tour event of the year comes from the Kulturhalle Zenith, Munich, Germany. This will be the seventh time it has been played in the same venue, having been played once in Mannheim in 2017.
Michael van Gerwen is the defending champion and the undisputed King of the Kulturhalle. He has played here five times, won three titles, been runner up in another and a semi-finalist in 2022. He didn’t play in in 2023 and he is the defending champion, having beaten Gian van Veen in last year’s final.
MVG only won two events in 2025, this, and the World Series Finals. He also won this title in 2017 in Mannheim. Van Gerwen has played 19 matches here and won 17, and for the tournament, he has played 24 and won 22. Impressive. Horses for courses punters should take note.
Two Other Winners
The only other two players to have won here are Luke Humphries who won in 2022 (his first European Tour title) and 2024, and Michael Smith, the 2023 winner. All three previous winners are entered, but as usual with the Euro Tour, you don’t really know who will actually turn up until the first day of play, which in this case is Saturday. The tournament will finish on Monday night.
Luke Littler will not be here, Gary Anderson has to be odds against to turn up, but otherwise, it looks like a strong field. Travelling to Munich is easy for all concerned, so no excuses in that department. I did read with interest that Chris Dobey was complaining that just getting through airports these days takes hours and is making these Euro Tour events less attractive for the UK based players. Just another Brexit Benefit.
Withdrawals
As of Friday morning, we only had one no show, Gerwyn Price. That elevated Mike De decker to 16th seed and Andrew Gilding comes in from the reserve list to take De Decker’s place in the first round.
However, by lunchtime we had a further three withdrawals. Two-time winner, Luke Humphries, having won in Belgium, can afford to stay away, and he is. Imagine my surprise when Gary Anderson withdrew, and the final no show is Chris Dobey. No doubt the thoughts of another airport queue was enough to put him off. That and the pointlessness of him even trying to win a title in Europe.
Luke Woodhouse, Dave Chisnall and Daryl Gurney are all now seeded, and Ian White, Karel Sedlacek and Cor Dekker come in at the first-round stage.
2026 German Darts GP Seeds
1 Gian van Veen
Reached the final of Night 9 in the PL last night, but Van Veen has lost seven of his last ten matches. He was still in recovery mode following his gallbladder issues in last week’s PL match against Price, but he looked fit enough last night. He has reached at least the semi-final in four of his last six Euro Tour events, and as a PL player, he really could do with winning one to allow him to skip more events.
2 Michael Van Gerwen
Averaged 104 in a 3-6 loss to Bunting in Thursday’s PL. Can the return to a favourite venue light his fuse? As a four-time German Darts Grand Prix winner he should feel good about the event.
He managed to pull it off in 2025 and came here having lost seven of his previous ten matches, so you never know. He has won six of his last ten matches, so he is in better form than he was 12 months ago.
3 Jonny Clayton
Has lost five of his last ten matches. Runner up in the Belgian Darts Open two weeks ago but didn’t follow it up. Not in his best form. Clayton has a dire tournament record. He has played in six German Darts Grand Prix, lost five of his opening matches and won just two in total.
4 James Wade
Has yet to win a match on the Euro Tour in 2026 and has lost eight of his last fifteen opening matches in Europe. The UK Open runner up has only played six matches since that final four weeks ago, winning three, all in this week’s Players Championship events.
5 Josh Rock
Won his PL quarter final match last night and that monkey seems to be off his back now. Remains in poor form overall, but he reached the quarter final of the first two Euro Tour events of the year. He hit back-to-back ton plus averages last night and while he has lost six of his last ten matches, he might be ready to get back to winning ways.
6 Danny Noppert
Reached his 24th Euro Tour quarter final in Belgium two weeks ago, but he has yet to win a Euro Tour title in sixty-eight attempts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he reached another quarter final, as he did here in 2023 and 2024, losing both.
7 Ryan Searle
Won his eighth Players Championship title on Monday, but he has only ever made one final on the Euro Tour. Searle has failed to make it past the third round sixteen times in the eighteen Euro Tour events since that final in 2024. Great floor player.
8 Nathan Aspinall
Was a runner up here in 2023 and a quarter finalist in 2024. Won three Euro Tour titles in 2025 but won just one match in his first two events in 2026. His recent form is not good, losing six of his last ten matches.
9 Martin Schindler
Winner of three Euro Tour titles, the last being the Austrian Darts Open in April 2025. Since then, Schindler has failed to get past the third round in eleven of the twelve events played. His recent form sees six defeats in his last ten matches and his win rate in 2026 is only 42%. Easily passed over.
10 Ross Smith
Hasn’t gone beyond the third round on the Euro Tour in his last eleven attempts. His recent form is six defeats from his last six matches. He has won on the floor in 2026, but his form has dropped since.
11 Damon Heta
Reached the semi-final of ET2 three weeks ago, which was out of the blue. Since then, he has played six and lost three. Still showing no consistency.
12 Jermaine Wattimena
Inconsistent and has lost five of his last ten matches. He is a six times Euro Tour quarter finalist, and that might be his limit. Seems to play his best darts in the latter part of the season.
13 Mike de Decker
Comes here on the back of five straight defeats and has won just three of his last ten. His seasonal win rate is just 41% and he won’t be winning this.
14 Luke Woodhouse
Made the final of the Swiss Darts Trophy last September and is playing well right now. His last ten matches have all been 90+ averages and 8 of them 95+. Solid stuff and if he can keep his head screwed on and not beat himself up, he can have a good run, given a good draw.
