Luke Littler joins illustrious list, but Michael van Gerwen remains untouchable at No. 1
PDCFriday, 27 February 2026 at 08:00
Last weekend, the first tournament of the 2026 European Tour was on the schedule in Krakow. The title at the Poland Darts Open went to Luke Littler, who proved too strong for Gian van Veen in the final with an 8-4 win.
The triumph at the inaugural Poland Darts Open was Littler’s fifth European Tour title. The 19-year-old Englishman was hugely impressive in Krakow and finished with a tournament average of no less than 105.37.
Only two players have ever managed a higher tournament average on the European Tour. Michael van Gerwen, who has an astonishing 37 European Tour titles to his name, did so three times. In 2018 he won the European Darts Grand Prix and ended with a tournament average of 107.58.
In 2017, ‘Mighty Mike’ won the German Darts Masters with a 106.67 tournament average, and in 2018 he posted a 105.82 tournament average at the European Darts Trophy.
Michael van Gerwen is ‘the king of the European Tour’
Humphries also in illustrious company
Alongside Van Gerwen and Littler, Luke Humphries also managed to register a tournament average above 105 twice on the European Tour. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ won the German Darts Grand Prix in 2024 and recorded a tournament average of 107.51, just a fraction shy of Van Gerwen’s record mark.
In 2024 Humphries won the Czech Darts Open. He then finished with a tournament average of 105.42.
The European Tour continues on the weekend of 03/13/2026, 03/14/2026 and 03/15/2026. The European Darts Trophy will then take place in Göttingen. Nathan Aspinall will start that tournament as defending champion, after beating Ryan Joyce 8-4 in last year’s final. A week later the European Tour moves to Wieze for the Belgian Darts Open, where Littler will begin the event as the defending champion.
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- i can't answer this definitively, but i can make some suggestions. firstly, these are essentially just glorified qualifiers for TV events which double as helping the lesser players on tour make a living, but they aren't really considered that significant. they weren't even streamed until the past decade or so. most casual fans don't even know they exist and getting an audience in might be difficult. i'm assuming they're currently quite cheap to run and they would need to sell a lot of tickets to justify opening them up into more of a spectacle. they're held on weekdays when most people are at work anyway and there's no room on the calendar to put most of them on weekends. the logistics of presenting it to an audience would also be tricky given that they have to get through 7 rounds containing 128 players in a single day, using loads of stages simultaneously. maybe the uk open could be used as a template but it'd need to be even more condensed into a short time period, and even with the uk open it's hard to follow most of the games. the venues they're currently held at wouldn't cater for turning this into a public event as they're pretty small, so they'd need to hire much bigger venues 30 times in places around the country. it just probably isn't feasible. i also suspect the players don't really want to play in front of drunk audiences in every single domestic tournament, they already have the euro tour, world series and majors for that. the players championship is basically a way for players to demonstrate they're ready to make the step up to those levels of competition.colt26-02-2026
- Hi, can someone explain why the Players Championship takes place behind closed doors? I've been watching the big championships on and off for decades, but only just started taking a keener interest in the game, and this strange looking competition is a bit of a head scratcher to me at the moment.MrMarkWatsonnonotthatone25-02-2026
- Not Noppy. Get Beau in.medinabello25-02-2026
- If I was noppert,I'd say,sod you lot. You don't think I'm good enough,but suddenly,I can be a replacement? What a load of rubbish. Either you're in,or not. I keep saying,it's a pointless league,just to get people on seats,and beer down their necks. Scrap the whole thingrick6724-02-2026
- Exactly! Did the Glasgow punters get a partial refund for missing out on a potentially explosive match up? I don't know but I doubt it. Given the existing set up, how about this? Four reserves, one European based player to cover the four overseas rounds (including Dublin) and three UK based players to cover four UK rounds each (including Belfast). If the number of continental rounds changed to four for instance then Dublin could be transferred to the UK players allocation for convenience. All reserves should have their travel and accommodation costs covered and to make it worth their while, if they are not used, the reserve could play a match with a LOCAL non tour card holding player between the semi finals and final. This local player would be chosen by a prior qualifying tournament. The prize for this game could be £/euros 1000 or 2000 as the reserve could be spending his time and effort doing an exhibition instead not that I know what the commercial rate for an exhibition is! If the reserve is used in the main competition then the winner and the runner up of the qualifier can play. This could generate additional local interest and publicity. Obviously this doesn't cover every "what if" scenario i.e. What if two main players pull out? Maybe a second of the four reserves could be chosen at random? What do you think?OldShakey23-02-2026
- what a load of crocmedinabello19-02-2026
- So,it's a rubbish league,waste of time. Just put 8000 people in a building every Thursday,get them all drunk,and wonder why it's a complete joke. And forget every other player apart from 8. It's a ridiculous,inane,and needless so called competition.rick6718-02-2026
- Sorry,I've never been a professional darts player,but obviously from your comment,you have. So, going to your reply, you're blaming the management,not the player? So in that respect,he should get a different manager? That's basically all your comment is saying. Don't let him do money makers,which Barney said is easy money, instead of tournaments? Shake hands instead of trophies? Well I guess the manager knows best,as he has a big cut!rick6716-02-2026
- Sorry Mr rick67, erm what punditry credentials do you have to comment on a pundit? There's a reason why many top professionals have management teams. They know how to manage schedules etc so the players can just play. And how is Edgar wrong? Last year MVG failed to qualify by missing too many tournaments and underperforming. He's repeating the error this year so Edgar is right In calling this out.BandB15-02-2026
- Just get of Mardle,I didn't pay to watch him,and I don't want him for free! Let's see,how many world champions,either code,did you win? None! Now mason does it more as a player who was a floor player than you were putting pineapple on your shirt. Mardle,just go,you over inflated ego may follow. Tell you what,get on the seniors tour,and show everyone how good you weren'trick6715-02-2026
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