European Tour Order of Merit Update: Wessel Nijman overtakes Ross Smith for top spot as Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall lead major gains
PDC
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.
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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.
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'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.
Poor weekend for big names
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.
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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.

Luke Littler falls after not playing.
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.
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European Tour Order of Merit
(as per: dartsrankings.com)
| Rk | Name | Prize Money |
| 1 | Wessel Nijman | 101 |
| 2 | Ross Smith | 85 |
| 3 | Josh Rock | 61 |
| 4 | Nathan Aspinall | 56 |
| 5 | Luke Woodhouse | 55 |
| 6 | Kevin Doets | 51.5 |
| 7 | Gerwyn Price | 50 |
| 8 | Danny Noppert | 46 |
| 9 | Niels Zonneveld | 45.5 |
| 10 | Luke Humphries | 45 |
| 11 | Ryan Joyce | 44.5 |
| 12 | Krzysztof Ratajski | 41 |
| 13 | Luke Littler | 40 |
| 14 | Rob Cross | 39 |
| 15 | Michael van Gerwen | 36 |
| 16 | Ryan Searle | 35 |
| 17 | Andrew Gilding | 34.5 |
| 18 | Jermaine Wattimena | 33 |
| 19 | Chris Dobey | 33 |
| 20 | Gian van Veen | 33 |
| 21 | Jonny Clayton | 33 |
| 22 | Cameron Menzies | 32 |
| 23 | Martin Schindler | 31 |
| 24 | Damon Heta | 28.5 |
| 25 | Niko Springer | 28 |
| 26 | William O'Connor | 27.5 |
| 27 | Kim Huybrechts | 27 |
| 28 | Cristo Reyes | 26 |
| 29 | Dave Chisnall | 25.5 |
| 30 | Stephen Bunting | 23 |
| 31 | James Wade | 23 |
| 32 | Joe Cullen | 22.5 |
| 33 | Daryl Gurney | 22 |
| 34 | Dirk van Duijvenbode | 20 |
| 35 | Michael Smith | 20 |
| 36 | Ricky Evans | 17 |
| 37 | Sebastian Bialecki | 14.5 |
| 38 | Madars Razma | 14 |
| 39 | Karel Sedlacek | 14 |
| 40 | Mike De Decker | 11.5 |
| 41 | Ian White | 11.5 |
| 42 | Mickey Mansell | 11 |
| 43 | Tom Sykes | 10 |
| 44 | Richard Veenstra | 10 |
| 45 | Lukas Wenig | 9.5 |
| 46 | Keane Barry | 9.5 |
| 47 | Paul Krohne | 9.5 |
| 48 | Ricardo Pietreczko | 8.5 |
| 49 | Mensur Suljovic | 8.5 |
| 50 | Boris Krcmar | 8.5 |
| 51 | Jimmy van Schie | 8 |
| 52 | Andy Baetens | 8 |
| 53 | Jeffrey De Zwaan | 7.5 |
| 54 | Justin Hood | 7 |
| 55 | Connor Scutt | 7 |
| 56 | Patrik Kovacs | 7 |
| 57 | Maik Kuivenhoven | 6 |
| 58 | James Hurrell | 6 |
| 59 | Bradley Brooks | 5.5 |
| 59 | Charlie Manby | 5.5 |
| 61 | Darius Labanauskas | 5.5 |
| 62 | Tyler Thorpe | 5.5 |
| 63 | Alan Soutar | 5.5 |
| 64 | Marcel Hausotter | 5.5 |
| 65 | Michael Unterbuchner | 5.5 |
| 66 | Ritchie Edhouse | 5.5 |
| 67 | Adam Gawlas | 5.5 |
| 68 | Jonas Masalin | 4 |
| 69 | Daniel Klose | 4 |
| 70 | Jan Schmidt | 4 |
| 71 | Dragutin Horvat | 4 |
| 71 | Mario Vandenbogaerde | 4 |
| 73 | Johan Engstrom | 4 |
| 74 | Jeffrey de Graaf | 4 |
| 75 | Christian Kist | 4 |
| 76 | Chris Landman | 4 |
| 77 | Finn Behrens | 4 |
| 78 | Anton Ostlund | 4 |
| 79 | Thomas Lovely | 4 |
| 80 | Benjamin Pratnemer | 3.5 |
| 80 | Jim Long | 3.5 |
| 82 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | 3.5 |
| 83 | Peter Wright | 3.5 |
| 83 | Rob Owen | 3.5 |
| 85 | Oskar Lukasiak | 3.5 |
| 85 | Valters Melderis | 3.5 |
| 87 | Brendan Dolan | 3.5 |
| 88 | Ryan Meikle | 3.5 |
| 89 | Darryl Pilgrim | 3.5 |
| 90 | Jaimy Van de Weerd | 2 |
| 90 | Mio Varila | 2 |
| 90 | Rhys Griffin | 2 |
| 90 | Samuel Price | 2 |
| 94 | Adrian Dudek | 2 |
| 94 | Gabriel Varaljay | 2 |
| 94 | Jan Sliacky | 2 |
| 94 | Juraj Holub | 2 |
| 94 | Mervyn King | 2 |
| 94 | Owen Bates | 2 |
| 94 | Peter Kelemen | 2 |
| 101 | Jason Riedtke | 2 |
| 101 | Max Hopp | 2 |
| 101 | Nandor Major | 2 |
| 101 | Teemu Harju | 2 |
| 105 | Gyorgy Jehirszki | 2 |
| 105 | Jeffrey Sparidaans | 2 |
| 105 | Liam Maendl-Lawrance | 2 |
| 105 | Tom Bissell | 2 |
| 109 | Aaron Hardy | 2 |
| 109 | Gabriel Clemens | 2 |
| 109 | Nick Kenny | 2 |
| 109 | Nick Zwittnigg | 2 |
| 109 | Zoran Lerchbacher | 2 |
| 114 | Jurjen van der Velde | 2 |
| 114 | Michael Hurtz | 2 |
| 114 | Petr Krivka | 2 |
| 114 | Raymond van Barneveld | 2 |
| 114 | Robin Masino | 2 |
| 119 | Adam Lipscombe | 2 |
| 119 | Cor Dekker | 2 |
| 119 | Kevin Troppmann | 2 |
| 119 | Stephen Burton | 2 |
| 123 | Francois Schweyen | 2 |
| 123 | Jani Haavisto | 2 |
| 123 | Pascal Devroey | 2 |
| 123 | Scott Williams | 2 |
| 123 | Sietse Lap | 2 |
| 123 | Thibault Tricole | 2 |
| 129 | Cam Crabtree | 2 |
| 129 | Florian Hempel | 2 |
| 129 | Florian Preis | 2 |
| 129 | Kai Gotthardt | 2 |
| 129 | Shane McGuirk | 2 |
| 129 | Wojciech Brulinski | 2 |
| 135 | Andreas Harrysson | 2 |
| 135 | Callan Rydz | 2 |
| 135 | Carl Sneyd | 2 |
| 135 | Dawid Robak | 2 |
| 135 | Krzysztof Kciuk | 2 |
| 135 | Marvin Kraft | 2 |
| 135 | Miroslaw Grudziecki | 2 |
| 135 | Piotr Maciejczak | 2 |

Samuel GillChief Content Officer
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
In his current role, Samuel works closely with editors and writers to ensure content meets clear journalistic standards, with a focus on source verification, editorial consistency, and timely updates when new, confirmed information becomes available.
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