The PDC European Tour 2026 is now firmly entering the home stretch – and with it, the battle for one of the most coveted tickets on the darts calendar: qualification for the European Championship in Dortmund. The top 32 players on the European Tour Order of Merit will secure a place at the season finale from October 22 to 25 at the Westfalenhalle.
After 13 of the 15 tournaments, Ross Smith has extended his lead at the top of the standings. “Smudger” reached the final of the Blåkläder Flanders Darts Trophy in Antwerp and increased his prize money total to £148,000. Behind him is Wessel Nijman on £116,000, while Krzysztof Ratajski remains third with £84,500. Nathan Aspinall has moved up to fourth with £82,000, with Luke Littler following in fifth on £75,000.
The big winner in Antwerp, however, was James Wade. “The Machine” defeated Ross Smith 8-4 in the final to end a ten-year wait for another European Tour title. Wade’s previous success on the circuit had come at the 2016 European Darts Matchplay. In Antwerp, he defeated Rob Cross, Danny Noppert and Damon Heta on Finals Day before overcoming Smith in the decider. The £35,000 winner’s cheque propelled Wade from 31st to ninth place on the European Tour Order of Merit, where he now sits on £66,000.
The battle around the qualification cut-off remains particularly tense. There has been a change in 32nd place after Antwerp, with Stephen Bunting moving onto £33,000 and into the final qualifying spot. Joe Cullen has slipped to 33rd with £29,500. Sebastian Bialecki (£26,000), Karel Sedlacek (£23,000), Michael Smith (£22,000) and Daryl Gurney (£22,000) also still need to make up ground over the final two events.
Only two tournaments remain for players to secure their place at the European Championship: the Swiss Darts Trophy in Basel and the ELTEN Safety Shoes Dutch Darts Championship in Maastricht. After that, the final 32-player field for Dortmund will be confirmed.
We will keep you updated after every tournament. Tickets for all remaining events are available HERE.
Completed tournaments
- SUPERBET Poland Darts Open, February 20-22, 2026, Expo Kraków, Krakow (Poland), Winner: Luke Littler
- ELTEN Safety Shoes European Darts Trophy, March 13-15, 2026, Lokhalle, Göttingen (Germany), Winner: Wessel Nijman
- Lecot Belgian Darts Open, March 20-22, 2026, Oktoberhallen, Wieze (Belgium), Winner: Luke Humphries
- ELTEN Safety Shoes German Darts Grand Prix, April 4-6, 2026, Zenith, Munich (Germany), Winner: Nathan Aspinall
- ELTEN Safety Shoes European Darts Grand Prix, April 17-19, 2026, Glaspalast, Sindelfingen (Germany), Winner: Gerwyn Price
- ELTEN Safety Shoes Austrian Darts Open, May 8-10, 2026, Messe Congress Graz, Graz (Austria), Winner: Josh Rock
- ELTEN Safety Shoes International Darts Open, May 22-24, 2026, WT Energiesysteme Arena, Riesa (Germany), Winner: Ross Smith
- ELTEN Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open, May 29-31, 2026, MERKUR Ostseehalle, Kiel (Germany), Winner: Luke Woodhouse
- Slovak Darts Open, June 19-21, 2026, Incheba Expo, Bratislava (Slovakia), Winner: Wessel Nijman
- ELTEN Safety Shoes European Darts Open, July 10-12, 2026, Ostermann-Arena, Leverkusen (Germany), Winner: Krzysztof Ratajski
- Hungarian Darts Trophy, August 28-30, 2026, MVM Dome, Budapest (Hungary), Winner: Ross Smith
- ČEZ Czech Darts Open, September 4-6, 2026, PVA EXPO, Prague (Czech Republic), Winner: Luke Littler
- Blåkläder Flanders Darts Trophy, September 11-13, 2026, Antwerp Expo, Antwerp (Belgium), Winner: James Wade
Remaining tournaments
- Swiss Darts Trophy, October 9-11, 2026, St. Jakobshalle, Basel (Switzerland)
- ELTEN Safety Shoes Dutch Darts Championship, October 16-18, 2026, MECC Maastricht, Maastricht (Netherlands)
Current European Championship Race standings
(Standings after ET13, September 14, 2026)
- Ross Smith, £148,000
- Wessel Nijman, £116,000
- Krzysztof Ratajski, £84,500
- Nathan Aspinall, £82,000
- Luke Littler, £75,000
- Luke Woodhouse, £73,000
- Danny Noppert, £72,000
- Josh Rock, £71,000
