2026 European Championship Darts Tips – JP
2026 European Championship Darts Betting Preview
This weekend the Euro Tour reaches its climax in Dortmund this weekend and James Punt has been looking for some value ante-post bets. Check out his 2026 European Championship Darts outright betting preview and tips below.
2026 European Championship Darts
This will be the 19th European Championship. It is the culmination of the fifteen Euro Tour events played in 2026. The top 32 players on the O.O.M qualify and the number 1 seed plays the 32nd seed, the 2nd seed the 31st seed and so on.
That should be an advantage for the higher ranked seeds, as they will be drawn by those players who only just qualified and are the ‘weakest’ players in the field. It doesn’t quite work out like that. Many of the top players, those playing in the Premier league, now tend to only play a few of the earlier Euro Tour events, and maybe a few more at the late part of the season.
Others, who win one of the early titles, may decide to skip most of the other rounds as they have enough ranking money to qualify.
Boosted Prize Fund in 2027
The PDC have moved to bolster the Euro Tour from 2027 onwards. The prize money pool for the European Championship finals has been boosted from £750,000.00, to £1 million. It will be expanded from the top 32 players on the O.O.M, to the top 48. The schedule will be expanded to a full week’s play, rather than the four day format we have had since 2016.
The idea is to make the finals more attractive to the ‘star’ players and get them to play a few more qualifying events. The Euro Tour itself will remain at 15 qualifying events, and it will have one round in France for the first time ever. A new country for Luke Littler to boycott perhaps?
I doubt it will have any effect on those top players who tend to only play a handful of Euro Tours. Perhaps it will have the opposite effect. Under next year’s format, players like Gary Anderson would have qualified this year. He was 45th on this year’s O.O.M, despite playing just four events. Littler will aim to win one of the events held before the start of the PL, and if he wins, he won’t be back.
Longer Format
It will mean a longer tournament at the end of it, with a bigger first prize. I guess the PDC want to give every chance to the top players of making the finals, but it will not change them playing the bare minimum of qualifiers
Coming back to this year’s event. All the big names are here, with the exception of Anderson (who just hates travelling to the events) and Daryl Gurney, who just didn’t win enough ranking prize money.
The Curse of the Number 1 Seed
The early European Championships had smaller fields and only the top half were seeded, until it was changed to the current system ten years ago. In the old days, the first eight Championships were all won by players ranked 1-6. The number one seed won six of the first eight.
However, since the current format was introduced, the number 1 seed has won just twice, and none of the last eight.
The number 1 seed, MVG, won in 2016 and 2017, but since then the number 1 seed has lost in the first round four times, the second round twice and the quarter finals twice. This is one Major in which the rankings do not carry that much weight anymore.
In 2022, Ross Smith was the 22nd seed and won. In 2024 the 20th seed, Ritchie Edhouse beat the 23rd seed, Jermaine Wattimena in the final. Across the last eight years, the average ranking of the winner was 13.75, and the runner up 11.25.
Ignore Seedings
The best way to approach the outright betting is to ignore the seedings and follow the form. Last year Gian van Veen came into the finals on the back of a semi-final in the last Euro Tour event of the year (as he has this year). The runner up, Luke Humphries, came here on the back of reaching the final of the Grand Prix (he has won it this year). My main outright bet was Van Veen, who won @ 13.00.
Ritchie Edhouse was a longshot in the betting in 2024, as was runner up Wattimena. Edhouse went in having lost five of his last ten and his best run was PC semi-final about five weeks previously. Wattimena had been showing good scoring in the build-up and had a QF in the preceding event. If I remember correctly, I tipped up Wattimena e/w at a decent price.
Peter Wright won in 2023 and came in in good form. He had been runner up in the final qualifying event and a quarter finalist in PC26 the week before the European Championship.
We are looking at players who have had some good runs or tournament wins in the last month or so.
