Dutch Darts Championship 2025 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

The seeded players begin their Dutch Darts Championship campaigns on Saturday as the Second Round action takes centre stage in Rosmalen.

Day One of the season’s seventh European Tour event saw eight home hopefuls bow out, including the likes of Gian van Veen, Jermaine Wattimena and Niels Zonneveld.

The Order of Merit seeds take to the Autotron stage on Day Two as they aim to safely progress to Sunday’s Last 16.

Michael van Gerwen, however, will not be among the line-up on home soil, having withdrawn from the event on Saturday morning, handing his scheduled opponent Mickey Mansell a bye through to the Third Round.

Josh Rock, who claimed his first European Tour title here 12 months ago, begins the defence of his title with a clash against German ace Ricardo Pietreczko.

Rick has already picked up a Players Championship title this year and has reached two European Tour semi-finals, while Pietreczko is bidding to avoid a sixth straight defeat at this stage of a European Tour event.

World number one Luke Humphries commences his quest for a first European Tour title of the season with a tie against two-time ProTour event winner Cameron Menzies.

World Masters champion Humphries, who will head to The O2 for the Premier League finals next week, has seven Euro Tour titles to his name, while Menzies will regard himself somewhat fortunate to still be in this tournament, having survived six match darts from Wesley Plaisier on Friday.

Ross Smith, runner-up in last month’s Austrian Open and a Players Championship event winner earlier this month, takes on Dutch icon Raymond van Barneveld.

Smith landed two nine-darters en route to ProTour glory in Hildesheim, as well as a remarkable run of 24 unanswered legs, and will look to sustain that blistering form when he faces home hero Barney – who edged out Jerry Hendriks in a last-leg decider on Friday.

Rising star Wessel Nijman also looks to raise the roof in Rosmalen by overcoming two-time World Champion Peter Wright.

Nijman recovered from 3-0 down and survived three match darts from Berry van Peer to snatch a 6-5 victory with the aid of six 180s, and now faces the tenth seed who has reached a trio of Euro Tour quarter-finals in 2025.

The evening session also sees in-form Dirk van Duijvenbode take on UK Open runner-up James Wade.

Van Duijvenbode averaged 102.5 and landed a 164 checkout to seal a whitewash win over Finland’s Teemu Harju in Round One and will look to replicate that display against the seventh seed – who has already suffered three second round exits on the Euro Tour this season.

Boris Krcmar’s reward for his impressive deciding-leg scalp of Van Veen is a clash against William O’Connor – who replaces Gerwyn Price in the draw following the Welshman’s withdrawal.

Having ended the Premier League campaign bottom of the table, Stephen Bunting aims to get back to his best in ranked competition, starting with a showdown against German ace Niko Springer – who averaged 99.4 in a 6-3 win over Wattimena on Friday.

The afternoon session sees Austrian Open champion Martin Schindler take on Grand Slam finalist Martin Lukeman, while Players Championship event winner Jonny Clayton faces former European Tour event winner Max Hopp.

Ryan Meikle – who thrashed a wasteful Joe Cullen 6-1 on Friday – takes on Ryan Searle, who has made the Last 16 just once in six European Tour campaigns this year.

Sixth seed Chris Dobey, who ended the Premier League campaign in sixth spot – opens up against two-time major winner Daryl Gurney.

Former World Champion Michael Smith is gearing up for another important weekend in his quest for World Matchplay qualification and starts out against World Grand Prix semi-finalist Ryan Joyce.

Ninth seed Dave Chisnall, runner-up on the ProTour earlier this month, faces European Champion Ritchie Edhouse – who came through a feisty first round clash against Kim Huybrechts in a deciding leg.

Fifth seed Damon Heta aims to avert a fourth second round exit on the Euro Tour this season when he faces host nation qualifier Jeffrey Sparidaans – who dumped out Andrew Gilding in round one.

Danny Noppert – who lost his opening four matches on the Euro Tour this year before reaching the Third Round in successive events – meets Belgian veteran Mario Vandenbogaerde.

The action gets under way from 12pm BST, with Second Round ties to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

WATCH THE DUTCH DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP STREAMED LIVE HERE

18+ | Geo Restrictions may apply | Please Gamble Responsibly

Dutch Darts Championship 2025 Day Two Schedule

All times BST (local time +1 hour)

Saturday May 24

Second Round

Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)
Damon Heta v Jeffrey Sparidaans
Dave Chisnall v Ritchie Edhouse
Michael Smith v Ryan Joyce
Jonny Clayton v Max Hopp
Chris Dobey v Daryl Gurney
Martin Schindler v Martin Lukeman
Danny Noppert v Mario Vandenbogaerde
Ryan Searle v Ryan Meikle

Evening Session (6pm-10pm)
James Wade v Dirk van Duijvenbode
William O’Connor v Boris Krcmar
Ross Smith v Raymond van Barneveld
Peter Wright v Wessel Nijman
Luke Humphries v Cameron Menzies
Mickey Mansell w/o v Michael van Gerwen – *Van Gerwen withdrew from the event*
Stephen Bunting v Niko Springer
Josh Rock v Ricardo Pietreczko