The 2026 European Championship gets underway on Thursday evening, 22 October, and the Netherlands will be out in force at the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund. After 15 European Tour events, 32 players have qualified for the finals, and a quarter of the field is Dutch. Michael van Gerwen, Gian van Veen, Wessel Nijman, Danny Noppert, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Jermaine Wattimena, Kevin Doets and Niels Zonneveld are all heading to Germany, giving the country a formidable presence at the major.
Gian van Veen arrives as defending champion after his stunning run to a first PDC major last year. Starting as the 10th seed, he opened with a 6-3 win over Damon Heta, averaging almost 99 and finishing 43% of his attempts. His best performance came in the second round, where a 109.92 average and a 67% checkout rate helped him overpower Ryan Searle 10-2. He averaged 101.40 in the quarter-final against Ryan Joyce, keeping his average above 100 and beating the Englishman 10-5 with a 48% checkout rate. In the semi-final against Michael van Gerwen, Van Veen held his throw at 9-9 before breaking Van Gerwen at the perfect moment to win 11-9, with a 55% checkout rate compared with Van Gerwen's 33%. In the final against Luke Humphries, Van Veen averaged exactly 101, moved 9-7 ahead, and after Humphries levelled at 10-10 and missed his first match dart, Van Veen checked out 100 with single 20, treble 16 and double 16 to win his first major title. This year he is the eighth seed, reached the final at the first European Tour event of the season where he lost to Luke Littler, and has since reached the semi-finals at each of the last three events. He begins his title defence against 25th seed Andrew Gilding.
Michael van Gerwen shares the record for the most European Championship titles with Phil Taylor, having won four in a row between 2014 and 2017. He claimed his first title in 2014, beating Terry Jenkins 11-4. A year later, he averaged 107.28 against Gary Anderson and won a deciding leg at 10-10. In 2016, he averaged 111.62 in an 11-1 victory over Mensur Suljovic, the most one-sided final in European Championship history alongside the 2010 final between Phil Taylor and Wayne Jones. In 2017, he averaged 108.91 as he beat Rob Cross 11-7. But his fortunes changed sharply: he went out in the second round in 2018, lost his opening match in 2019, and his run ended in the last 16 in 2020. He reached the final in 2021 but lost 11-8 to Rob Cross, then suffered a first-round exit the following year. After two more years without progressing beyond the quarter-finals, he reached the semi-finals last year, where eventual champion Gian van Veen proved too strong. After modest European Tour results and several withdrawals, Van Gerwen starts this year ranked 19th in the PDC European Tour Order of Merit and faces compatriot Kevin Doets, the 14th seed, in a match that looks 50-50. Van Gerwen has reached the semi-finals just twice on the European Tour this year and has lost his opening match five times.
Danny Noppert has been a model of consistency at the European Championship, reaching at least the quarter-finals at every edition since 2021. He lost his opening match at his first two appearances in 2018 and 2020, but then beat Krzysztof Ratajski and Ryan Searle in 2021 before Nathan Aspinall proved too strong in the last eight. In 2022, he defeated Andrew Gilding and Vincent van der Voort before Dirk van Duijvenbode beat him in the quarter-finals. In 2023, wins over Gilding, Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price took him to the semi-finals, where eventual champion Peter Wright beat him 11-8. He reached the last four again in 2024, defeating Joe Cullen, Mike De Decker and Ricardo Pietreczko before compatriot Jermaine Wattimena edged him out 11-10. Last year he made the semi-finals again, beating Van Duijvenbode, Aspinall and Pietreczko, before Luke Humphries won 11-8. This year he is the fifth seed after a strong European Tour campaign in which he reached the quarter-finals four times, the semi-finals once and the final twice, losing both. He faces Stephen Bunting, who finished 28th on the Euro Tour but reached the semi-finals at the final event in Maastricht.
