European Tour Order of Merit Update: Wessel Nijman overtakes Ross Smith for top spot as Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall lead major gains

The Slovak Darts Open concluded on Sunday night with Wessel Nijman crowned as champion. He has not only taken that title though, but he has also taken top spot in the European Tour Order of Merit.

Nijman has overtaken Ross Smith for No.1 opening up a £16,000 gap to 'Smudger' with £101,000 compared to £85,000. He blew away Rob Cross 8-3 in the final to claim a remarkable eighth ranking title of 2026.

Rob Cross who himself like Nijman won a title this week too during the latest Players Championship double header looked tetchy at times over the weekend, but he continued his form and continued to show why he is very much still a player to be feared. This of course despite the fact that he lost to Nijman in the final quite easily.

He is one of the leading gainers though this weekend in the race to Dortmund. He goes up 13 spots to 14th after this past weekend. Tom Sykes was also a leading story.

'The Castleford Tiger' managed to play his first European Tour and has often been touted as a real player to watch in darting circles. He showed why this past weekend reaching the semi-finals on debut and he goes up from 91st to 43rd in contention for a Dortmund spot. Pretty incredible as he goes up 48 spots in a weekend.

Mike de Decker too goes up having reached the Quarter-Finals going to 40th from 85th up 45 spots. While Nathan Aspinall continues to rise up into the top five this time after losing to Rob Cross in the Quarter-Finals. He is up to 4th.

Andrew Gilding was another leading riser as he heads towards the top 15 going up to 17th. While Jermaine Wattimena followed him along going up to 18th. Ryan Searle, Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting despite losing fairly early go up to 16th, 19th and 30th so good weekends for banking money.

While for big names, it was a poor weekend. Martin Schindler due to others gaining around him drops from 17th to 23rd. Gian van Veen goes from 14th to 20th, while Jonny Clayton was 15th, he is now 21st.

Damon Heta drops down to 24th out of the top 20, while James Wade is now out of the top 30. Luke Littler who has not played since winning one earlier in the year is down to 13th. While Luke Humphries teeters on the top 10. Same can be said for Gerwyn Price, who goes down to 7th and has fell down from 5th.

(as per: dartsrankings.com)