Schedule Friday afternoon at European Darts Open: Nijman, Gilding and Edhouse open campaigns

The European Darts Open starts this afternoon in Leverkusen. The eighth European Tour tournament of the season takes place this weekend.

Leverkusen hosts the eighth Euro Tour tournament of the season this weekend. It is also the eighth time the European Darts Open has been played. The first edition took place in 2016 in Düsseldorf and was won by Michael van Gerwen, who settled with Peter Wright (6-5) in the final. A year later, the European Darts Open moved to Leverkusen. Then it was Wright who got to lift the cup. Snakebite triumphed in the final 6-2 against Mervyn King.

After not taking place in 2020 and 2021 due to the corona pandemic, the tournament has been on the Euro Tour calendar annually again since 2022. Van Gerwen, who will not be there this year due to private circumstances, still remains the record holder with four overall wins. Last year, the final victory went to Dave Chisnall, who outlasted compatriot Ross Smith 8-6 in the final.

The tournament will kick off with the match between Madars Razma and Darryl Pilgrim. Due to the withdrawal of several players, Razma was called up for this tournament after all. The Latvian, the world number 45, has been performing rather shakily this year and failed to qualify for the Dutch Darts Championship last week. He will likely have his hands more than full with Pilgrim. The 37-year-old Englishman only captured his PDC Tour Card early this year, but is known for his high scoring ability. The winner of this match will take on Peter Wright in the next round.

Afterwards, it is the turn of Ritchie Edhouse and Petr Krivka to take the stage in the Ostermann Arena. This is a repeat of their match in the first round of the International Darts Open earlier this year, when Edhouse drew 6-4. Again, the winner of the European Championship 2024 starts this match as the favorite. A duel with Danny Noppert awaits the winner in the second round.

William O'Connor and Mickey Mansell then face off against two very experienced players. Both men have been playing in the PDC for many years, although they remain between 30th and 50th in the world rankings. It is difficult to pick a favorite in this match, as both men have been on a roll in recent weeks. The winner will meet third-seeded Australian Damon Heta in the second round.

Then it is the turn of the first Dutchman to be in action this tournament. Niels Zonneveld, who lost to Mario Vandenbogaerde in the opening round of the Dutch Darts Championship last week, will take on Lukas Wenig. Zonneveld already booked good results this season and should be able to deal with Wenig, although the German can sometimes surprise. Both men are fighting for a place in the second round against sixth-seeded Englishman James Wade.

Matt Campbell was called up for this tournament late on, after several top players were absent. The Canadian will therefore want to take advantage of this unexpected opportunity to pick up some important prize money with a view to retaining his PDC Tour Card. To do so, he will have to get past Alan Soutar in the first place. Soundness is the right word to describe the Scot, who rarely comes out with huge averages, but also rarely goes through the lower limit. A duel with last year's finalist Ross Smith awaits the winner in the second round.

After his disappointing elimination last week in the opening round of the Dutch Darts Championship, Jermaine Wattimena will be eager to take revenge this weekend. To do so, he needs to beat German qualifier Joshua Hermann, for whom it will be his debut on the European Tour. The winner will meet last week's tournament winner Jonny Clayton in the second round.

The penultimate match of the afternoon session is between Andrew Gilding and Kevin Knopf. Gilding lost 8-0 to Gary Anderson in the final of the European Darts Grand Prix earlier this month. The 28-year-old Knopf was there earlier this year at the International Darts Open, where he lost 6-0 to Cameron Menzies in the opening round. The winner of this duel will play 13th-seeded Ryan Searle in the second round.

The afternoon session will be closed by Wessel Nijman and Brendan Dolan. Nijman reached the semifinals last week at the Dutch Darts Championship, in which he lost 7-3 to Niko Springer. For a place in the second round of this tournament he has to beat the very experienced Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan. It doesn't get any easier after that, because in the second round Gary Anderson awaits the winner of this duel.

The tournament will be broadcast by PDC TV. As usual with Euro Tour tournaments, the European Darts Open consists of three tournament days. The afternoon sessions start daily at 12 p.m., while the evening sessions start at 6 p.m.

The first round will take place on Friday. The 16 Pro Tour players are then paired with one of the 16 players who managed to get through the various qualifying tournaments. The top-16 seeded players enter the tournament on Saturday in the second round. The denouement of the tournament follows on Sunday, with the third round first in the afternoon session. Sunday night the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will follow.

All participants starting from the first round are guaranteed £1250 in prize money, while the top-16 enter from the second round and receive £2,500 anyway. This amount eventually rises to the top prize of £30,000 for the winner. An important detail is that players who are automatically seeded via the Order of Merit and lose their first match will not receive any prize money on the various rankings. This does apply to qualifiers who are later designated as seeded by the withdrawal of others.

Madars Razma v Darryl Pilgrim

Ritchie Edhouse v Petr Krivka

William O'Connor v Mickey Mansell

Niels Zonneveld v Lukas Wenig

Matt Campbell v Alan Soutar

Jermaine Wattimena v Joshua Hermann

Andrew Gilding v Kevin Knopf

Wessel Nijman v Brendan Dolan