2026 European Championship Darts: The Players + Recent From (last five events, most recent on the right)
1 Ross Smith – RU/W/R2/R2/R3
Number one on the O.O.M thanks to winning two titles and being runner up in the other. His recent form ticks the right boxes. Runner up in ET13, before winning the World Series finals. Smudger won this title, his first TV title, back in 2022. However, will the curse of being the number 1 seed strike him down? He has to be on the short list but faces a potential banana skin in the form of Karel Sedlacek in round one.
2 Wessel Nijman – R4/R2/R1/R1/QF
Nijman’s recent form is a concern. His last significant run was a Players Championship semi-final two months ago. He did reach the quarter finals of the Dutch Darts Championships last weekend but has lost five of his last ten matches. His form in Major Championships remains poor. He has the ability, but his best form was in the first half of the year. Nijman plays Schindler in round one, and he should win that one.
3 Krzysztof Ratajski – R1/R/1/R1/R2/R2
Ratajski’s recent form isn’t good. His last good run was a Players Championship QF nearly two months ago, and his last tournament win back in July. He has reached two Major quarter finals earlier in the season but lost his first round matches at the more recent Matchplay and Grand Prix.
Ratajski’s tournament record is really poor, winning just one match from seven appearances. He has now lost seven of his last eight matches. I’ll pass.
4 Niels Zonneveld – R2/SF/QF/R1/W
Won his first senior PDC title at the weekend, picking up the Dutch Darts Championship title. It was coming, but sadly I backed him the week before at the Swiss Darts Trophy, were he lost in the first round.
It would be a surprise if he were to back up his first PDC title by winning his first Major, but you can’t knock his form. He made the quarter finals of the Grand Prix on debut a few weeks ago, and he is growing as a player.
5 Danny Noppert – R4/R2/R2/R1/RU
Had a run of quarter and a semi-final finishes in August/September on the Euro Tour, but Noppert is not a player to be backing outright. This has been Noppert’s best Major and his last five European Championships have seen him finish QF/QF/SF/SF/SF.
The Freeze may be worth considering to win his quarter, but he is hard to back to win titles. He was runner up in last weekend’s Dutch Darts Championship. Another one that got away, but he had a good tournament record in the Dutch Darts Championship, and has decent record here.
Maybe he is a horses for courses player? I expect he will pull up short again, but he could have good run at the 2026 European Championship. Plays Bunting in round 1 and Noppert is 4-1 against him on TV.
6 Nathan Aspinall – R2/R3/R4/SF/R3
The Asp hasn’t been the busiest of players in 2026. He plays a light schedule, with just twelve Players Championships from thirty, and he skipped four Euro Tour events, but when he has played, he has played quite well.
The Asp won the German Darts Grand Prix in April, was a semi-finalist in Hungary and had four more quarter finals. Aspinall reached the Grand Prix semi-final three weeks ago and has done enough to put himself on the radar. He was a semi-finalist in this in 2021.
There is a lack of consistency in his game which makes it hard to see him going all the way, however. He faces a tricky opening match with Cristo Reyes.
7 Jonny Clayton – QF/SF/QF/W/R2
Excellent form figures for The Ferret in recent weeks. Good run after good run, and then he won the Swiss Darts Trophy two weeks ago. Clayton has reached three ranking Major quarter finals in 2026 and two non-ranking semi-finals.
He missed darts to beat Price in the semi-final of the World Series finals, and he is in very good form. Running hot. He lost his last match 1-6, but he remains very much on the short list. Clayton plays the out of form Niko Springer in round one.
8 Gian van Veen – SF/RU/QF/SF/SF
The defending Champion comes back to the scene of his finest hour and arrives in good form. He is having good runs in almost everything he has played in for the last few months, but the one thing he hasn’t got is a title.
In the TV Majors in 2026, Van Veen was runner up in the World Championship, was a semi-finalist in the World Masters, in the Matchplay and the World Series. He was a quarter finalist at the Grand Prix two weeks ago. Given that he was knocked out of form for a few months after gallbladder surgery, he has done pretty well.
It could time for another win for a player who reached his first Major semi-final here, and got his first Major win. Van Veen is a contender, but the last time this title was defended was in 2017, by MVG.
