Preview German Darts Open: Which outsider benefits from cancellations of top favourites?
PDCThursday, 07 September 2023 at 18:30
This weekend the German Darts Open is on the program. The Sparkassen-Arena in Jena, Germany, will host the 11th Euro Tour tournament of the season from September 8 to 10.
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The German Darts Open is one of the relatively newer Euro Tour tournaments. This weekend the fifth edition of this event will be played. Peter Wright won the tournament in 2017 and 2022 and is thus the defending champion this weekend. Max Hopp shocked in 2018 by becoming the first - and, for now, only - German ever to win a Euro Tour tournament. In 2019, Michael van Gerwen was the best at this tournament.
Who is competing in the German Darts Open?
The field of participants for the German Darts Open consists of 48 players. First of all, you have the top-16 of the placement list. That includes players such as Dirk van Duijvenbode, Danny Noppert, Luke Humphries, Dave Chisnall, Josh Rock, Rob Cross, Peter Wright and Nathan Aspinall.
In addition, Gabriel Clemens and Ricardo Pietreczko were also added to the lineup as home players. The remaining thirty spots were distributed through various qualifying tournaments. Among others James Wade, Simon Whitlock, Gian van Veen, Stephen Bunting, Daryl Gurney, Ricky Evans, Jules van Dongen, Jeffrey de Graaf, Wesley Plaisier and Roy van de Griendt qualified for this Euro Tour tournament.
However, there are also a lot of cancellations. Big names such as Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton have all failed to register for the German Darts Open. So there are opportunities for players who are normally among the outsiders.
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Where can I watch the German Darts Open live?
The German Darts Open takes place this weekend, with the European Tour returning after a short hiatus scheduled between Friday 8 September - Sunday 10 September.
UK subscribers receive who pay for PDCTV will receive it as part of their subscription. It is also shown on Viaplay including at times their Viaplay Xtra TV channel for free in the UK.
How much prize money is to be won?
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During each Euro Tour tournament, £175,000 in prize money is distributed. All qualifiers are guaranteed £1,250, while the top 16 players on the placement list at the German Darts Open 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 toward the world rankings and other rankings.
Per victory, the prize money earned increases. For example, the finalists already receive a minimum of £12,000. The winner of the tournament goes home with the top prize of 30,000 pounds.
Important tournament leading up to World Grand Prix
The German Darts Open is one of the last two tournaments that count in the qualifying race for the World Grand Prix in October. For some players, this event is the last chance to scoop prize money as they did not qualify for the Hungarian Darts Trophy (Sept. 22-24).
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The differences are especially small around the sixteenth spot on the cleaned Pro Tour Order of Merit. It looks like Ricardo Pietreczko, Gian van Veen and Luke Woodhouse will decide among themselves who will run away with the last starting spot. Should more darters below the line do particularly well, Callan Rydz also seems to have to fear for his spot.
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
- It's great to see Mark Webster looking well,he's a top ladrick6715-08-2026
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