New Euro Tour event Flanders Darts Trophy heading to Antwerp Expo: "Connection with Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri Van den Bergh very important"

Darts has been a real hype in Belgium in recent years. The PDC has now decided that there will be a second European Tour tournament on the calendar next year in addition to the Belgian Darts Open.

That tournament will take place from September 6 to 8 in Antwerp. Not in the Sportpaleis or the Lotto Arena, but in the lesser-known Antwerp Expo. "That has mainly to do with the eagerness that we as an organization have felt with the people of the Expo to bring in this event," Alexander Algoet, Senior Project Manager at Golazo Sports told Het Nieuwsblad.

"We were pleasantly surprised when we negotiated and that was very nice to hear. A lot is also possible at that location and they are flexible. So the terms were very correct to our feeling."

The tournament will be called the Flanders Darts Trophy. "Of course, we also talked to the Sportpaleis group. We also looked at the Waagnatie, but in the end the choice fell on the Antwerp Expo. A choice over which, by the way, the city itself had no influence. They only made note of the fact that there would be a darts tournament. Before that, Antwerp enjoyed our preference. This has partly to do with the fact that Dimitri and Kim now really can play a home match. They already play in Wieze, but this is really their 'hometown'. There were talks with other Flemish cities, but this connection with the two best Belgian darts was very important. Plus, Antwerp made it felt that they wanted to welcome this event."

"We're going to create a fun vibe in September," Algoet continued. "I understand the perception that the Expo is not the sexiest venue, but it's our job to set it up as atmospheric as possible. Besides: every event hall is a little gray, isn't it? However, we have a lot of space here, both inside and outside. We have the idea to turn it into a 'darts experience center' by then, where people can also do things themselves. Where the Belgian darts shops can be represented and the different brands. We are going to take an extra step and not just copy what works in Wieze. That event is well put together, but our challenge is not to copy-paste. The atmosphere will hopefully be the same, yet different."