Losing another Euro Tour semi-final at the weekend is a worry. He is getting used to losing at the business end of tournaments. He set a new Euro Tour record average of 120.24 last weekend, so there is nothing wrong with his game, but is he the new Danny Noppert? Plays the out of form Andrew Gilding in round 1.
9 Luke Woodhouse – R1/R4/R2/R1/QF
Having a good season. Woodhouse won his first PDC title in May in Players Championship 18. He backed that up by winning the Baltic Sea Darts Open a few days later. He had been very consistent until the end of August, when the deeper runs dried up. His record in Majors remains very ordinary, but his only semi-final came here in 2024. Plays Dirk van Duijvenbode in round one, which is winnable, but not easy.
10 Josh Rock – QF/R4/R1/R1/R2
His recent form isn’t great. He has had plenty of quarter finals but only one in the last two months. Rock has only ever won a single match at the European Championships in his first four visits. Hard to fancy. Faces Chris Dobey in round one and Dobey should be favourite to win that.
11 Luke Littler – SF/W/QF/R1/SF
Littler’s last run out was at the World Youth Championships, were he reached the semi-final, but lost to Cam Crabtree. Before that he had a first-round exit at the Grand Prix, losing to Luke Woodhouse. He lost the quarter final of the World Series to Jonny Clayton, but won the Czech Darts Open at the start of September.
If it were anyone else, those form figures would considered to be very good, but for the World number one, not up to his usual standard. He had a hissy fit at the World Series finals. He lost the semi-final and then declared that he was boycotting tournaments in the Netherlands from now on.
German Woes
Of course, he only plays in two tournaments in Germany. The PL in Berlin, and these European Championships. I said in last year’s preview, he wouldn’t win the European Championship because he hates playing in Germany/Germans. The crowd were very fair to him last year, and he said as much, but he still went out in round two.
Littler has a problem of his own making. By reacting to the Boo Boys, he gives them exactly what they want, a reaction. By then declaring boycotts of entire countries, he just puts more noses out of joint and the number of ‘haters’ gets bigger. He needs to operate a charm offensive for a year or two and they will be eating out of his hand.
Only Major He hasn’t won
Littler set himself the target of winning all of the TV titles in 2026, but having lost at the World Series, he then got dumped out of the Grand Prix. He now comes to the only Major he hasn’t won. Winning this would give him a ‘career slam’. That would be a great achievement for someone so young, but will his heart be in it? He hates coming to Germany, and his season target is already bust.
Littler will be tournament favourite, but there are more question marks over him now, and at this venue, than we usually get. He hasn’t even qualified for the Players Championship finals (yet), and maybe he has one eye on wiping the slate clean, and starting again with the 2027 World Championship, which is not that far away.
Littler will play William O’Connor in round one, and that looks a decent break in the short format first round.
12 Luke Humphries – R2/RU/R2/W/RU
When the cat is away, the mouse will play. Humphries is certainly looking to take advantage of Littler’s game being a bit off. He was runner up to Littler in the Czech Darts Open, was beaten in round two at the World Series Finals but won the World Grand Prix and was runner up in the Swiss Darts Trophy two weeks ago. He is back to top form and enjoying things.
Humphries has yet to win the UK Open, or the European Championships. This will be high up on his to do list. He had three consecutive QFs here, before reaching the final last year, losing it to Van Veen. Strong contender. Humphries faces Ryan Searle in round one. Tricky, but he is 5-1 up in their TV matches.
13 Gerwyn Price – SF/R2/RU/RU/R3
Another player who is going deep in most events he plays in. He hasn’t won a TV Major since 2022, but in his last seven ranking Majors, he has reached four semi-finals and two finals. He was also runner up at the recent World Series finals.
In terms of scoring and consistency, Price is right up with the very best, but he hasn’t been able to convert all these good runs into titles. Yes, he has won a Euro Tour title back in April, and a Players Championship in February, but he has lost the last four finals he has played.
Doesn’t Care?
Price said after losing the final of the World Series Finals, that he didn’t care if he never won another Major. He followed that up by losing the final of the Grand Prix. Maybe he is better backed to make the final, rather than to win it?
