Schedule Friday night at Belgian Darts Open 2025: Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld and Josh Rock in action

The Belgian Darts Open continues on Friday night with the final eight matches from the first round of the Euro Tour tournament in Wieze. Among others, Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld and Mike de Decker will be in action.

The winners will advance to the second round, where a meeting awaits with a player from the top-16 of the world rankings. Read below which eight matches are scheduled for Friday night. All the action can also be followed via our live scores.

Ross Smith already won a major (European Championship) in 2022 and 'Smudger' also has four Players Championship titles to his name. A Euro Tour title is still missing on his record, although he came close twice in 2024. The Englishman reached the final of both the European Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Open. However, Smith lost both finals to Gary Anderson (8-6) and Dave Chisnall (8-6), respectively. This year, Smith will get fourteen more chances to further color his record.

Sybren Gijbels is one of the Belgian debutants this tournament. Gijbels earned his participation by getting through the Host Nation Qualifier on Thursday. The 27-year-old Belgian is not completely without stage experience, as Gijbels participated in the WDF World Championship at Lakeside in December. There, Gijbels managed to reach the last sixteen.

Performed well at the Euro Tour tournaments last year. Made at least the quarterfinals in eight of the thirteen Euro Tour tournaments and even reached the final of the Swiss Darts Trophy. Heavy Metal should have won that one, but he missed seven matchdarts in the final against Martin Schindler. This season, Searle already has one title under his belt by winning Players Championship 4 last month.

After more than a year's absence, Darryl Pilgrim may compete again on the Euro Tour. The Englishman previously made two appearances in 2023. Since this season, Pilgrim is again in possession of a PDC Tour Card. The 37-year-old darter has started the Pro Tour season well, as he reached the quarterfinals of Players Championship 1 and was in the last 32 at Players Championship 4.

After a one-and-a-half year dip in form, Jermaine Wattimena has found his way back up in 2024. He reached the quarter-finals of three Euro Tours, sensationally reached the final of the European Darts Championship and reached the last eight of the Grand Slam of Darts. This good form took "The Machine Gun" into 2025, where he has already managed to reach three quarter-finals.

The last Host Nation Qualifier of the first round is also a Euro Tour debutant. Patrick De Backer was competing in a PDC tournament for the first time, and thus immediately managed to secure a place in the main tournament. The Belgian will have to raise his level considerably to stand a chance against Wattimena. In his five matches during the qualifying tournament, De Backer continuously posted averages between 75.30 and 82.41.

Players who switch darts manufacturers often need an adjustment period, but that is not the case for Josh Rock. His move to Target has clearly done 'Rocky' good. The Northern Irishman is making a fresh and strong impression this year and was in the semifinals of the UK Open just last weekend. Last year Rock scored the biggest success of his career on the Euro Tour, taking the title at the Dutch Darts Championship in Rosmalen at the expense of Jonny Clayton.

It takes a bit of getting used to seeing Boris Krcmar as an East Europe Qualifier, as he was not allowed to compete in that in recent years as a Tour Card holder. However, the Croatian lost his Tour Card, giving him access to the East European Qualifier for the Euro Tours, where one starting spot can be earned each time. Meanwhile, the first nine qualifying tournaments have already been played there, with Krcmar coming out on top three times. In his past four years as a Tour Card holder, Krcmar qualified for only seven of the 41 Euro Tours, so in that respect 'The Biggest' has improved.

It was a long wait for Michael Smith's first win of the season. In the first four Players Championship tournaments of the season, 'Bullyboy' was eliminated in the first round each time and his level was also sometimes quite worrying. Like a jack-in-the-box, the Englishman suddenly showed up again last weekend by reaching the quarterfinals at the UK Open. The former world champion was visibly relieved once the first victory of the season was secured and hopes that last weekend's result can help him to compete for the titles again for good.

On paper at least, this duel is a top affair, as Ryan Joyce was the name all players wanted to avoid. 'Relentless' had just failed to qualify automatically for the Belgian Darts Open, but forced entry via the Tour Card qualifying tournament. Joyce is considered a dangerous customer, who is especially good at throwing his doubles. It is only a matter of time before Joyce also gets a good Euro Tour result, as he is still waiting for his first quarterfinal on the Euro Tour.

Raymond van Barneveld got to play all the Euro Tours last year, but a fair conclusion is that the results in 2024 were rather disappointing. There was a quarterfinal place at the Swiss Darts Trophy, but on the other hand he was eliminated five times in the first round and did not earn any prize money for the ranking. The new Euro Tour rules could work out well for Van Barneveld, though. Through the Pro Tour ranking, he is again likely to be guaranteed participation in all Euro Tours. New this year is that a Pro Tour player is always paired with an opponent who has qualified through a qualifying tournament. Van Barneveld will in principle always start his tournament against a player who is (a bit) lower on the world ranking list.

At least that is the case in this match, as Cam Crabtree is ranked No. 98 in the world. The Englishman is considered a major talent and has held a Tour Card since this year. At three of the four Players Championship, Crabtree survived the first round, while he also made it to the third round at the UK Open.

The biggest eye-catcher for the Belgian public on the opening day of the Belgian Darts Open. Mike de Decker was still considered a player of great potential at this time last year, but has since earned major-winner status. The Belgian caused a sensational stunt in October by winning the World Grand Prix and could dream of a spot in the Premier League Darts. However, to the surprise of many, "The Real Deal" grabbed next to an invitation. De Decker has not yet found the form this season with which he impressed in the fall of 2024. That can also be partly attributed to the fact that he was working with a new arrow supplier. De Decker, however, will be eager to put up something great in front of his own crowd.

For Thomas Lovely, this will be his second Euro Tour entry after making his debut on the European circuit four years ago. Last weekend, Lovely gained some additional stage experience by reaching the fourth round at the UK Open. He defeated Oskar Lukasiak (6-1), Stefaan Henderyck (6-4) and Matthew Dennant (6-3) before Rob Cross was too strong in the fourth round 10-4. 

In 2022 and 2023 Martin Schindler already regularly showed good results on the Euro Tour, but in 2024 "The Wall" experienced his real breakthrough year. Not only did he become the third German player to win a Euro Tour title, Schindler became the first German to win two Euro Tours. He took the title at both the International Darts Open and the Swiss Darts Trophy. Will Schindler manage to continue his strong form at the Euro Tour tournaments in 2025?

As the fourth Canadian darter ever, Jim Long will take the Euro Tour stage. In doing so, he will follow in the footsteps of his compatriots John Part, Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell, who will also attend the event. Long has held a PDC Tour Card since this season and managed to reach the second round at two of the four Players Championship tournaments.

The tournament will be broadcast by PDC TV. As usual with Euro Tour tournaments, the Belgian Darts Open consists of three tournament days. The afternoon sessions start daily at 1 p.m., while the evening sessions start at 7 p.m.

The first round will take place on Friday, where the 16 Pro Tour players will face 16 players who emerged from the various qualifying tournaments. The winners of these matches will face a player from the top-16 of the world rankings in the second round on Saturday. The third round will be played on Sunday afternoon, before the quarterfinals, semifinals and final are completed on Sunday evening.

All entrants 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 grand 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 be awarded prize money on the various rankings. This does apply to qualifiers who are later designated as seeded by the withdrawal of others.

Friday, March 7.

Ross Smith v Sybren Gijbels

Ryan Searle v Darryl Pilgrim

Jermaine Wattimena v Patrick De Backer

Josh Rock v Boris Krcmar

Michael Smith v Ryan Joyce

Raymond van Barneveld v Cam Crabtree

Mike De Decker v Thomas Lovely

Martin Schindler v Jim Long