"40 spectators, 20 were there for free beer" - From empty hall to a record 33,000 crowd: The remarkable story of the European Championship

The PDC European Championship is starting for the 18th time this year - and the enthusiasm is greater than ever before. More than 33,000 tickets have been sold in advance, a new record for Dortmund's Westfalenhalle. The fans can therefore look forward to a real darts festival.

But today's success was anything but a matter of course. When the PDC Europe organized the tournament for the first time in 2008, darts was still a niche sport in Germany. Werner von Moltke, head of the PDC Europe, recalled the difficult beginnings in an interview broadcast in March on the Sport1 program Madhouse - and told us with a twinkle in his eye how it all began.

"The tournament was broadcast live in England on ITV4 at the time - and we had just 20 spectators in the hall," von Moltke recounted. "We deliberately wanted to bake small rolls and had booked a room for 250 people in Frankfurt's Südbahnhof. But the hall was almost empty at the start. Then we went out and asked another 20 people if they wanted to sit in the hall for four hours of free beer. So there were about 40 spectators and 20 were there for the free beer"

In the end, around 40 spectators were sitting at the tables - and the ITV cameras only showed these tables. "It's hard to imagine today," says von Moltke with a laugh. "But that was exactly how we started. We knew we were starting small and I have fond memories of it."

Today, 18 years later, darts has long since become a mass phenomenon in Germany. The European Championship, which once started with free beer guests, now fills arenas with tens of thousands of fans. In addition to this major, the PDC Europe now also organizes Premier League evenings, the World Cup of Darts and numerous European Tour events in the country.

The rapid development was also evident last weekend: In Hildesheim, 14,000 spectators watched the European Tour - all tickets were completely sold out by Friday evening.

From the small room in Frankfurt's Südbahnhof to the sold-out Westfalenhalle - the history of the European Championship is also the history of the darts boom in Germany. And it proves that great things sometimes start with just 40 spectators - and a free beer.