He is never a big price, no pun intended, and is hard to make any money on. Price plays Rob Cross in round 1 and could set up a possible rematch with Zonneveld in round two. The Dutchman beat Price on the way to winning the Dutch Darts Championship at the weekend. That’s a tough draw.
14 Kevin Doets – R1/SF/R4/R1/R2
2026 has been something of a breakthrough year for Doets. He picked up his first senior title with PC13 back in May. More recently he was runner up in PC27 in August, and he was a semi-finalist in PC29 a month ago.
On stage, he made the final of the Austrian Darts Open in May. There was another ET quarter final that month, but since then he has failed to get past the 3rd round. Doets has not made much impression in the TV Majors so far. Two fourth rounds at the World Championships, and two 5th rounds at the UK Open, are his best results.
Doets may take some inspiration from his contemporary, Van Veen, winning this last year. He has the game but is still not producing his best on the big stages.
Doets looks to have a good draw. He will play the out of form MVG in round one, and if he can win that, would play the winner of the Chisnall vs. Ratajski match. Those two are in poor form. The path to a quarter final is good, but Luke Littler could be waiting for him.
15 Ryan Joyce – R2/R2/QF/QF/R2
Joyce has only qualified for this Championship once before. That was last year and he reached the quarter final. He has had troubles with flying and didn’t play in many events. He would drive to events, rather than fly, and that was quite a slog.
In the last two seasons he has grasped the flying nettle and played in a lot more events, and has picked up enough cash to become the 15th seed. He was runner up in the Baltic Sea Darts Open in May and reached three more quarter finals, including at the recent Flanders Darts Trophy.
Joyce is not a prolific title winner, he has won two PDC titles, both on the floor. However, he is an improving stage player. Joyce reached the quarter final at the Grand Prix two weeks ago, was a quarter finalist here last year and has made a semi-final at the 2024 Grand Prix and 2023 Players Championship finals. Joyce is unlikely to win the title, but he can win matches as the outsider.
16 James Wade – W/W/QF/SF/R2
Wade has won this once, back in 2018. It was shortly after the birth of his first son, Arthur, and he was in great form coming into the tournament. He had won on the Euro Tour two weeks before and had a Players Championship QF the week before.
After winning the European Championship, he won the World Series finals. The Nappy Factor in full effect. He has been in great form in the last couple of months. He won on the World Series, then followed that up by winning the Flanders Darts Trophy.
It was only when I started to back him that he was just coming up short with a quarter final at the Matchplay, and a semi-final at the Grand Prix. Wade didn’t play in the final Euro Tour of the season, but he arrives in good form.
He has reached the final in this in three of the last eight years and was a quarter finalist last year. Wade is having deep runs in the TV events in 2026, but he hasn’t won one since 2021. I expect another good tournament run, but will it end before the final?
17 Damon Heta – R1/R3/R1/R2/QF
Heta has won six of his last ten matches and is playing with a good deal of consistency. He has reached eight ranking Major quarter finals and a semi-final, but he has only ever won one match from his previous five European Championships. For all of his crowd pleasing walk on, he only has ever won two singles titles on stage. The bulk of his winning is on the floor. Plays the in-form James Wade in round 1.
18 Jermaine Wattimena – R2/R2/QF/QF/R2
Runner up here two years ago, but he is not a player with much in the way of big Major results. There was that final, and a semi-final at last year’s Players Championship finals.
The Machine Gun was the most overrated player in darts a few years ago, and very profitable to oppose. He then slowed his throw down a little bit and improved as a player. He has a very strong A game, and when he is in top form, he is backable at decent odds.
Wattimena has now won three Players Championship titles in the last 18 months and made three Euro Tour quarter finals and a final. His recent form is reasonable, but he isn’t at the top of his game, losing four of his last six matches.
19 Michael van Gerwen – R1/QF/R1/R1/R1
MVG has lost six of his last ten matches and struggles to get past the first round of tournaments right now. He won this title four times in a row between 2014 and 2017. He was runner up in 2021 and a semi-finalist last year, but there is nothing in his game to suggest that he can have any sort of run.
