Preview Sunday afternoon European Championship: Humphries-Wade and Van Gerwen-Gurney headline Quarter-Finals

The Westfalenhallen in Dortmund is hosting the European Championship this weekend. We have now reached the quarter-finals, which are scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

The European Championship is the denouement of a whole year of top European Tour action. At the end of the fourteen tournaments taking place in 2025, the 32 best players on the European Tour Order of Merit qualified for the European Championship. Who will certainly not extend his title is Ritchie Edhouse. The Englishman, who very surprisingly won the European Championship Darts last year, failed to qualify this year.
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Below is a preview of the quarterfinals that will be played on Sunday afternoon. As in the previous round the game will be played to best-of-19 legs, so whoever wins ten legs first will qualify for the semifinals.

The opening match of the quarterfinals is a clash between Ryan Joyce and Gian van Veen. Joyce is in the quarter-finals of the European Darts Championship for the first time. The Englishman stands out especially for his ice-cold finishes; he does not need to throw high scores to win a match, but punishes every miss of the opponent mercilessly.

Gian van Veen, on the other hand, has been piling up high averages in recent months. He threw several 180s in his previous round against Ryan Searle and is brimming with confidence. Van Veen remained only narrowly below 110 average in that match. Van Veen and Joyce have already played each other eight times on the European Tour: six times Van Veen won, twice Joyce drew the longest straw.

Therefore, Van Veen starts these quarter-finals as the favorite, but will also realize that you should never underestimate Joyce. However, the question is how long Joyce can keep up with the enormous scoring power of the 23-year-old Dutchman.

The second quarterfinal brings together two experienced players: Michael van Gerwen and Daryl Gurney. Van Gerwen seems to have found his form again after a shaky season and showed in the previous round against Chris Dobey that he is still one of the most dangerous players at the highest level. In the first round, however, he got away particularly well against his compatriot Wessel Nijman, who missed several matchdarts.

Daryl Gurney has won two majors in the past, but that dates back seven years. While he may not be as explosive as in his peak periods, Gurney remains a player to be reckoned with. Interestingly, the last duel between the two men on the European Tour dates back to 2022. Then Van Gerwen won. Again, 'Mighty Mike' starts this match as the favorite and for Gurney it will mainly come down to trying to follow the scoring ability of the Dutchman for as long as possible.

In the third quarterfinal, Danny Noppert will take on German Ricardo Pietreczko. Noppert has been in excellent form in recent months and recently reached the semifinals at the World Grand Prix. 'The Freeze' has been the Dutch number two in the world rankings for some time and is yearning for a second major title - after his final victory at the 2022 UK Open.

Playing in front of the home crowd, Pietreczko is visibly alive in Dortmund's arena. His emotional reactions endear him to the fans, and his victory in the previous round showed that he can peak under pressure. Pietreczko beat Jermaine Wattimena and is only too eager to knock out a second Dutchman at this European Darts Championship. The match between Noppert and Pietreczko will also be a repeat of their quarterfinal at the previous European Championship. Then Noppert drew with the smallest difference (10-9).

The quarterfinals will conclude with a duel between James Wade and Luke Humphries. Wade seems to be experiencing his second youth this year, reaching the final at the European Championship Open and the World Matchplay. However, another major title remained out for now, so why not strike this weekend? The 42-year-old Englishman caused a big surprise in the previous round by sending Luke Littler home 10-7.

And so the stage is set for Humphries to further solidify his number one position in the world rankings. Humphries escaped in the previous round by winning 10-9 over Cameron Menzies. After that match, Humphries let it be known that he would like to keep the number one position, but is mainly focused on winning majors.

The duel between Wade and Humphries already promises to provide fireworks.