"I think that's a no-no" - Gary Anderson demands change to European Tour system
PDCMonday, 28 October 2024 at 12:00
Last weekend the 2024 European Championship was played out in Dortmund. For that tournament, the best 32 players on the yearly European Tour ranking qualify. In addition, the prize money also counts for the overall Order of Merit, however, Gary Anderson is now calling for this to change.
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The European Championship was surprisingly won by Ritchie Edhouse, who beat the equally surprising finalist Jermaine Wattimena 11-3 on Sunday night in Germany. Edhouse thereby climbs tremendously in the European Tour rankings, but also in the official PDC Order of Merit. As mentioned though, Gary Anderson, just last weekend a quarterfinalist at the European Championship (where he lost to eventual winner Edhouse), has now advocated ranking points earned on the European Tour separately from other Tours to prevent players not competing on those Tours from sliding down.
"Ever since they started putting the European money on the overall merit [in 2016], the main ranking, it's hard. You know, I've not done Europeans for eight years. And you've got to remember, I stayed in the top 10 for about six of the eight years [while] missing all the Europeans," Anderson explained. "So [the way] I look at it, I've done well to do that."
Gary Anderson in action at the past European Darts Championships
Anderson only played at two Euro Tour events in 2024, but having taken the victory at one of them, the Scot qualified for the European Championship in Dortmund. "The Europeans, the money goes on to your overall rankings. And then the only way you can play in the [European Tour] finals is to play in the Europeans. But I don't think it should go on to the overall rankings. I think that's a no-no," Anderson says, proposing a change to the system.
By the way, Anderson himself is back in the top 20 of the Order of Merit after the European Championship for the first time in a long time. Moreover, thanks to a win in one of the thirteen tournaments of the European Tour (European Darts Grand Prix), he is also guaranteed participation in the Grand Slam of Darts.
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Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
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