European Darts Championship 2022 | Day One Preview and Order of Play
The 2022 European Darts Championship commences in Dortmund on Thursday with a host of major title winners in action.
The 15th staging of the European Championship takes place at the Westfalenhallen from October 27-30 and features the top 32 players from the European Order of Merit competing for a total prize fund of £500,000.
The opening night plays host to eight First Round ties, including the meeting of two former winners of this prestigious event.
Defending champion Rob Cross begins his quest for a third European Championship crown when he faces 2018 champion James Wade.
Cross, one of only three multiple winners of this event, aims to continue his superb record and build on his Players Championship success last Saturday.
Runner-up in three European Tour events this year, Cross faces a formidable opener against the world number five – who has featured in all but one of the 14 stagings of this competition to date.
Wade was a semi-finalist in this year’s Premier League, as well as the World Series Finals, and narrowly qualified for this tournament despite featuring in only three Euro Tour events this term.
Arguably the stand-out tie of the evening sees World Grand Prix finalist Nathan Aspinall take on recent Players Championship winner and emerging sensation – Josh Rock.
Aspinall has enjoyed a prolific return to form after a well-documented injury setback, reaching three Euro Tour Semi-Finals this year and winning two ProTour events.
Rock, meanwhile, has made a name for himself just nine months in to his PDC career, storming his way to five Development Tour titles and the World Youth Championship final, before landing his first senior ranking title at Players Championship 28 last Sunday.
The 21-year-old Northern Irish star is now set for his television debut and will be determined to replicate his red hot floor form on the big stage.
Another player in breath-taking form of late – Damon Heta – starts his campaign against crowd favourite Vincent van der Voort in the final match of the evening.
World Cup winner Heta followed up his maiden Euro Tour title at the Gibraltar Trophy by winning a Players Championship event last week and enters his second European Championship campaign as the number five seed.
Van der Voort was a semi-finalist in this year’s Czech Darts Open and is making his first European Championship appearance since 2019 – when he reached the Last Eight.
The opening match of the night sees three-time televised finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode take on European Championship debutant Madars Razma.
Van Duijvenbode was beaten 11-10 by Gerwyn Price in the final of the World Series Finals and continues to chase down maiden televised silverware, having picked up two ProTour titles this year.
Razma reached the Semi-Finals of the European Matchplay, as well as the Quarter-Finals of the World Grand Prix earlier this month – his best run in a PDC televised event to date.
Luke Humphries comes into the competition as the number one seed, having racked up a fantastic four Euro Tour titles this season, and he kicks off with a tie against Polish ace Krzysztof Ratajski.
Following back-to-back First Round exits at the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix, Humphries returned to form by reaching the final Players Championship 28 last weekend, while Ratajski narrowly scraped the 32nd and final qualification place despite failing to qualify for the last two Euro Tour events.
Eighth seed Michael Smith, winner of this year’s Dutch Darts Championship, aims to kick-start a strong run this weekend by overcoming Czech star Karel Sedlacek – the world number 84 making his debut in this event following a series of strong showings on the European Tour.
Reigning UK Open champion Danny Noppert, twice a runner-up on the Euro Tour this year, starts out against a resurgent Andrew Gilding – making his debut in this event having finished runner-up in the recent Belgian Darts Open.
Ryan Searle, runner-up in last November’s Players Championship Finals and a ProTour event winner this year, takes on debutant Martin Lukeman – runner-up in the German Grand Prix and quarter-finalist in his first appearance at the World Grand Prix.
The action gets under way from 6pm BST (7pm local time), with First Round matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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European Championship 2022 Day One Schedule
Thursday October 27
First Round
5.45pm-10pm
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Madars Razma
Ryan Searle v Martin Lukeman
Danny Noppert v Andrew Gilding
Rob Cross v James Wade
Luke Humphries v Krzysztof Ratajski
Nathan Aspinall v Josh Rock
Michael Smith v Karel Sedlacek
Damon Heta v Vincent van der Voort
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