Van Gerwen will play fellow Dutchman, Kevin Doets, in round one and should be the outsider to win that one.
20 Rob Cross – R1/R3/R1/R1/R3
Cross travelled to the Netherlands last week for the Dutch Darts Championship but had to return to the UK for family reasons. Not ideal preparation.
Cross, despite his very ordinary form figures, has been playing some very good darts recently, but has still lost six of his last ten matches. He played really well at the Swiss Darts Trophy, averaging 103.67 across his three matches, but still lost 4-6 to eventual winner Jonny Clayton in the third round.
There are hints in his game that he could have a good run. However, it is nearly three years since his last Major final, and five since he won one. He is a two-time winner of this Championship, and a three time finalist, but he has won just one match in the last four.
21 Ryan Searle – R3/R2/R2/R1/QF
Heavy Metal was using a slightly different set of darts at last weekend’s Dutch Darts Championship, and he played well, but still lost in the quarter final. He has only ever made one Major final and never got beyond round two in this Championship.
Searle will play Luke Humphries in the first round and he has lost seven of his last ten matches with Cool Hand. That said, it is a best of eleven leg match, and not an easy one for Humphries.
22 William O’Connor – SF/R1/R1/R2/R3
O’Connor is playing OK and has won five of his last ten matches. He last played in this event in 2020 and reached the quarter finals. The fact that he has even qualified tells us that he is having a decent season.
He made his debut at the World Matchplay and made his first Grand Prix for ten years, but he is at the level were just qualifying is a result. The Magpie is not actually having any runs when he gets into the big events. I doubt he will be having any sort of a run this weekend. He plays Luke Littler in round 1.
23 Chris Dobey – QF/QF/R1/R1/R1
The form figures for Dobey’s last five tournaments sum up his career. Back-to-back quarter finals on the floor, and three successive first round exits on stage. He is good enough to have a decent run and he has reached the semi-final and quarter final in this event in his six previous appearances.
However, the fact that he has only ever qualified six times tells its own story. He has lost thirteen quarter final matches in various tournaments in 2026, but his two titles both came on the floor. Of his eleven PDC titles, only one was on stage. He will play Josh Rock in round one, and that is a match he can win.
24 Dirk van Duijvenbode – R2/R4/R1/QF/R2
Dirk isn’t as good a player as Chris Dobey, but he is also a bit of an underachiever. All six of his titles have been on the floor, but he has reached two TV Major finals and was a semi-finalist at the World Matchplay, but he is something of a nearly man.
He has won six of his last ten matches but is not the most consistent of players. Dirk has played in six European Championships, lost three first round matches, but made two quarter finals and semi-final. He will face Luke Woodhouse in round 1, the player who beat him in last year’s quarter final.
25 Andrew Gilding – R2/R1/R1/R1/R2
Gilding is in rotten form, losing seven of his last ten matches. He has only ever won one match in his three previous European Championships. As he will face Gian van Veen in round 1, it is very unlikely he will improve his record.
26 Niko Springer – R2/R2/R1/R2/R2
Another player in poor form. He has lost six of his last ten matches and his wins came against greats of the game, such as Roman Wellinger, Jaimy Jacobs, Martin Homola and Maik Kuivenhoven. He lost on debut here last year. This year he faces the in-form Jonny Clayton in round 1.
27 Cristo Reyes – R1/R4/R1/QF/R3
Reyes has never made much impression in the Majors. He has played in the European Championship four times and won three first round matches. It is a big result just to qualify in his first season back as a tour card holder.
His recent form is OK, winning six of his last ten matches. His A game is very good as we saw in the Netherlands at the weekend, when he averaged 110.26 in a 6-2 win over Chris Dobey. He will play Nathan Aspinall in round 1. That looks to be a bit of a coin toss, so he could win another first round match. Littler is likely to be waiting in round 2.
28 Stephen Bunting – R3/R1/R2/R1/SF
Left it very late to qualify, but his run to the semi-final of the Dutch Darts Championship at the weekend did the trick. He is not having a great season, making one floor final, one Euro Tour semi-final and not done a lot in the Majors.
