VAN GERWEN TARGETS FOURTH EUROPEAN DARTS TROPHY TITLE

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN begins his quest to lift the European Darts Trophy for a FOURTH time this weekend.

The second European Tour event of the season gets underway on Friday, March 13, in Goettingen, Germany.

World No. 1 Luke Littler, defending champion Nathan Aspinall, Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, Gary Anderson, and James Wade have all withdrawn from the tournament.

‘The Nuke’ has previously faced a hostile reception from crowds in Germany and withdrew from last year’s European Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen.

Prior to the event, the teen sensation was booed during a Premier League night in Berlin and again at the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich.

Littler took to X after the latter tournament and said: “Shouldn’t have been in Munich but had to play anyway. Next one in Germany for me is Dortmund and I am glad to say that.”

Top stars including Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting and Josh Rock are among those competing for the £35,000 prize on Sunday.

MVG previously dominated the tournament, winning it three consecutive times from 2016 to 2018 before the event was discontinued from 2019 and returned last year.

The Dutchman is the most successful player on the European Tour, with a remarkable 38 titles to his name.

A total of 48 players will take part in the competition, with all the action available to watch on PDC TV.

Friday’s schedule features the local qualifiers and the top 16 ProTour seeds battling to set up ties against the sport’s biggest names in round two.

Image by Taylor Lanning.

2026 Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Trophy schedule

Friday March 13

Round One

Afternoon Session (12pm)

Andrew Gilding vs Darius Labanauskas

Kevin Doets vs Jonas Masalin

Ricky Evans vs Florian Preis

Niels Zonneveld vs Keane Barry

Cameron Menzies vs Paul Krohne

Richard Veenstra vs Florian Hempel

Krzysztof Ratajski vs Shane McGuirk

Ryan Joyce vs Lukas Wenig

Evening Session (6pm)

Dave Chisnall vs Jeffrey De Zwaan

Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Mario Vandenbogaerde

Luke Woodhouse vs Dragutin Horvat

Daryl Gurney vs Sebastian Bialecki

Joe Cullen vs Wojciech Brulinski

Niko Springer vs Kai Gotthardt

William O’Connor vsMensur Suljovic

Wessel Nijman vs Cristo Reyes

Saturday March 14

Round Two

Afternoon Session (12pm)

Jermaine Wattimena vs Joyce/Wenig

Damon Heta vs Gilding/Labanauskas

Danny Noppert vs Evans/Preis

Ross Smith vs Chisnall/De Zwaan

Rob Cross vs Van Duijvenbode/Vandenbogaerde

Mike De Decker vs Nijman/Reyes

Chris Dobey vs Woodhouse/Horvat

Ryan Searle vs Gurney/Bialecki

Evening Session (6pm)

Josh Rock vs Menzies/Krohne

Gerwyn Price vs Cullen/Brulinski

Martin Schindler vs Veenstra/Hempel

Michael van Gerwen vs Zonneveld/Barry

Karel Sedlacek vs O’Connor/Suljovic

Gian van Veen vs Ratajski/McGuirk

Stephen Bunting vs Springer/Gotthardt

Cam Crabtree vs Doets/Masalin

Sunday March 15 – note earlier start times

Afternoon Session (11am)

Round Three

Evening Session (5pm)

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final