Schedule Friday night at European Darts Trophy 2025 including Cullen, Van Barneveld-Evans and De Decker

We continue Friday night with the first round of the European Darts Trophy 2025 in Göttingen, and what a wonderful program awaits us. Among others, Joe Cullen, Raymond van Barneveld and Daryl Gurney are involved.

The European Darts Trophy is part of the Euro Tour calendar again for the first time since 2018. Previously this tournament was on the schedule from 2013 to 2018, but was then temporarily scrapped. Wes Newton won the first edition in 2013, before Michael Smith was the best in 2014 and 2015. Michael van Gerwen then took the title in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and will get the chance to defend his title this weekend after seven years.
Follow the 2025 European Darts Trophy also via our live scores!

Due to the new Euro Tour rules, in the first round the 16 players who have had an automatic invitation through the Pro Tour rankings now face a player who has secured a starting spot through one of the qualifying tournaments.

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Tournament Centre European Darts Trophy 2025: Schedule, all results, TV guide, live stream and prize money breakdown

The first match of the evening is immediately a tasty one to start the session with; Daryl Gurney against Niko Springer. Both men have already shown form this year. Gurney reached the last sixteen at the Belgian Darts Open after, among other things, an impressive win over Thibault Tricole with an average of 106. Springer drew attention to himself by throwing an average of 116 at the UK Open. At the Players Championship tournaments the German already managed to beat Dave Chisnall, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Gurney, among others. The winner of this match will play Van Gerwen in the second round on Saturday.

After the duel between Gurney and Springer, we get an all-German clash between Ricardo Pietreczko and Daniel Klose. For Pietreczko the season has not started very well. In six tournaments he was eliminated in the first round. However, the Euro Tour stage usually brings out the best in him. In his previous 22 Euro Tour appearances, Pietreczko did not lose once in the last 48. His compatriot Klose will be playing the main tournament of a Euro Tour tournament for the sixth time. His record is four defeats in the first round, but that time Klose survived the first cut he also got straight to the last sixteen.

One of the best matches of the first round is a duel between the always dangerous Ryan Joyce and Joe Cullen. 'The Rockstar' surprised early this month by winning another Players Championship tournament. It was his first title since 2022. Whereas Cullen was competing in his first Euro Tour tournament of the year, Joyce previously made an appearance at the Belgian Darts Open. Then 'Relentless' lost 6-5 to Michael Smith in the first round after a titanic battle. It will be the first time since late 2023 that these two Englishmen meet at a PDC tournament. The last two times Joyce won, but the overall Head-to-Head is 6-3 in favor of Cullen.

Laurin Welk surprisingly made it through the Host Nation Qualifier tournament to secure his spot in the main tournament of the European Darts Trophy. On his debut, the German gets to prove himself against the experienced Ryan Searle, who already has a Players Championship title under his belt this year. With also a quarterfinal and a semifinal, 'Heavy Metal' proves again this season that he is one of the most constant players on the Pro Tour.

Raymond van Barneveld will take on darting entertainer Ricky Evans. Van Barneveld is making a mixed impression this season. Twice he reached the last sixteen at floor tournaments, but three times he was also eliminated in the first round. Evans has not started the season well either, but did record a fourth-round finish at Players Championship 7 last week. It is the seventh time Van Barneveld and Evans will meet; four of the previous six times the Dutchman won.

After Van Barneveld, Mike de Decker makes his appearance on stage. 'The Real Deal' started the Euro Tour season in any case great by reaching the final at the Belgian Darts Open in Wieze. And at the Players Championship tournaments, De Decker has also already reached the semifinals twice. His opponent Martin Lukeman has two fourth rounds at floor tournaments as highlights in the still early season. 'Smash' does possess a good record against the Belgian, as Lukeman won four of the six previous confrontations.

The German fans will especially await the entrance of Martin Schindler, who gets to show his darts skills in the seventh match of the evening. Confidence will be high with "The Wall," who just last week won his first Players Championship title. He will face Adam Hunt, who will make his first appearance on the Euro Tour since 2022.

The evening in Göttingen will conclude with a stunning encounter between Gian van Veen and Connor Scutt, the 2024 Development Tour's best player and the Challenge Tour's best player last season, respectively. Van Veen finally managed to win his first PDC ranking title earlier this month after losing his first four finals. For Scutt, the season has not gotten off to a great start. He lost in the first round at six of the eight Players Championship tournaments. By comparison; this happened to him only seven times in all of 2024.

TV Guide

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

Distribution of prize money

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 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.

Schedule European Darts Trophy 2025

Friday, March 21

First round

Evening session (from 6 p.m.)

Daryl Gurney v Niko Springer

Ricardo Pietreczko v Daniel Klose

Ryan Joyce v Joe Cullen

Ryan Searle v Laurin Welk

Raymond van Barneveld v Ricky Evans

Mike De Decker v Martin Lukeman

Martin Schindler v Adam Hunt

Gian van Veen v Connor Scutt

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