Czech Darts Open 2026 | Day One Preview and Order of Play
The 2026 Czech Darts Open commences in Prague on Friday as the qualifiers go head-to-head in the opening round.
The 12th European Tour event of the year features 48 players competing for £230,000 in prize money at the PVA Expo from September 4-6.
The tournament sees the top 16 players from the main Order of Merit seeded in the draw and enter at the Second Round stage, while the 16 highest-ranked players from the one-year ProTour Order of Merit enter in Round One.
They are joined by a further ten Tour Card holder qualifiers, four Host Nation qualifiers, a Nordic & Baltic qualifier and an East European qualifier.
Friday’s afternoon session sees former European Tour event winner Kim Huybrechts take on this year’s Baltic Sea Darts Open runner-up – Ryan Joyce.
Huybrechts is amongst a clutch of players chasing down a place in the upcoming World Grand Prix, with the final ProTour qualification spot currently being held by Cristo Reyes.
The Spaniard faces a tough opener against multiple ranking event winner Callan Rydz in the final match of the afternoon.
William O’Connor, runner-up on the ProTour earlier this season, opens up against host nation qualifier Jiří Brejcha, while former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding meets another home hopeful in David Rosi.
Cameron Menzies, semi-finalist at the International Open earlier this year, starts out against Sweden’s Johan Engstrom, as former Hungarian Darts Trophy champion Niko Springer faces Slovakian debutant Martin Homola.
Joe Cullen, who currently occupies the final provisional spot in October’s European Championship, faces a crucial clash against Stephen Burton.
Kevin Doets, runner-up in this year’s Austrian Open, starts out against crowd favourite Ricky Evans – who replaces James Wade in this weekend’s event via the reserve list.
The evening session includes a showdown between Australian number one Damon Heta and Czechia’s number one – Karel Sedlacek.
Adam Gawlas, who joined Sedlacek in coming through Thursday’s host nation qualifier, has been handed a first round tie against Polish number one – Krzysztof Ratajski.
Luke Woodhouse, who landed his first European Tour silverware at the Baltic Sea Darts Open in May, opens up in Prague with a tie against Connor Scutt – who was thrashed 6-2 by Ritchie Edhouse with an average of just 75 in Budapest last week.
Arguably the stand-out tie of the evening sees Women’s World Matchplay champion Beau Greaves take on former European Tour event winner Daryl Gurney.
Greaves was denied in a deciding leg by Rob Cross on her European Tour debut a week ago despite averaging 104.8, while Gurney’s first big stage appearance wearing glasses ended in a shock 6-5 defeat to László Kádár.
World Matchplay semi-finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode comes up against methodical Belgian Mario Vandenbogaerde, while three-time European Tour event winner Martin Schindler faces Welsh ace Robert Owen.
Rob Cross, runner-up at the Slovak Darts Open and a further two-time semi-finalist on the European Tour this season, takes on Ireland’s Keane Barry – who reached the Last 16 of a European Tour event last week for the first time in three years.
Niels Zonneveld, twice a semi-finalist on the European Tour this season, plays Jeffrey De Graaf – who picked up his second Players Championship title back in June.
The action gets under way from 12pm BST, with first round ties to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Czech Darts Open 2026 Day One Schedule of Play
All times BST (local time +1 hour)
Friday September 4
First Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)
Cameron Menzies v Johan Engstrom
Andrew Gilding v David Rosi
Ryan Joyce v Kim Huybrechts
William O’Connor v Jiří Brejcha
Niko Springer v Martin Homola
Kevin Doets v Ricky Evans
Joe Cullen v Stephen Burton
Callan Rydz v Cristo Reyes
Evening Session (6pm-10pm)
Luke Woodhouse v Connor Scutt
Krzysztof Ratajski v Adam Gawlas
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Mario Vandenbogaerde
Martin Schindler v Rob Owen
Daryl Gurney v Beau Greaves
Rob Cross v Keane Barry
Damon Heta v Karel Sedlacek
Niels Zonneveld v Jeffrey de Graaf
