European Championship (darts)
| European Championship | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament information | |
| Venue | Ethias Arena |
| Location | Hasselt |
| Country | Belgium |
| Established | 2008 |
| Organisation(s) | PDC |
| Format | Legs |
| Prize fund | £300,000 (2015) |
| Month(s) Played | Various |
| Current champion(s) | |
 Michael van Gerwen | |
The European Championship is a PDC darts tournament which allows the top European players to compete with the highest ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit. The tournament takes place in a variety of months and features a field of 32. The inaugural tournament – the 2008 European Championship – was held at the Südbahnhof in Frankfurt, Germany and featured a prize fund of £200,000.[1] The tournament moved to the Claus Hotel & Event Center in Hoofddorp, Netherlands for 2009 featuring a similar prize fund.[2] The tournament returned to Germany in 2010, where it was held at Dinslaken. The 2011 tournament remained in Germany, only this time, it took place in Düsseldorf – the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. From 2012 to 2014, the tournament took place in Mülheim, Germany. Since 2015, the tournament has taken place in Hasselt, Belgium.
Phil Taylor won the tournament on each of the first four stagings of the event, before Simon Whitlock took the title in 2012. Adrian Lewis gained -at that time- his third major win after beating Whitlock in the 2013 edition of the tournament. The current champion is Michael van Gerwen, who came back from 7–10 behind to defeat Gary Anderson 11–10 in the final of the 2015 tournament.
European Championship finals
| Year | Champion (av. in final) | Legs | Runner-up (av. in final) | Prize Fund | Champion | Runner-up | Venue | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 |  Phil Taylor (104.35) |
11–5 | Adrian Lewis (96.56) |
£200,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 |  Südbahnhof, Frankfurt |
Oct 30–Nov 2 |
| 2009 | Phil Taylor (109.35) |
11–3 | Steve Beaton (97.16) |
£200,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | Claus Event Center, Hoofddorp |
Oct 29–Nov 1 |
| 2010 | Phil Taylor (105.74) |
11–1 | Wayne Jones (94.64) |
£200,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | Stadthalle Dinslaken, Dinslaken |
Jul 29–Aug 1 |
| 2011 | Phil Taylor (109.29) |
11–8 | Adrian Lewis (98.72) |
£200,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | Maritim Hotel, Düsseldorf |
Jul 28–Jul 31 |
| 2012 |  Simon Whitlock (94.91) |
11–5 | Wes Newton (89.47) |
£200,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | RWE-Sporthalle, Mülheim |
Sep 20–Sep 23 |
| 2013 | Adrian Lewis (103.34) |
11–6 | Simon Whitlock (99.59) |
£200,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | Jul 4–Jul 7 | |
| 2014 | Michael van Gerwen (98.16) |
11–4 | Terry Jenkins (92.90) |
£250,000 | £55,000 | £25,000 | Oct 24–Oct 26 | |
| 2015 | Michael van Gerwen (107.28) |
11–10 |  Gary Anderson (102.42) |
£300,000 | £65,000 | £35,000 | .svg.png){kind=small} Ethias Arena, Hasselt |
Oct 30–Nov 1 |
| 2016 | Michael van Gerwen (111.62) |
11–1 |  Mensur Suljović (85.91) |
£400,000 | £100,000 | £40,000 | Oct 28–Oct 30 |
Finalists
| Player | Won | Runner-up | Finals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Taylor | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Michael van Gerwen | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Adrian Lewis | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Simon Whitlock | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Steve Beaton | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Terry Jenkins | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Wayne Jones | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Wes Newton | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gary Anderson | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mensur Suljović | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Television coverage
The PDC announced on August 12, 2008 that ITV4 would broadcast the entire event.[1] This was the second PDC darts tournament that ITV4 have broadcast, after the inaugural Grand Slam of Darts – after its rating success ITV had chosen to broadcast this event as well as the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.
The 2009 event was not televised, but the 2010 event was broadcast on Bravo, which screened live darts for the first time in its history.[4] However, Bravo ceased broadcasting at the start of 2011. On June 26, 2011, it was announced that ITV4 would broadcast the 2011 event.[5] In the Netherlands it is broadcast on RTL7 and in Germany it is broadcast on Sport1. On August 8, 2012 it was announced that ESPN would televise the event, becoming the first broadcaster to show both BDO and PDC dart tournaments. From 2013, the tournament returned to ITV4 as part of a deal between ITV and the PDC to show 4 tournaments from the PDC calendar.
List of United Kingdom Broadcasters
Sponsorship
PartyPoker.net sponsored first six editions of the tournament – they also sponsored the US Open and the Las Vegas Desert Classic, two other non-defunct televised PDC events.
In 2014, 888.com took over sponsoring of the tournament.[6]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Darts. |
References
- 1 2 PDC website report – European Championship Details Confirmed from the Professional Darts Corporation, retrieved 12-08-2008
- ↑ "European Championship Venue". pdc.tv. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
- ↑ "European Championship Winners". Darts Database. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
- ↑ "PDC Link Up With Bravo". pdc.tv. 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
- ↑ "European Championship On ITV4". pdc.tv. 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
- ↑ http://sportsnewsireland.com/other_sports/888-com-european-championship-darts-preview-schedule-of-play-results/