Niels Zonneveld has been one of the breakout players of this European Tour season. He reached the semi-finals at events two and three and the quarter-finals at the fourth, then won his first PDC title at the Dutch Darts Championship in Maastricht last weekend. He defeated Krzysztof Ratajski, Gerwyn Price, Wessel Nijman and Stephen Bunting before facing compatriot Danny Noppert in the final. Noppert took a 2-0 lead, but Zonneveld won five legs in a row to go 5-2 ahead and eventually won 8-5. The title lifted him from 20th to fourth in the European Tour Order of Merit, earning him a first-round match against Cameron Menzies instead of Gerwyn Price. Menzies is ranked 25th in the world, while Zonneveld has risen to 28th, and the Dutchman won their most recent meeting earlier this year.
Wessel Nijman has been one of the standout players on the European Tour this year, winning two events and reaching at least the quarter-finals four more times. He has earned £124,000 towards the Order of Merit, £34,500 more than the player in third place. He won the European Darts Trophy in March for his first European Tour title, then claimed his second at the Slovak Darts Open in June. He spent much of the season at the top of the European Tour Order of Merit before Ross Smith's stronger results pushed him into second. Nijman faces 31st seed Martin Schindler, who is going through one of the least successful spells of his career. Nijman lost 6-5 to Michael van Gerwen in his opening match last year after leading 4-2 and missing several match darts. He has yet to reach a PDC major quarter-final and will be looking to break that run.
Jermaine Wattimena came close to a major upset at the 2024 European Championship, making a surprise run to the final where he was well beaten 11-3 by Ritchie Edhouse. On his debut in 2016, he lost 6-1 to Mensur Suljovic, and in 2018 he suffered a 6-0 first-round defeat to Peter Wright. He finally made it through the first round in 2019, only to lose to Jeffrey de Zwaan. He returned in 2024 and beat Peter Wright, James Wade, Luke Humphries and Danny Noppert to reach the final. Last year he went out in the last 16. This year he reached the final at the European Darts Open, where Krzysztof Ratajski beat him 8-6, and finishes the Euro Tour season ranked 18th. He faces 15th seed Ryan Joyce, against whom he leads 9-8 in their head-to-head, though Joyce leads 6-2 in televised matches.
Kevin Doets will make his European Championship debut after an excellent European Tour season. He reached the semi-finals at the German Darts Grand Prix, then reached his first Euro Tour final at the Austrian Darts Open, where Josh Rock won 8-6. Doets starts as the 14th seed and faces four-time champion Michael van Gerwen in the only all-Dutch first-round match. Van Gerwen has been inconsistent this year, while Doets has been fairly consistent throughout the season, so there is no clear favourite.
Dirk van Duijvenbode is preparing for his sixth European Championship appearance. He made his debut in 2020 and reached the quarter-finals straight away, beating Danny Noppert and Michael Smith before Jonny Clayton proved too strong. After missing the event in 2021, he returned in 2022 and reached the semi-finals with wins over Madars Razma, James Wade and Noppert, averaging 101.43 in a loss to Michael Smith. In 2023 he lost his opening match to James Wade. A year later, wins over Martin Schindler and Daryl Gurney took him back to the quarter-finals, where Luke Woodhouse beat him 10-4. Last year he lost his opening match to Noppert. This year he reached Sunday's session four times but also lost his opening match seven times. He starts as the 24th seed and faces Woodhouse, against whom he leads 6-4 in their head-to-head, though Woodhouse won their last two meetings, including their 2024 European Championship quarter-final. If Van Duijvenbode beats Woodhouse, he could face compatriot Gian van Veen in round two.
Overall, the Dutch players have plenty of opportunities to make a deep run in Dortmund. Doets versus Van Gerwen is the only all-Dutch first-round match, and several other players have a strong chance of winning their opening match. Defending champion Gian van Veen knows what it takes, Niels Zonneveld is in outstanding form after his recent Dutch Darts Championship title, and Wessel Nijman will aim to break his major curse in Dortmund.
