Schedule European Championship Darts 2024: Thursday night including Bunting-Anderson, Van Gerwen and Price

We will kick off the 2024 European Championship in Dortmund on Thursday night. On the opening day of this tournament, the first-round matches from the top of the tournament schedule will be played.

It will be the seventeenth time the European Darts Championship has been held. Peter Wright crowned himself European champion for the second time in 2023 by defeating James Wade in the final. Van Gerwen and Phil Taylor are the record champions at the European Darts Championship with both winning four titles.

Gian van Veen and Ritchie Edhouse have been given the honor of starting the European Darts Championship. For Van Veen, it will be his second participation after surprisingly reaching the semifinals last year after wins over Damon Heta and Michael van Gerwen, among others. For Edhouse, it will be his debut at the European Darts Championship after he cleverly reached two quarter-finals at the Euro Tour tournaments this year.

Gerwyn Price will take on Daryl Gurney. Price, a finalist at this tournament in 2019, did not manage to win a Euro Tour tournament this season for the first time since 2017. However, 'The Iceman' did reach two semifinals and one final. Gurney has performed very shakily at the European Darts Championship in the past. In 2017 and 2019, he was there in the semifinals, but that was also offset by four defeats in the first round. On the Euro Tour, Gurney was on a nice roll after the summer break with one semifinal and two quarterfinals.

Ross Smith may not be the defending champion at this event, but it will definitely be an important event for 'Smudger'. The Englishman was the winner of the 2022 European Darts Championship and that means he now has to defend the prize money he won then. Smith was close to a first Euro Tour title this season, but lost twice in the final. Woodhouse has had a solid season. He qualified for twelve of the thirteen Euro Tours, twice reaching the last eight. For 'The Shed' it will be his debut in Dortmund.

With Stephen Bunting and Gary Anderson we get a clash between two of the best scoring players this season. Moreover, two players who are ready for a good result at a ranking major. Stephen Bunting did win the Masters this year, but that tournament did not count for the world ranking. 'The Bullet' still made it to the quarterfinals at the Masters, while Anderson made his last quarterfinal at the Grand Slam of Darts in 2023. Unlike Bunting, Anderson did manage to win a Euro Tour tournament this year. 'The Flying Scotsman' surprisingly won the European Darts Grand Prix in April, his first Euro Tour title since 2014. Anderson then decided to skip the final nine Euro Tours of 2024 all together. Bunting did play all Euro Tour tournaments in 2024. The Englishman made it to the semifinals twice and the quarterfinals three times.

Actually, Ryan Searle should have been a lot higher on the European Tour Order of Merit. In late September, 'Heavy Metal' had no fewer than seven match darts to win the Swiss Darts Trophy, but he missed all his chances. It had been the culmination of a fairly solid Euro Tour season, as Searle made it to at least the quarter-finals no fewer than eight times. Raymond van Barneveld started the season with three defeats on the Euro Tour, but then comfortably secured a spot at the European Darts Championship. A quarterfinal at the Swiss Darts Trohpy was the highlight of his Euro Tour season. A good result would suit the 57-year-old perfectly. In November, 50,000 pounds will disappear from his ranking because he was in the semifinals of the Grand Slam of Darts in 2022. Currently, Van Barneveld has not yet qualified for that tournament, so he will have to cover that amount with income from other tournaments. That semifinal finish two years ago was also the only time since his comeback in 2021 that Van Barneveld made it to the last eight of a ranking major.

Michael van Gerwen reigned supreme at the European Darts Championship four years in a row from 2014 to 2017, but has now been dry at this tournament for six editions. Two years ago Van Gerwen was eliminated in the first round, so he now has no prize money to defend. With Gabriel Clemens he meets one of the three German participants at this tournament. 'The German Giant' managed to win against Van Gerwen in September for the first time in his career, although Clemens has had a poor season. He missed participation in the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix, but still qualified fairly comfortably for this event.

Martin Schindler is making history at this tournament anyway, as for the first time a German player leads the placement list at a PDC major. The German owes this status to winning two tournaments on the Euro Tour in 2024. Whereas Schindler did not actually have to worry for a moment about qualifying for the European Darts Championship, for Van Duijvenbode it was exciting until the end whether he was going to make it to this tournament. By losing to Kim Huybrechts in the final of the Czech Darts Open, Van Duijvenbode eventually qualified as 32nd and last player for the European Championship Darts. Two years ago 'Aubergenius' was in the semifinals of this tournament and that means he has to defend that result this year.

The first day of play will conclude with an English friendly between Dave Chisnall and Michael Smith. Chisnall has been doing well on the Euro Tour in recent years and managed to bag two more titles this year. On television, however, the results have been pretty poor. In the last three seasons, "Chizzy" was in the quarterfinals of a ranking major only twice. If Chisnall manages to shine regularly on the Euro Tour stage, he will have to succeed once on a major. Michael Smith seemed loose after winning the Grand Slam of Darts (2022) and the World Darts Championship (2023), but the opposite proved true. In his year as world champion, "Bullyboy" took it easy, and this year Smith only made it to the semifinals at the World Matchplay. Together with fellow countryman Luke Humphries he did win the World Cup of Darts. At the European Darts Championship Smith has a lot of prize money to defend, because two years ago he reached the final of the European Darts Championship. He lost that one to Ross Smith at the time, leaving him with £60,000 from that tournament.

The tournament will be broadcast fully live in the UK by ITV. The daily evening sessions are at 7 p.m., while the afternoon sessions start at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The first round will be completed on Thursday, Oct. 24, and Friday, Oct. 25. The 16 winners of the first round will compete for a spot among the final eight on Saturday, Oct. 26. The quarterfinals will be on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 27, followed by the semifinals and finals in the evening.

Compared to 2023, the prize pool has been increased by £100,000. The amount for the winner and runner-up has remained the same, so the extra money flows to the players who do not make it to the final.

All 32 participants are guaranteed a starting premium of 7,500 pounds, which is 25 percent more than last year. This amount eventually rises to a sum of 120,000 for the winner of the 2024 European Darts Championship.

First round - Best of 11 legs

Second round - Best of 19 legs

Quarterfinals - Best of 19 legs

Semifinals - Best of 21 legs

Final - Best of 21 legs

Gian van Veen v Ritchie Edhouse

Gerwyn Price v Daryl Gurney

Ross Smith v Luke Woodhouse

Stephen Bunting v Gary Anderson

Ryan Searle v Raymond van Barneveld

Michael van Gerwen v Gabriel Clemens

Martin Schindler v Dirk van Duijvenbode

Dave Chisnall v Michael Smith