Schedule 2024 European Darts Open: Raymond van Barneveld, Michael Smith, James Wade and Joe Cullen to enter the stage on Friday evening
PDCFriday, 21 June 2024 at 17:45
Eyes will mainly be on the Euro 2024 on Friday evening, with the match between the Netherlands and France being played in Leipzig. However some 500 kilometres west of Leipzig, the European Darts Open is being played in Leverkusen.
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For true darts fans, there are some great matches on the schedule during the evening session of the first round. Several former world champions and major winners will then play their first match of the tournament.
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The evening session gets underway with a match between Benjamin Pratnemer and Kevin Troppmann, before Nico Kurz battles Callan Rydz. Former Masters champion Joe Cullen is the first big name in action. He will meet Owen Bates in the first round.
Then, five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld takes to the stage in the Ostermann Arena for his match against Krzysztof Ratajski. The head-to-head is not very hopeful for 'Barney' as he lost five of the six previous meetings with Ratajski. However the good sign for Van Barneveld is that he won their last meeting in 2023.
The tie of the evening is the clash between former world champion Michael Smith and 11-time major winner James Wade. For Wade, other interests come into play. 'The Machine' is not yet sure of participating in the World Matchplay and currently holds the last qualifying spot. A win over Smith is much needed to gain important ranking money.
Mike de Decker is one of Wade's pursuers. He faces Luke Woodhouse in the sixth match of the evening. Dirk van Duijvenbode will next take on Gabriel Clemens, before the evening session concludes with a meeting between Ryan Meikle and Dimitri van den Bergh.
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TV and live stream
The European Darts Open will be broadcast on PDC TV. As usual with Euro Tour tournaments, the European Darts Open consists of three tournament days. The afternoon sessions start daily at 12:00, while the evening sessions start at 18:00, UK time.
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.
Distribution of prize money
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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 European Darts Open 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 2024 European Darts Open will ultimately go home with the top prize of 30,000 pounds.
Schedule European Darts Open 2024
Friday June 21
First Round
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Benjamin Pratnemer v Kevin Troppmann
Nico Kurz v Callan Rydz
Owen Bates v Joe Cullen
Raymond van Barneveld v Krzysztof Ratajski
Michael Smith v James Wade
Mike De Decker v Luke Woodhouse
Gabriel Clemens v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Ryan Meikle v Dimitri Van den Bergh
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I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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- What a nice comment by Wade. Top bloke.BandB15-09-2026
- He wasn't "offered £501,000 to face Luke Littler". He was allowed to audition for the chance. That's not the same. Literally like saying I was offered a no.1 single, when actually I decided not to attend an open casting for the X factor.BandB13-09-2026
- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- 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
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