The European Tour

The PDC European Tour (Euro Tour) has been one of the main reason for the growth in darts across mainland Europe. The events are bigger than Pro Tours, but not the same size as TV events. Players have said the Euro Tour has helped them repair for main TV events.

History

The European Tour is a series of darts tournaments organised across Europe annually by the PDC. The Euro Tour events see some of the top players in the PDC Order of Merit compete against players that have qualified through various regional tournaments.

There has been a steady increase in the number of events that have taken place in the Euro Tour each year, which had originally started with just five events in 2012. This then increased to eight in 2013 and 2014, nine in 2015, 10 in 2016, 12 in 2017 and has stood at 13 European Tour events from 2018 onwards. 

The European Tour events are slightly different to the ones that we see on the Pro Tour as they are all played out on one board in front of an audience. While the European Tour events are not televised, fans are able to stream the events onto their devices via the PDC’s subscription service, which broadcasts all of the European Tour events live.

The PDC European Tour
The PDC European Tour

European Tour Tournaments

The following tournaments make up the current annual European Tour schedule for competing players:

 

  • Austrian Darts Open
  • German Darts Championship
  • European Darts Open
  • Dutch Darts Masters
  • Gibraltar Darts Trophy
  • European Darts Grand Prix
  • International Darts Open
  • European Darts Matchplay
  • German Darts Open
  • German Darts Grand Prix
  • Czech Darts Open
  • Belgian Darts Championship
  • Hungarian Darts Trophy

 

The following tournaments were previous events in the EuroTour schedule that are no longer part of the Euro Tour:

 

  • UK Masters
  • German Darts Masters
  • European Darts Trophy
  • Dutch Darts Championship
  • Danish Darts Open
  • Austrian Darts Championship

Prize Money

Like in all other PDC events over recent times, prize money has increased pretty significantly in the Euro Tour events. At the opening of the Euro Tour in 2012, there was a total prize pot of £82,100 per event, with the winner claiming a £15,000 share of the money. But the overall prize pot has since increased to £140,000 per event, while European Tour event winners will walk away with £25,000. The entire £140,000 prize pot is now divided as follows:

 

  • Winner – £25,000
  • Runner-Up – £10,000
  • Semi-Finalist – £6,500
  • Quarter-Finalist – £5,000
  • Last 16 – £3,000
  • Last 32 – £2,000
  • Last 48 – £1,000

Player Performances

Since being introduced in 2012, no player has won more Euro Tour events than Michael van Gerwen, who has an extremely impressive 32 tournament victories to his name. Those 32 wins have come from 40 finals appearances, with there being just one other player that has made double figure finals appearances at European Tour events.

Peter Wright is that player, having made it to 14 Euro Tour event finals and has won six of them. Michael Smith and Phil Taylor are next on the list with four wins apiece on the European Tour, while Mensur Sujlovic, Ian White and Gerwyn Price all have three Euro Tour victories on their resume. Dave Chisnall, Kim Huybrechts and James Wade are the only other players to have multiple European Tour wins in their career.

2018 World Darts Championship winner Rob Cross has the unwanted record of featuring in the most Euro Tour finals without having a victory to his name. Cross has made it to the final of four Euro Tour events to date, but has come out on the losing side in each of them.