- James Wade, £66,000
- Gerwyn Price, £65,000
- Kevin Doets, £65,000
- Ryan Joyce, £64,500
- Gian van Veen, £61,000
- Luke Humphries, £60,000
- Jermaine Wattimena, £58,000
- Michael van Gerwen, £56,000
- Niels Zonneveld, £52,500
- Damon Heta, £52,000
- Jonny Clayton, £51,000
- Chris Dobey, £49,000
- Rob Cross, £49,000
- Ryan Searle, £45,000
- Andrew Gilding, £43,000
- William O’Connor, £42,500
- Niko Springer, £42,000
- Cameron Menzies, £37,000
- Dirk van Duijvenbode, £36,000
- Kim Huybrechts, £34,500
- Martin Schindler, £34,500
- Cristo Reyes, £34,000
- Dave Chisnall, £33,500
- Stephen Bunting, £33,000
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- Joe Cullen, £29,500
- Sebastian Bialecki, £26,000
- Karel Sedlacek, £23,000
- Michael Smith, £22,000
- Daryl Gurney, £22,000
- Keane Barry, £19,500
- Ricky Evans, £19,000
- Madars Razma, £16,000
- Gary Anderson, £15,000
- Mickey Mansell, £14,500
- Tom Sykes, £13,500
- Jeffrey de Graaf, £13,000
- Bradley Brooks, £12,500
- Andy Baetens, £11,500
- Maik Kuivenhoven, £11,500
- James Hurrell, £11,500
- Mike De Decker, £11,500
- Ian White, £11,500
- Connor Scutt, £11,000
- Mensur Suljovic, £10,500
- Richard Veenstra, £10,000
- Mario Vandenbogaerde, £9,500
- Lukas Wenig, £9,500
- Paul Krohne, £9,500
- Rob Owen, £9,000
- Ritchie Edhouse, £9,000
- Ricardo Pietreczko, £8,500
- Boris Krcmar, £8,500
- Jimmy van Schie, £8,000
- Beau Greaves, £7,500
- Stephen Burton, £7,500
- Chris Landman, £7,500
- Callan Rydz, £7,500
- Jonas Masalin, £7,500
- Adam Gawlas, £7,500
- Jeffrey De Zwaan, £7,500
- Jim Long, £7,000
- Brendan Dolan, £7,000
- Jan Schmidt, £7,000
- Justin Hood, £7,000
- Patrik Kovacs, £7,000
- Raymond van Barneveld, £6,000
- Johan Engstrom, £6,000
- Gabriel Clemens, £5,500
- Nandor Major, £5,500
- Max Hopp, £5,500
- Dragutin Horvat, £5,500
- Charlie Manby, £5,500
- Darius Labanauskas, £5,500
- Tyler Thorpe, £5,500
- Alan Soutar, £5,500
- Marcel Hausotter, £5,500
- Michael Unterbuchner, £5,500
- Gyorgy Jehirszki, £4,000
- Tom Bissell, £4,000
- Jani Haavisto, £4,000
- Sietse Lap, £4,000
- Samuel Price, £4,000
- Daniel Klose, £4,000
- Christian Kist, £4,000
- Finn Behrens, £4,000
- Anton Ostlund, £4,000
- Thomas Lovely, £4,000
- Laszlo Kadar, £3,500
- Benjamin Pratnemer, £3,500
- Dimitri Van den Bergh, £3,500
- Peter Wright, £3,500
- Oskar Lukasiak, £3,500
- Valters Melderis, £3,500
- Ryan Meikle, £3,500
- Darryl Pilgrim, £3,500
- Jaimy Jacobs, £2,000
- Jeroen Caron, £2,000
- Kevin Lankhuizen, £2,000
- Michael Hansen, £2,000
- Petr Tous, £2,000
- David Rosi, £2,000
- Jiri Brejcha, £2,000
- Martin Homola, £2,000
- Adam Leek, £2,000
- Andras Borbely, £2,000
- David Pisek, £2,000
- Milan Biro, £2,000
- Dominik Grüllich, £2,000
- Jaimy van de Weerd, £2,000
- Michal Smejda, £2,000
- Mio Varila, £2,000
- Rhys Griffin, £2,000
- Adrian Dudek, £2,000
- Gabriel Varaljay, £2,000
- Jan Sliacky, £2,000
- Juraj Holub, £2,000
- Mervyn King, £2,000
- Owen Bates, £2,000
- Peter Kelemen, £2,000
- Jason Riedtke, £2,000
- Teemu Harju, £2,000
- Jeffrey Sparidaans, £2,000
- Liam Maendl-Lawrance, £2,000
- Aaron Hardy, £2,000
- Nick Kenny, £2,000
- Nick Zwittnigg, £2,000
- Zoran Lerchbacher, £2,000
- Jurjen van der Velde, £2,000
- Michael Hurtz, £2,000
- Petr Krivka, £2,000
- Robin Masino, £2,000
- Adam Lipscombe, £2,000
- Cor Dekker, £2,000
- Kevin Troppmann, £2,000
- Francois Schweyen, £2,000
- Pascal Devroey, £2,000
- Scott Williams, £2,000
- Thibault Tricole, £2,000
- Cam Crabtree, £2,000
- Florian Hempel, £2,000
- Florian Preis, £2,000
- Kai Gotthardt, £2,000
- Shane McGuirk, £2,000
- Wojciech Brulinski, £2,000
- Andreas Harrysson, £2,000
- Carl Sneyd, £2,000
- Dawid Robak, £2,000
- Krzysztof Kciuk, £2,000
- Marvin Kraft, £2,000
- Miroslaw Grudziecki, £2,000
- Piotr Maciejczak, £2,000
The dividing line currently marks 32nd place – the qualification cut-off for the European Championship in Dortmund. Players can be level in the rankings when they have earned the same amount of prize money. The standings will be updated after every European Tour event.
