Luke Humphries withdraws from Dutch Darts Championship as Joe Cullen sacrifices European Championship involvement
PDC
The Dutch Darts Championship is the final European Tour event of 2026 ahead of the European Championship. The tournament will take place from October 16-18 in Maastricht, with some of the best players in the world competing. However, some late withdrawals have seen the tournament blown wide open.
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The big one is Luke Humphries. Despite vowing that he will be in the Netherlands to fight for a 10th European Tour title, he has made the late decision to pull out of the event, getting a week off ahead of the trip to Dortmund.
He has been a force to be reckoned with as of late. He won the World Grand Prix before reaching the final of the Swiss Darts Trophy with some incredible performances, only losing at the final hurdle to Jonny Clayton.
There are also huge implications in the race to Dortmund. Joe Cullen will not participate in the European Championship for the second year on the spin after withdrawing from the Dutch Darts Championship.
Currently sitting 34th in the European Tour Order of Merit, the former Masters champion is £3,500 behind Stephen Bunting in 32nd. It was last chance saloon for him to get into the major event, but he has sacrificed any chance of returning.
The former two-time semi-finalist has handed a huge boost to the likes of Karel Sedlacek and Michael Smith for a late-dash into the qualifying positions for the European Championship.
Luke Humphries withdrawing from the Dutch Darts Championship is a huge boost to his title rivals
Replacements called up
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Humphries and Cullen will be replaced by Mike de Decker and Daryl Gurney. They were the two highest-ranked players to lose in the deciding round of the Tour Card Holder Qualifier.
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While De Decker is virtually out of the race to Dortmund, a deep run for Gurney could get him back in contention, but it is a tall order. It is, however, a brilliant opportunity that the pair of them will hope to capitalise from.
Gian van Veen is the new number one seed for the tournament. Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton lead the title charge, while Dutchmen Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert, Wessel Nijman and Jermaine Wattimena will look to impress on home soil. Also featuring are Bunting, Ross Smith, Ryan Searle, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall.
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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- Joking aside, it is the second most watched sport on sky (more than golf, F1 etc) behind football only, and in participation is second to only football and swimming. It doesn't get the attention or sponsorship of "bigger" sports because it's not as sexy, but it's right up there.BandB13-10-2026
- i love darts but you can't seriously believe it's the second most popular sport in the uk. even top five is pushing it. it may be the fastest growing, though.colt13-10-2026
- 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
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