Preview European Darts Grand Prix 2023: Last chance for two former junior world champions to participate in World Cup of Darts

Sindelfingen will be the battleground of the European Darts Grand Prix 2023 from the 26th to the 28th of May. This is the ninth Euro Tour tournament of the season.

The European Darts Grand Prix will be played for the ninth time. The past eight annuals featured as many as seven different winners with only Michael van Gerwen (2016 and 2018) managing to win the tournament on multiple occasions.

Mervyn King won the first edition of the tournament in 2014. Followed by Kim Huybrechts (2015), Peter Wright (2017), Ian White (2019), Jose de Sousa (2020) and Luke Humphries (2022) lifting the trophy respectively at this event.

The tournament will be played at the Glaspalast in Sindelfingen. This venue has hosted almost all previous editions of the European Darts Grand Prix. Only last year the event was not played in Sindelfingen. On that occasion, it was played in Stuttgart.

The field of participants for the European Darts Grand Prix consists of 48 players. The top-16 of the Pro Tour Order of Merit at the time of the cut-off have received an invitation and will enter the tournament from the second round. These include well-known names such as Dirk van Duijvenbode, Danny Noppert, Dimitri van den Bergh, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall, Josh Rock and Jonny Clayton.

Through several qualifying tournaments, the remaining 32 starting spots were distributed. Among others, Raymond van Barneveld, Gian van Veen, Martijn Kleermaker, Jermaine Wattimena and Christian Kist secured a starting spot. Players such as Steve Beaton, Jose de Sousa, Simon Whitlock, Ricky Evans, Daryl Gurney and Ian White also secured their qualification.

The PDC European Tour is a series of darts tournaments in continental Europe. The circuit consists of 13 tournaments in 2023. Eight tournaments will take place in Germany, while one Euro Tour event will be played in Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Participation in the Euro Tour tournaments are the only route for players to secure qualification for the European Darts Championship. The 32 best players on the PDC European Tour Order of Merit will be allowed to compete in the final tournament in Dortmund from 26 to 29 October.

This year, for the first time, the Euro Tour tournaments will be broadcast by Viaplay. The afternoon sessions start at 13:00, while the evening sessions start at 19:00.

Furthermore, the European Darts Grand Prix can be watched by Dutch and Belgian darts fans via PDC TV. A subscription is required to access this live stream.

During each Euro Tour tournament, £175,000 in prize money is distributed. All qualifiers are guaranteed £1,250, while the top-16 seeded players on the European Darts Grand Prix will receive £2,500 anyway. However, these 16 players must win their first game in the second round for the prize money to actually count towards the world rankings and other rankings.

Per win, the prize money earned increases. Thus, the finalists are guaranteed a minimum of £12,000. The winner of the tournament goes home with the top prize of £30,000.

The prize money earned will count towards qualification races for the various televised tournaments, including the World Cup of Darts. The cut-off for this tournament is on the 29th of May.

That means that the European Darts Grand Prix is the last chance for some players to qualify for the international tournament. The selections for most of the major countries have already been finalised, but changes are still possible with England and Northern Ireland.

In the England team, Michael Smith is obviously sure of his place. Rob Cross is currently number two, but 'Voltage' can still be overtaken by Luke Humphries. However, the latter can only overtake Cross by taking the title in Sindelfingen.

Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney are likely to represent Northern Ireland at the World Cup of Darts, but Josh Rock still has a slim chance of securing a place in the team. Dolan, who is not competing in the European Darts Grand Prix, is currently ranked £228,000 in the cleaned rankings. Gurney follows with £217,250, while Rock is on £201,750. Rock needs a Euro Tour title to pass Dolan, but Gurney could also theoretically still pass Dolan with a final place.