At least he qualified and he comes here on the back of a decent run, but he has lost five of his last ten matches, and hasn’t got past the second round in his last nine European Championships. He plays Danny Noppert in round 1, which is a tough one.
29 Cameron Menzies – W/R1/R1/R1/R2
Won PC29 a month ago and has been pants ever since. Reached the second round on debut last year, beating Gary Anderson, and he took Humphries to a deciding leg in round two. Menzies can be anything, but he has won just two matches in the TV Majors in the last 12 months. He faces the in-form Niels Zonneveld in round 1.
30 Dave Chisnall – R4/R2/R1/R2/R2
Making the finals is a big result for Chizzy these days. He did so by winning all but two of his first round matches and reaching two quarter finals. He just about averages over 90 and has won two matches in the Majors in the last year.
Chisnall beat Fallon Sherrock at Ally Pally and Scott Campbell at the UK Open. He will face an out of form Ratajski in round 1, but even that might be too much for him.
31 Martin Schindler – R2/R1/R4/R1/R2
Has lost six of his last ten matches, but he has played some decent stuff. He struggles for consistency and it is hard to see him having any sort of a run.
He will play Wessel Nijman in round 1. Schindler will have home advantage and while he is 2-6 vs. the Dutchman, their last three matches have gone to a deciding leg. Home advantage has not done Schindler any favours in the past, however, as he has only ever won one match in the six European Championships he has played in.
32 Karel Sedlacek – R2/R2/W/QF/R2
Last man through the door, but Sedlacek is actually one of the form players coming into the event. He has won eight of his last ten matches and picked up his first PDC title last month. He got here the hard way, having to pre-qualify.
Made it into twelve Euro Tour events and picked up money in eight of them. Evil Charlie is no mug and has recent wins over Heta, Aspinall, Dobey, Nijman, Zonneveld and Rock. As the 32nd qualifier, he plays Ross Smith in round one.
Do not rule Sedlacek out of that one. The curse of the Number1 seed could strike again! That said, he has lost all six of his matches against Smudger.
2026 European Championship Darts – The Quarters
First Quarter
A very tough quarter. We have the number 1 seed Ross Smith, the in-form James Wade, defending Champion Gian Van Veen and last year’s semi-finalist Luke Woodhouse. Throw in the in-form Karel Sedlacek and the mercurial Dirk van Duijvenbode. The only really out of form player is Andrew Gilding. Damon Heta is playing OK but has a very poor tournament record.
Ross Smith has the Curse of the Number 1 seed hanging over him. He faces a player in round one who has won eight of his last ten matches, and a recent Players Championship title.
If he wins that, it doesn’t get any easier. He will likely face James Wade, who is also in good form, having a lot of deep runs and winning titles.
Woodhouse is a much-improved player and the winner of his match vs. Van Duijvenbode will be a test for Van Veen.
Easy Start
Gian Van Veen has the easiest first round match against the out of form Andrew Gilding. Getting an easy 1st round match is a big help as they are the short format, best of eleven leg matches. Even the best players are vulnerable in a short match.
Van Veen is in very good form and just set a new Euro Tour average record of 120.24 at the weekend. His problem has been folding like a cheap coat at the business end of events. In his last 50 matches, he has lost four quarter finals, lost six semi-finals and lost one final. He hasn’t won a senior title since winning this event 12 months ago.
Crestfallen
Van Veen looked crestfallen when losing the semi-final of the Dutch Darts Championship last weekend. It was another chance gone. The worry is that it has become a thing. A proper mental block. Sometimes he just gets beaten by the better player, but there have been matches where he has massively underperformed and, dare I say, bottled it?
The one hope I have for him is that he has a strong, positive mental association with the tournament and venue, having won his first Major here last year, and reached the semi-final on debut in 2023.
Second Quarter
We have two players in the quarter who are bang in-form. Luke Humphries is back to something like his best, winning the Grand Prix less than three weeks ago, and was then runner up to Jonny Clayton in the Swiss Darts Trophy. He has won nine of his last ten matches and is very hard to oppose in this part of the draw.
