PDC European Tour Order of Merit Final Update: Aspinall finishes top of the pile, Littler & Humphries top-5, Cross sneaks into top-32

Hildesheim hosted the fourteenth and final tournament of the PDC European Tour 2025 last weekend. The final victory went to Nathan Aspinall, who was too strong for Dirk van Duijvenbode in the final with 8-6. Meanwhile, the 32 players who qualified for the European Championship have been announced.

For Aspinall it was already the third tournament victory this year on the European Tour, previously he won the European Darts Trophy and the European Darts Open. He was also a losing finalist at the International Darts Open.

Aspinall therefore heads to the European Championship as the top seed, where a semifinal place in 2021 was his best achievement so far. Indeed, 'The Asp' finished first on the PDC European Tour Order of Merit with £113,500 in prize money. That puts him well ahead of Martin Schindler, who earned £84,500 on the European Tour last year. Schindler won one tournament on the European Tour this year, specifically the Austrian Darts Open.

The top three is completed by Stephen Bunting. 'The Bullet' - this year's overall winner at the International Darts Open and the Swiss Darts Trophy - clocks up £82,000 in prize money and thus heads to the European Championship as the third seed.

Just outside the top three, we find the world's numbers one and two in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Luke Littler finishes fourth, thanks in part to his tournament victories at the Belgian Darts Open and the Flanders Darts Trophy. Fifth place goes to Humphries, who captured his only Euro Tour title of the year at the Czech Darts Open in early September.

Gian van Veen finds himself the highest ranked Dutchman. The 23-year-old reached the final of the German Darts Grand Prix in April, which he lost against Michael van Gerwen. Last weekend, Van Veen reached the semifinals at the German Darts Championship. Van Veen goes to the European Championship full of confidence.

By the way, with Wessel Nijman (14th), Dirk van Duijvenbode (16th), Danny Noppert (17th) and Michael van Gerwen (19th), four more Dutchmen finish in the top-20 of the PDC European Tour Order of Merit. They can all book their ticket to the European Championship, which takes place from October 23 to 26 in Dortmund. Jermaine Wattimena (24th) and Raymond van Barneveld (29th) also finish in the top-32, bringing the total number of Dutchmen at the European Championship to seven.

For the Belgians, only Mike De Decker managed to qualify for the European Championship. 'The Real Deal,' who managed to reach the final on the first Euro Tour of the year - the Belgian Darts Open - closes the PDC European Tour Order of Merit in 20th place.

Meanwhile, the top-32 is rounded out by Rob Cross. The two-time winner of the European Championship (2019 and 2021) only narrowly managed to edge out the number 33, Andrew Gilding, and can thus have a shot at a third final victory at this prestigious major.

So the top-32 have qualified for the European Championship. Who falls just outside of that is Ritchie Edhouse. The 42-year-old Englishman, who very surprisingly took the overall victory last year, finishes 34th on the European Tour Order of Merit and thus cannot defend his title from last year.

Other familiar names that will be absent from the European Championship include Joe Cullen, Michael Smith, Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri Van den Bergh.