The European Championship is set to take place between 22 and 25 October, 2026, with Gian van Veen entering as the defending champion. The tournament acts as the closer to the current season on the European Tour, and the field is headlined by former champion Ross Smith as well as Wessel Nijman. Luke Littler will be currently seventh as well as Luke Humphries in eighth, while Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, and James Wade, among others, also headline the field.
The field is based on the top 32 in the Order of Merit, so Ross Smith will be top seed over Luke Littler, who will be seventh seed currently. The ranking money earned in the 15 European Tour events that were held as part of the PDC Pro Tour holds the key to getting into this tournament. The Dutch Darts Championship in Maastricht completes the season and will form the field.
On Thursday, the first round gets underway with eight matches. The evening session starts at 18:10 UK time with Ross Smith taking on Karel Sedlacek. That is followed by Luke Woodhouse versus Dirk van Duijvenbode at 18:40, Danny Noppert against Stephen Bunting at 19:10, and Niels Zonneveld facing Cameron Menzies at 19:40. Gerwyn Price then meets Rob Cross at 20:10, before James Wade takes on Damon Heta at 20:40. Luke Humphries plays Ryan Searle at 21:10, and Gian van Veen faces Andrew Gilding at 21:40.
The tournament will be shown in the UK on ITV4 in its entirety as well as ITVX. It will start every night at 6pm UK time, which is 7pm local time in Germany as well as in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. The sessions will last for around four hours, from 6pm to 10pm in the UK, and it will also have an afternoon session on the Saturday from 12pm. As well as Sunday, where there will be an afternoon session before the final takes place on Sunday night.
Further afield, it will be shown on Viaplay in the Netherlands as well as DAZN in Germany, and for anyone else who cannot access the coverage in their territory, it will also be shown on PDCTV for the price of their annual subscription at no extra cost. But this is location dependent, and so will need to be checked locally to see if it is different elsewhere. In the UK, though, it is on free-to-air all weekend, likely with the usual pundits and commentators, including Wayne Mardle and Chris Mason, among others.
The schedule sees the first round on Thursday 22 October at 18:00, the second round on Friday 23 October at 18:00, the third round on Saturday 24 October at 12:00, the quarter-finals on Saturday 24 October at 18:00, the semi-finals on Sunday 25 October at 12:00, and the final on Sunday 25 October at 18:00, all on ITV4 and ITVX.
