Reigning champion Gian van Veen will launch his title defence on Thursday night in Dortmund after the schedule of play for the 2026 Machineseeker European Championship was confirmed. The £750,000 tournament takes place at the Westfalenhallen from October 22-25, with 32 players battling for one of the biggest titles on the PDC calendar.
The opening round will be split across Thursday and Friday evening sessions, with eight first-round ties taking place each night as the continent’s leading stars begin their campaigns. Van Veen, seeded eighth, opens against Andrew Gilding in Thursday’s lineup, which also features top seed Ross Smith taking on Karel Sedlacek, while Gerwyn Price meets Rob Cross and Luke Humphries faces Ryan Searle.
Friday’s action sees second seed Wessel Nijman face Martin Schindler, third seed Krzysztof Ratajski take on Dave Chisnall, and sixth seed Nathan Aspinall meet Cristo Reyes. Luke Littler, seeded 11th, begins his campaign against William O’Connor, while Kevin Doets faces Michael van Gerwen and Josh Rock takes on Chris Dobey.
The second round is split across Saturday afternoon and evening, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all scheduled for Sunday. Organisers have noted that clocks go back overnight into Sunday, with the afternoon session starting at 1300 CET (1200 GMT) and the evening session at 1900 CET (1800 GMT). First round matches are best of 11 legs, second round and quarter-finals best of 19, and both semi-finals and final best of 21 legs.
Full first-round draw:
(1) Ross Smith v (32) Karel Sedlacek
(16) James Wade v (17) Damon Heta
(8) Gian van Veen v (25) Andrew Gilding
(9) Luke Woodhouse v (24) Dirk van Duijvenbode
(4) Niels Zonneveld v (29) Cameron Menzies
(13) Gerwyn Price v (20) Rob Cross
(5) Danny Noppert v (28) Stephen Bunting
(12) Luke Humphries v (21) Ryan Searle
(2) Wessel Nijman v (31) Martin Schindler
(15) Ryan Joyce v (18) Jermaine Wattimena
(7) Jonny Clayton v (26) Niko Springer
(10) Josh Rock v (23) Chris Dobey
(3) Krzysztof Ratajski v (30) Dave Chisnall
(14) Kevin Doets v (19) Michael van Gerwen
(6) Nathan Aspinall v (27) Cristo Reyes
(11) Luke Littler v (22) William O’Connor