The other form player here is Niels Zonneveld. He got his first PDC title at the weekend, winning the Dutch Darts Championship. He has been playing well recently and his winning wasn’t a total shock, but beating Gerwyn Price for the first time, was the key.
Mental Letdown
The problem for him is now managing a certain amount of mental letdown. To have such an important achievement less than a week ago, and then trying to replicate it a few days later is hard.
He is making his tournament debut which doesn’t help, but he reached the quarter final at the Grand Prix, and that was his debut in that event. Zonneveld will be feeling good, and confident, but has this tournament come a bit too soon?
Iceman
We also have Gerwyn Price in this quarter. He is in the same boat as Van Veen. Playing great but not winning titles. He has recent defeats to both Humphries and now Zonneveld. Price has also got a tricky first round match with Rob Cross, who is playing well, if a bit inconsistently.
Danny Noppert will play Bunting in round 1, and Noppert is in good form, reaching the final last weekend, and he has a very solid tournament record with three consecutive semi-finals to his name in the last three years. However, he doesn’t win things.
I have to go with last year’s runner up, Luke Humphries to make the semi-final.
Third Quarter
This is not the most competitive looking quarter. Nijman is very talented but is yet to really give his best performances on TV. Schindler, Joyce, Springer, Rock and Dobey are not in great form coming into the event. That leaves Jonny Clayton.
The Ferret won the recent Swiss Darts Trophy and has reached three ranking Major quarter finals in 2026, and two non-ranking semi-finals. He has won seven of his last ten matches and despite a 1-6 thumping from Damon Heta at the weekend, he is playing very well, and consistently.
Poor Event Record
He doesn’t have a great tournament record, but he can’t complain about the draw. He plays the out of form Niko Springer in round 1, and he has beaten the German twice, in two very close matches. One a Euro Tour final last year, winning 8-6, and a Players Championship semi-final this May, which was a 7-6 win.
If he can get off to a winning start, he can go deep. Clayton is in the same half of the draw as Littler, but he did beat him in the World Series finals last month, and at 5-8, he has a respectable H2H record against the World number 1.
Fourth Quarter
Tournament favourite, Luke Littler, is the big beast in this quarter. He plays Willie O’Connor in round one and is the strong favourite to win that. On the negative side, Littler has not been in top form by his standards. He has lost four of his last six matches, and failed in his quest to win every TV Major in 2026.
He is also playing in ‘enemy territory’. Littler doesn’t play in Germany anymore, outside of this and the one PL night in Berlin. He doesn’t like Germans. They don’t like him. After another fall out with a crowd, this time in Amsterdam, Littler has added the Dutch to his list of enemies. He has the diplomatic skills of Donald Trump.
Tough Task
Despite his amazing record in Major Championships, this is not an easy one for him to win. There is a hostile crowd, his form is not his best, and the first round is a short format. He is lucky to get Willie O’Connor in round one. The Irishman doesn’t really have the game to think he can cause an upset. He has lost five of his last ten matches, and he does tend to throw the towel in far too quickly.
In round two Littler will face Aspinall or Reyes. He kicks Aspinall’s arse for fun (18-3). He has never played Reyes before, but in a longer, best of 19 legs match, Littler is going to be a short price favourite.
Perhaps the biggest threat to Littler before the semi-final stage is Kevin Doets. He has beaten Littler once in their four previous matches and it was a close match when they last met, in the UK Open, Littler winning 10-8. Maybe with a hostile crowd, the scores could be reversed?
2026 European Championship Darts: Outright Selections
As is the case in the Majors these days, you either back Littler at short odds, and have a good chance to collect, or you try and find realistic alternatives. I will go for the latter, mainly because of the fact that the tournament is being played in Germany.
If you hate being somewhere, it is hard to fully concentrate on the job at hand. There is the chance that Littler will waiting for the boos and whistles, even if they don’t come. If there is one Major where he should be opposed, it is this one. That is not to say he can’t win it, just that it will be that bit more difficult. I will go with three alternatives.
