The World Series of Darts Finals get underway on Thursday, and for the first time since 2022, no German player is in the field. Excluding the Premier League of Darts, it is the first time in four years that no German features at a PDC major. While the top stars Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen battle for the title at the season-ending World Series event this weekend, Germany's professionals can only watch from the sidelines.
The decisive factor is the complex qualification system for the World Series Finals. Of the 32 players at the World Series Finals, 24 qualify via the World Series Order of Merit. Separate from the main Order of Merit, this ranking compares performances across the six World Series events. Michael van Gerwen's wins in Bahrain and Denmark, for example, earned him 32 points and the number 1 seeding. The issue from a German perspective: no German played a World Series event this season. The World Series are invitation tournaments. At each event, eight of the world's best face eight local qualifiers or invitees. This year the World Series stopped in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand and the USA, and with no German invites, there was no route to qualify via the World Series ranking. The four additional spots reserved for the highest-ranked players on the main Order of Merit who had not yet qualified also did not go to any German.
One avenue still remained for German players to reach the World Series Finals: the Tour Card Qualifier. In this qualifier, all Tour Card holders can play for a place in the Finals. Four berths were up for grabs. Max Hopp, Pascal Rupprecht, Maximilian Czerwinski and Matthias Ehlers all opted to skip the qualifier. Eleven other Germans, however, took their shot at making the major. For Arno Merk, Kai Gotthardt and Marvin Kraft it quickly became clear they would miss out on a Finals ticket. All three lost their opening ties. From a German angle it was a tough draw: Gotthardt and Merk fell in all-German clashes to Yorick Hofkens and Gabriel Clemens. For Hofkens and Clemens, that turned out to be their only win of the day. Clemens lost a round later in a decider to World Championship quarter-finalist Justin Hood, and Hofkens failed to win a leg against Ricky Evans. Leon Weber and Lukas Wenig also exited in the last 64.
The same fate befell Germany's number one, Martin Schindler. Despite a near-100 average, the Strausberg native could not get past Latvia's Madars Razma and, like Ricardo Pietreczko, will not be in Amsterdam. "Pikachu" averaged 86 and could do little against Raymond van Barneveld. The best-performing Germans in the qualifier were Niko Springer and Dominik Grüllich. Both went out in the last 32. Grüllich lost 3:6 to Daryl Gurney, while Springer suffered a painful last-leg defeat to Callan Rydz.
No German will therefore toe the oche at the World Series of Darts Finals on Thursday. Yet the World Series used to have a stronger presence in Germany: from 2017 to 2019 the PDC staged the German Darts Masters three times in the country. In mid-2017, PDC chairman Barry Hearn announced plans to add a seventh World Series event in Germany. The inaugural tournament was held at the Castello Arena in Düsseldorf. From a German sporting perspective, it proved uneventful. No home player won his opening match. Only Dragutin Horvat pushed his opponent to the brink. Against Peter Wright, "Brazzo" contested a hard-fought match that the Scot edged in the decider. Wright then beat Mensur Suljovic and Raymond van Barneveld as well. In the final, "Snakebite" eased past Phil Taylor—playing his last tournament on German soil—and claimed the inaugural German Darts Masters title.
The 2018 German Darts Masters is remembered for a world record. The tournament was staged at the Veltins-Arena by Bundesliga club Schalke 04. A total of 20,201 fans watched the event. To this day, the 2018 German Darts Masters holds the world record for the largest crowd at a darts tournament on the European mainland. Although no German player managed a win again, a German-speaking player stepped up. Austria's Mensur Suljovic defeated Robert Marijanovic, Rob Cross, Peter Wright and then overcame Dimitri Van den Bergh in the final. In round one, the Belgian had set the highest ever average at the German Darts Masters with 109.98 points against Martin Schindler.
In 2019, something unprecedented happened for German darts fans. The tournament, played in Cologne and broadcast free-to-air on ProSieben, turned into a celebration of German darts. Three German players won their opening matches. The standout was Martin Schindler's clash with then world number one Michael van Gerwen. The Dutchman led 3:1 and looked home and dry but opted for an unusual finish. With nine remaining, MvG did not go 1 to leave double 4, instead checking out via single 3, double 3. Schindler later admitted that his opponent's choice gave him an extra surge of motivation. The then 22-year-old duly produced the upset. He reeled off five straight legs and sealed the comeback on double 7 for the match. Both Schindler and Kurz, however, bowed out in the quarter-finals to Mensur Suljovic and Peter Wright. Equally surprising was Nico Kurz's 6:4 victory over Gary Anderson.
Gabriel Clemens also won his opener. With a 98 average, he beat Raymond van Barneveld. He was the only German to raise his level again the following day. Premier League finalist Rob Cross found that out the hard way. Despite averaging 106, Cross could not live with Clemens' scoring and lost 5:8. The "German Giant" looked unshakeable. In the semi-finals, Clemens barely gave Mensur Suljovic a look-in, rattling off five consecutive legs for an 8:3 result. Only in the final did the title dream end. Peter Wright had to battle but prevailed 8:6 and, with two victories, remains the record winner of the German Darts Masters. After the third edition, the German Darts Masters disappeared from the calendar. Since then, the Nordic Darts Masters has been held in Denmark. Even though no German is at the World Series of Darts Finals this year, a look back shows: Germany has not always been just a spectator in the World Series.
