Preview German Darts Championship 2024: Who will begin action packed Autumn with European Tour triumph?

The Euro Tour circuit resumes from Friday, August 30 to Sunday, September 1 with the German Darts Championship. This event takes place at the Halle 39 in Hildesheim, where several Players Championship tournaments and other PDC events are also played annually.

The German Darts Championship is the start of a jam-packed autumn, in which many Euro Tours, Players Championship tournaments and majors will be played. 

The German Darts Championship is one of the oldest Euro Tour tournaments on the darts calendar. The tournament originated in 2012, and is now up to its twelfth edition. Only in 2021 could the event not take place due to the corona pandemic.

The first edition took place in Berlin, where Phil Taylor got to lift the cup. In 2013, the German Darts Championship moved to the Halle 39 in Hildesheim, where the Euro Tour tournament still takes place today.

The tournament's honorary list includes a lot of different names. Michael van Gerwen (2015, 2018 and 2022) is the only player to win the German Darts Championship more than once. Dave Chisnall (2013), Gary Anderson (2014), Alan Norris (2016), Peter Wright (2017), Daryl Gurney (2019) Devon Petersen (2020) and Ricardo Pietreczko (2023) are the other tournament winners. Pietreczko sensationally captured the title in Hildesheim last year. He beat Michael van Gerwen 7-6 in the semifinals before 'Pikachu' settled with Peter Wright (8-4) in the final.

Leading the field of participants is Dave Chisnall, who heads the placement list in Hildesheim. Chisnall is one of 16 players who have been directly admitted to the second round. Big names like Gerwyn Price, Danny Noppert, Ross Smith, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen are also allowed to skip the first round.

The remaining 32 participants do start the German Darts Championship from the first round. This includes Raymond van Barneveld, James Wade, Peter Wright, Dimitri van den Bergh, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Simon Whitlock, Maik Kuivenhoven, Jelle Klaasen, Steve Beaton, Max Hopp and Mensur Suljovic.

Top-16 seeded players: Dave Chisnall, Gerwyn Price, Damon Heta, Danny Noppert, Stephen Bunting, Ryan Searle, Ross Smith, Martin Schindler, Chris Dobey, Ricardo Pietreczko, Luke Littler, Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen, Ryan Joyce, Daryl Gurney, Joe Cullen

Order of Merit Qualifiers: Brendan Dolan, Luke Woodhouse, Jonny Clayton, Raymond van Barneveld, Krzysztof Ratajski, James Wade, Ritchie Edhouse, Andrew Gilding, Peter Wright, Dimitri van den Bergh, Callan Rydz

Resting Qualifiers: Martin Lukeman, Jose de Sousa, Mickey Mansell, Dom Taylor, Simon Whitlock, Nick Kenny, Boris Krcmar, Maik Kuivenhoven, Jelle Klaasen, Steve Beaton, Niko Springer, Max Hopp, Dragutin Horvat, Matthias Ehlers, Johan Engstrom, Krzysztof Kciuk, Stephen Burton, Dylan Slevin, Mensur Suljovic, Robert Owen

Luke Littler played four Euro Tours this season, two of which he managed to win. However, after his second triumph in Austria at the end of April, he only played one more Euro Tour event. It was not a great success, because then he lost in the first round to Wessel Nijman. The last two Euro Tours skipped "The Nuke. Especially in the absence of world champion Luke Humphries, the 17-year-old Littler is considered the man to beat in Hildesheim.

Among his biggest rivals are Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price. Both men are still looking for their first ranking title of the season. Both Van Gerwen and Price have already lost one Euro Tour final in 2024. For Van Gerwen and Price, this is the ideal time to make their mark heading into the busy fall season.

Ross Smith, Chris Dobey and Damon Heta are among the biggest outsiders for the title at German Darts Championship as far as we are concerned. The names just mentioned have all been successful on the Players Championship circuit recently, while Smith came close to a Euro Tour title twice already this season with two final places.

*** Luke Littler

** Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price

* Ross Smith, Chris Dobey, Damon Heta

The German Darts Championship will be broadcast on PDC TV. As usual with Euro Tour tournaments, the German Darts Championship consists of three tournament days. The afternoon sessions start daily at 12:00, while the evening sessions start at 18:00.

The first round will take place on Friday. The 16 Order of Merit qualifiers and the winners from the various qualifying tournaments then make their appearance. The top-16 seeded players enter the tournament on Saturday in the second round. Sunday will see the denouement of the tournament, starting with the third round in the afternoon session. Sunday evening will be followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

At this Euro Tour tournament, a total of £175,000 in prize money will be divided among the 48 participants. They will receive at least 1250 pounds in starting money. The top-16 seeded players who enter the German Darts Championship from the second round will receive 2,500 pounds anyway.

They do - like the 16 Order of Merit qualifiers starting in the first round - have to win their first match in order for the prize money to count toward the world rankings and the other rankings. The winner of the German Darts Championship 2024 will ultimately go home with the top prize of 30,000 pounds.