Dutch Darts Championship 2026 Prize Money: How much can Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price earn in Maastricht
PDC
The final European Tour event of 2026 comes in the form of the Dutch Darts Championship. Players are competing for a total prize fund of £230,000. The eventual champion will take home £35,000 on Sunday evening, while the runner-up collects £15,000.
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The Durch Darts Championship will take place from Friday 16 - Sunday 18 October. It will be held in Maastricht for the first time since 2018, being played at the MECC Maastricht. Luke Humphries is the top seed for the tournament. Gian van Veen is the second highest seed on home soil with Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert, Stephen Bunting, Wessel Nijman, Ross Smith and Nathan Aspainall among the names set to be involved.
Andrew Gilding heads the ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers with Rob Cross, Damon Heta, Cameron Menzies, Dave Chisnall, Joe Cullen and Dirk van Duijvenbode also featuring via this route. 2023 world champion Michael Smith is in line to make it back-to-back European Tour events by being one of the Tour Card qualifiers.
Clayton is the defending champion after defeating Niko Springer 8-4 in last year's final. He also won last time out in the Swiss Darts Trophy, getting the better of Luke Humphries. Ian White defeated Ricky Evans in the inaugural event in Maastricht with Smith, Chisnall and Josh Rock all former winners.
Jonny Clayton is the reigning Dutch Darts Championship champion
How is the prize money distributed?
Every player competing at the Dutch Darts Championship receives a share of the prize fund, with £35,000 going to the outright winner this year.
| Round | Prize money |
| Winner | £35,000 |
| Runner-up | £15,000 |
| Semi-finals | £10,000 |
| Quarter-finals | £8,000 |
| Third round | £5,000 |
| Second round | £3,500* |
| First round | £2,000* |
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As of a few years ago, the European Tour changed in regards to the seeded players. The top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit are guaranteed entry and do not need to qualify for the tournament. There is however a caveat in that if a seed loses their opening game, the prize money doesn't count towards the rankings. This will not be added to any Order of Merit.
It works differently when it comes to qualifiers. Players who come through a qualifier and then move into seeded position due to withdrawals, they will still get ranking money. Their earnings will be included on various Order of Merits.
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The prize money also impacts multiple rankings with Antwerp heading towards the conclusion of this year's European Tour. It counts towards the PDC Order of Merit, ProTour Order of Merit, but most notably the European Tour Order of Merit. The list is decisive when it comes towards the European Championship in Dortmund later this season.
In addition, a player’s position on that European Tour ranking also determines seeding for the season finale. The higher you are, the more favourable the European Championship draw. At the same time, there is a risk: big names can miss out if they skip events or underperform on the European Tour.
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Lucas MichaelDarts Journalist
Lucas Michael is a darts journalist and reporter based in Cambridge, UK, and has been part of the DartsNews team since 2025. He covers professional darts through reports, analysis, round-ups, and live coverage, with a focus on clear context and accurate reporting across the PDC calendar.
A key part of his work is liveblogging major tournaments throughout the year, providing real-time updates, match coverage, and contextual reporting across the professional circuit. He also reports regularly from events on site and has covered the PDC World Darts Championship from the venue, delivering first-hand insight throughout the tournament.
Within the newsroom, Lucas works closely with the editorial team and supports coverage alongside Chief Content Officer Samuel Gill and reporter Kieran Wood.
Lucas holds a BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism. In his work, he places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating content promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I'm a big Clayton fan, but he's got this completely wrong. Qualification criteria exists for a reason - so just as failing to make the top 32/64 for the Euro championships/PT Finals means you miss out, so does not lifting a title for this one.26sForFun12-10-2026
- The players who deliberately slow the game down are usually boring and win very little in the way of silverware. Horrible to watch.MrYnyslas197112-10-2026
- [“The Gentle” then used a sweeping and questionable phrase...] You anglocucks are hilariously finished in every sense of the word.Critical99911-10-2026
- I love Jonny but I disagree. The Grand Slam was always supposed to be "champion of champions" type competition. If the top 16 are guaranteed participation in everything there will be so much less jeopardy involved in qualifying and each major tournament will lose its unique flavour which the PDC has worked hard trying to develop. I enjoy following the qualification races towards the end of the year, and while consistency should have its rewards, the truth is Jonny hasn't reached a major final all year or won a single event on the Pro Tour. Being consistent is one thing, but that alone should have consequences as the sport's elite should not be prepared to accept consistently strong performances, their foremost motivation should be to win and this should be what separates them from the rest, not the consistency of their performances. Jonny is expecting that losing should be enough; it shouldn't be, at least not as far as the Grand Slam is concerned.Deduce635811-10-2026
- Well being honest,it doesn't matter what level you play at, there's always someone who slows it down to suit themselves,and extra swig of water, replacing flights, asking the ref what the score is. It happens wherever. I'm not saying it's professional,but I'm sure we've all seen it beforerick6711-10-2026
- Agree completely. Not sure how a ranking event can have a criteria not based on rankings. And he right on popularity. In the UK second only to football.BandB11-10-2026
- Doesn't matter who's in it,it's boringrick6710-10-2026
- Assuming you qualify as one of the "muppets" in question. Classist too. And since you're so clearly interested in academia, look up "linguistic descriptivism" while you're at it. Oh, and better stay away from the working class sport of darts and maybe offer your insightful analysis to, let's say, croquet instead?Deduce635806-10-2026
- The consequences of being uneducated and grammatically challenged. "To all THOSE muppets not THEM " Everytime I see Arsepinall, I have an image of him wearing a cap, standing behind the counter of a fast food establishment.richieburnettrocks05-10-2026
- I don't understand Littler's reason for playing this tournament.rick6705-10-2026
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