Eight months after the first dart was thrown on the European Tour in 2026, the PDC's best are heading to Dortmund where this year's champion will be crowned.
Gian van Veen won his first major title in Germany last year, beating Luke Humphries 11-10 in the final. Plenty will be hoping to avoid taking on Van Veen after he averaged a record 120.24 at the final European Tour event of the year in the Netherlands.
The European Championship remains the only major title missing from Luke Littler's CV.
- Why is Luke Littler being booed by darts fans?
European Championship darts 2026 schedule
The tournament runs from Oct. 22-25.
Round One (best of 11 legs)
Thursday, Oct. 22 (from 6 p.m. BST)
Luke Woodhouse vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode
Danny Noppert vs. Stephen Bunting
Niels Zonneveld vs. Cameron Menzies
Gerwyn Price vs. Rob Cross James Wade v Damon Heta
Luke Humphries vs. Ryan Searle
Gian van Veen vs. Andrew Gilding
Ross Smith vs. Karel Sedlacek
Friday, Oct. 23 (from 6 p.m. BST)
Ryan Joyce vs. Jermaine Wattimena
Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Dave Chisnall
Nathan Aspinall vs. Cristo Reyes
Jonny Clayton vs. Niko Springer
Luke Littler vs. William O'Connor
Wessel Nijman vs. Martin Schindler
Kevin Doets vs. Michael van Gerwen
Josh Rock vs. Chris Dobey
Round Two (best of 19 legs)
Saturday, Oct. 24 (Afternoon session from 12 p.m. BST)
4x round two matches
Saturday, Oct. 24 (Evening session from 6 p.m. BST)
4x round two matches
Quarterfinals (best of 19 legs)
Sunday, Oct. 25 (afternoon session from 12 p.m. GMT)
4x quarterfinal matches
Semifinals and Final (best of 21 legs)
Sunday, Oct. 25 (evening session from 6 p.m. GMT)
2x semifinal matches and final
What is the prize money?
Three-quarters-of-a-million pounds are up for grabs in Dortmund.
Round-by-round breakdown:
Winner: £150,000
Runner-up: £80,000
Semifinalists: £50,000
Quarterfinalists: £35,000
Second round: £20,000
First round: £7,500
Total: £750,000
How to watch
The World Grand Prix is shown live on ITV4 and PDC TV in the UK.
Who has won this year's European Tour events?
Poland Darts Open (Feb. 20-22): Luke Littler
European Darts Trophy (March 13-15): Wessel Nijman
Belgian Darts Open (March 20-22): Luke Humphries
German Darts Grand Prix (April 4-6): Nathan Aspinall
Austrian Darts Open (May 8-10): Josh Rock
International Darts Open (May 22-24): Ross Smith
Baltic Sea Darts Open (May 29-31): Luke Woodhouse
Slovak Darts Open (June 19-21): Wessel Nijman
European Darts Open (July 10-12): Krzysztof Ratajski
Hungarian Darts Trophy (Aug. 28-30): Ross Smith
Czech Darts Open (Sept. 4-6): Luke Littler
Flanders Darts Trophy (Sept. 11-13): James Wade
Swiss Darts Trophy (Oct. 9-11): Jonny Clayton
Dutch Darts Championship (Oct. 16-18): Niels Zonneveld
What is the European Championship format?
The European Championship is the culmination of the eight-month European Tour which decides the 32 players who compete for the title in Dortmund.
European Tour rankings are decided by the total prize money won by players in the 14 qualifying events which are are standalone tournaments in their own right and were staged in locations such as Antwerp and Bratislava over the last eight months.
Ross Smith finished top of the rankings after the final European Tour event -- the Dutch Darts Championship -- concluded on Oct. 18. Former world champions Michael Smith and Gary Anderson were among those to miss the cut.
Matches at the European Championship are decided by a race to a target number of legs, the number of which depends on the round of the tournament being played. As with most PDC tournaments, the games are played in the standard 501 format, where players look to reduce their score from 501 to zero as efficiently as possible, finishing with a double.
The highest-score available in a single visit is 180 (three darts in the triple 20), while the fastest way to finish a game is with a nine-dart leg. Each successful checkout counts as one leg.
Who are the previous winners?
2008: Phil Taylor
2009: Phil Taylor
2010: Phil Taylor
2011: Phil Taylor
2012: Simon Whitlock
2013: Adrian Lewis
2014: Michael van Gerwen
2015: Michael van Gerwen
2016: Michael van Gerwen
2017: Michael van Gerwen
2018: James Wade
2019: Rob Cross
2020: Peter Wright
2021: Rob Cross
2022: Ross Smith
2023: Peter Wright
2024: Ritchie Edhouse
2025: Gian van Veen
