Dortmund goes ballistic: Van Veen, Humphries and Littler headline a 180s frenzy at the European Championship

The 2025 European Championship in Dortmund wasn’t just about Gian van Veen lifting his first major title — it was a festival of power scoring that had darts fans around the world glued to every treble-20. Across four days of high-octane action, the world’s best peppered the board with maximums, and Van Veen came out on top of the 180s leaderboard.

The 23-year-old Dutchman, who beat world number one Luke Humphries 11–10 in a thrilling final, fired in 27 maximums at a rate of 0.351 per leg. His final-leg 180 was a statement moment, setting up the checkout that sealed his first major crown and cementing his place among the game’s elite scorers.

Humphries wasn’t far behind, landing 26 maximums (0.333 per leg) as he continued his run of consistent brilliance on the big stage.

Michael van Gerwen took third spot with 19 180s (0.302 per leg) after falling to Van Veen in the semi-finals. A four-time European Champion, “Mighty Mike” is still chasing his first title at the event since 2017 — a stat that feels almost surreal given his sustained dominance elsewhere.

Danny Noppert followed with 14 maximums (0.233), his steady scoring helping him to another deep run, while Nathan Aspinall hit 13 at an incredible 0.542 per leg — the highest strike rate of anyone in the top ten.

World Champion Luke Littler once again showed why he’s already one of the sport’s most feared scorers, landing 12 maximums at 0.500 per leg. Chris Dobey (11 at 0.458) and Scotland’s Cameron Menzies (11 at 0.393) weren’t far behind, with Germany’s Martin Schindler matching Menzies’ tally to give the home crowd something to roar about. Jermaine Wattimena rounded out the top ten with nine (0.360).

With five nations represented in the top ten — the Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Germany — the 2025 European Championship proved darts’ global depth and scoring quality have never been stronger. Van Veen took the trophy, but the real winners were the fans treated to a weekend packed with treble-20 fireworks.