2023 PDC European Championship field and draw confirmed

With the field and draw for this month’s Dortmund event officially established, Ross Smith will begin his Machineseeker European Championship defence against new German sensation Ricardo Pietreczko.

Smith, who won the trophy in spectacular fashion a year ago, has a mouthwatering opening tie at the Westfalenhalle against Pietreczko, who won his maiden PDC ranking title on Sunday night at the German Darts Championship.

The top 32 players on the 2023 European Tour Order of Merit gained qualification for the European Championship, which will be held from October 26 to 29.

In one of the opening round ties, World Champion and World Number One Michael Smith will face Raymond van Barneveld, while four-time European Champion Michael van Gerwen will face Madars Razma.

The number one seed In other high-profile matches, Dave Chisnall faces Chris Dobey, two-time European winner Rob Cross faces Dimitri Van den Bergh, and new World Grand Prix winner Luke Humphries faces Brendan Dolan.

Former champions Peter Wright and James Wade open their campaigns against Gabriel Clemens and Dirk van Duijvenbode, respectively, while fourth seed Gerwyn Price takes on German number one Gabriel Clemens and Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney face in an all-Northern Ireland duel.

2023 Machineseeker European Championship

Draw Bracket

(1) Dave Chisnall v (32) Chris Dobey

(16) Martin Schindler v (17) Stephen Bunting

(8) Michael Smith v (25) Raymond van Barneveld

(9) Peter Wright v (24) Gabriel Clemens

(4) Gerwyn Price v (29) Keane Barry

(13) Nathan Aspinall v (20) Ryan Searle

(5) Rob Cross v (28) Dimitri Van den Bergh

(12) Danny Noppert v (21) Andrew Gilding

(2) Luke Humphries v (31) Brendan Dolan

(15) Krzysztof Ratajski v (18) Joe Cullen

(7) Dirk van Duijvenbode v (26) James Wade

(10) Jonny Clayton v (23) Jose de Sousa

(3) Michael van Gerwen v (30) Madars Razma

(14) Ricardo Pietreczko v (19) Ross Smith

(6) Damon Heta v (27) Gian van Veen

(11) Josh Rock v (22) Daryl Gurney