15 Dave Chisnall
Whisper it quietly, but Dave Chisnall played some very good darts on Tuesday. He reached the quarter final of PC8 and averaged 101.47 across his five matches. He hit a 103.68 average when losing 4-6 to Wessel Nijman in the quarter final, and a 111.72 when beating Schindler 6-1.
Chizzy hasn’t got beyond the second round on the Euro Tour this season. He has fallen at the second fence in 11 of the last 12 Euro Tour events, so this will be a real test of his form.
16 Daryl Gurney
Has won seven of his last ten matches but is playing with very little consistency. Gurney hit a 109.73 in a 5-6 loss to MVG two weeks ago. That was his first 3rd round appearance on the Euro Tour since last August. It is hard to see him making much progress this weekend as he is due to meet Nijman in the second round, and if he won that? Very likely Gian Van Veen.
Best of the Rest
With so many of the seeds in indifferent form, there has to be a chance for some of the unseeded players to have good runs. Wessell Nijman went all the way in the European Darts Trophy three weeks ago.
Wessel Nijman
The aforementioned player is in fine form. He has now won on the Euro Tour and on Tuesday he won his second Players Championship of 2026. Outside of Luke Littler, is there a more in-form player in the game?
His seasonal win rate is 84% (exactly the same as Littler) and getting that first stage win under his belt could prove to be a real launching pad for his career. Nijman has won nine of his last ten matches and is the man to beat, despite having to play a first round match.
Niels Zonneveld
Playing some great darts and should have won more than six of his last ten matches. He played on Monday and Tuesday and only won one match, but he should never have lost the two he did.
Against Sebastian Bilecki, he came from behind and needed double 12 to win the deciding leg and hit a nine darter. He failed to do it and remarkably, Bialecki was allowed to win the match. He also lost in a deciding leg on Tuesday to Keane Barry.
If those two annoying defeats have not got to him, he can have a good run. He has won six of his last ten matches and is playing better than he ever has done. He lives in the same town as Wessel Nijman, and no doubt there is an element of inspiration by association going on.
Kevin Doets
We backed him to win the European Darts Trophy at fancy odds, and he got off to a great start, averaging 117.12 in a 6-0 win over a local qualifier. Sadly, he peaked too early and lost to Damon bloody Heta in the third round.
Doets reached the semi-final of PC8 on Tuesday, going down 6-7 to the in-form Wessel Nijman. Maybe Doets has a bit to go before he can win one of these, but he is playing well enough to go deep. There is a bit of a buzz going on with this new generation of Dutch players.
The 2026 German Darts GP Draw
First Quarter
Gian van Veen is now the number one seed, and joined by Gurney, Aspinall and Schindler as the other seeds coming in at the second-round stage. Aspinall and Schindler are in poor form and Gurney hasn’t got the consistency to get far.
Of the players entering at the first-round stage, we have Wessel Nijman as the standout player. He would likely face Van Veen at the third-round stage. Van Veen is 11-5 vs. Nijman and in 2026 it is 1-1, both Euro Tour matches. At senior level it is 5-2 to Van Veen.
It would seem to be between the two Dutchmen as to who wins this quarter. I have to go with the very much in-form Nijman.
Second Quarter
Wade, De Decker, Rock and Wattimena are the four seeded players. Rock has reached the quarter finals of ET1 and ET2 but has lost six of his last ten matches. He did win his quarter final match at last night’s PL, and with four points to his name, he may be over his crisis of confidence issues. He is a player of interest once again.
De Decker is in very poor form. Wattimena is blowing hot and cold and seems unlikely to have a great run. James Wade has lost both his opening matches on the Euro Tour this year and is another player lacking recent consistency.
Of the unseeded players, Kevin Doets is likely to face Wade in round two. Wade is 3-1 up vs. Doets, but all close matches. Hard call. Dirk van Duijvenbode is playing well but is too flaky to actually win anything.
Niels Zonneveld is playing great stuff right now. His crucial doubles need to be better, but he is in top form and could have a good tournament. Rock, Zonneveld and Doets have all made my shortlist.
Third Quarter
Tournament specialist, Michael van Gerwen, gets my vote purely based on his record here. He is also playing well, he’s just not converting those good displays into wins. He lost to Bunting on Thursday night, despite averaging 104.
If he can keep that kind of form up, something will fall his way, and with no Littler, Humphries or Price here this weekend, why not at one of his strongest tournaments?
The other seeds are Dave Chisnall, Ryan Searle and Ross Smith, all of whom have been struggling in Europe. Of the unseeded players, we have Niko Springer, Michael Smith James Hurrell, Ratajski and the GOAT and runner up in ET8 on Tuesday, Joe Cullen.
All players with potential to cause a surprise, but I am sticking with the horses for courses route, and MVG to win his quarter for the sixth time in seven German Darts GPs.
Fourth Quarter
A more open looking quarter. Jonny Clayton, Luke Woodhouse, Danny Noppert and Damon Heta are the seeds. Clayton has lost five of his last ten matches, but he did average 107.44 when going down 4-6 to Rock in the PL, so it’s hard to say what his form is. However, his tournament record is dire.
Heta’s recent form remains patchy despite his recent Euro Tour semi-final. Danny Noppert loves a quarter final…defeat. That leaves us with Luke Woodhouse. With the other two Lukes staying away, will this be Woody’s chance to fly the flag? His problem is that he has terrible H2H records with Clayton and Noppert.
There is nobody from the first-round players that looks likely to get very far. Kim Huybrechts came through both Euro Tour qualifiers on Wednesday and he has won nine of his last ten matches, but he hasn’t beaten much.
2026 German Darts GP Selections
I am going Dutch this weekend, mostly.
