VAN GERWEN TARGETS FOURTH EUROPEAN DARTS TROPHY TITLE
13/03/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
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Luke Littler, defending champion Nathan Aspinall, Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, Gary Anderson, and James Wade have all withdrawn from the tournament.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
