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

The first round action continues at the 2025 European Darts Championship on Friday as a host of star names begin their campaigns in Dortmund.

The opening night of the £600,000 ranked major saw three of the top eight seeds bow out, with Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton sent packing from the Westfalenhallen.

A clutch of decorated stars will be out to avoid suffering a similar fate on Day Two, including reigning World Champion Luke Littler – who starts out with a showdown against his darting idol Raymond van Barneveld.

Only the World Masters and this title are missing from Littler’s résumé of televised ranking titles, with the 18-year-old having most recently added the World Grand Prix in Leicester last month.

A potentially historic weekend for ‘The Nuke’ could see him become world number one for the first time, and he will be keen to put down an immediate marker against another icon of the sport.

Littler famously defeated Van Barneveld during his debut run to the World Championship final in 2023/24 and he has not suffered a first round exit in a TV major since his shock defeat to Andrew Gilding here 12 months ago.

Van Barneveld featured in the inaugural European Championship back in 2008 and is a two-time semi-finalist, but faces a formidable task if he is to register his first win in this competition since 2014.

Meanwhile, Luke Humphries starts his quest to retain the world number one spot and challenge for a maiden European Championship title when he meets Krzysztof Ratajski.

Humphries is situated in the same quarter of the draw as Littler and is vying to surpass the quarter-final stage of this event for the first time, having fallen at that hurdle in his last three appearances.

The reigning Premier League and World Masters champion claimed his eighth European Tour title at the Czech Open last month and finished runner-up to Littler in the recent World Grand Prix.

Ratajski is bidding to avenge his 3-1 defeat to Humphries in the second round of the World Grand Prix and reach the second round of this event for just the second time in seven appearances.

Another blockbuster clash sees number one seed Nathan Aspinall take on two-time European Champion Rob Cross.

Aspinall heads to Dortmund in a blistering vein of form, having claimed his third European Tour title of the year at the German Championship in Hildesheim last Sunday.

However, ‘The Asp’ will be keen to transfer that form onto the major stages, having suffered first round exits in the World Matchplay, World Series Finals and World Grand Prix this season.

Cross faced an anxious wait to confirm his place in the field this week, clinging on to the 32nd and final qualification spot following a below-par year on the European Tour which saw him reach just one quarter-final.

The 2018 World Champion boasts a strong record in this event, finishing runner-up on debut in 2017 before going on to take the title in 2019 and 2021.

An all-Scottish showdown sees 2015 finalist Gary Anderson take on debutant Cameron Menzies.

Anderson added the European Darts Grand Prix title to his haul back in May and reached his first televised ranking quarter-final of the year at the World Grand Prix a fortnight ago.

Menzies has reached two quarter-finals on the European Tour this season and also enjoyed a run to the Last Eight of the World Grand Prix, continuing to make inroads into the world’s top 32.

James Wade, the 2018 European Champion, opens up against 2024 World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker.

Wade has appeared in all but one staging of this tournament since 2008 and is defending his runner-up prize money from two years ago against his Order of Merit tally.

Beaten finalist in the UK Open and World Matchplay this year, Wade remains among the top echelons of the sport and has not suffered a first round exit at the European Championship since 2019.

De Decker saw his World Grand Prix title defence emphatically ended by Littler in the Last 16, with the highlight of his season so far coming on home soil at the Belgian Darts Open in March – where he reached the final before being denied again by his nemesis Littler.

World Cup of Darts winner Josh Rock starts out with a tie against home favourite Ricardo Pietreczko.

Eighth seed Rock has reached two European Tour finals this year alongside his Players Championship 10 triumph and has translated his top form onto the major stages with semi-final runs at the UK Open and World Matchplay.

Pietreczko was part of the Germany team that were beaten emphatically by Northern Ireland’s Rock and Daryl Gurney in the semi-finals of June’s World Cup, and the German number two will be eyeing revenge amid the backing of a bumper Dortmund crowd.

Elsewhere, in-form Dutch World Cup duo Dirk van Duijvenbode and Danny Noppert go head-to-head.

Van Duijvenbode warmed up for this event in style with a run to the final of last week’s German Championship which saw him land a nine-darter in the opening round before being denied glory by Aspinall.

Noppert defeated Gerwyn Price en route to the quarter-finals in Hildesheim following on from his semi-final run at the World Grand Prix, and the world number ten has also reached the semi-finals in his last two European Championship appearances.

The opening match of the night sees German debutant Niko Springer take on last year’s runner-up – Jermaine Wattimena.

The duo have proved to be two of this season’s dark horses, with Springer having finished runner-up at the Dutch Championship before claiming his first European Tour title at the Hungarian Darts Trophy, while Wattimena has stormed to two Players Championship titles within the last three months.

The action gets under way from 6pm BST, with first round matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

WATCH THE EUROPEAN DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP STREAMED LIVE HERE

18+ | Geo Restrictions may apply | Please Gamble Responsibly

European Darts Championship 2025 Day Two Schedule

All times BST (local time +1 hour)

Friday October 24

First Round

6pm-10pm
Niko Springer v Jermaine Wattimena
Gary Anderson v Cameron Menzies
James Wade v Mike De Decker
Josh Rock v Ricardo Pietreczko
Luke Humphries v Krzysztof Ratajski
Luke Littler v Raymond van Barneveld
Nathan Aspinall v Rob Cross
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Danny Noppert