"This is Kim Huybrechts 2.0" – Luke Humphries' emergency replacement declares new beginning after spectacular European Championship win

Kim Huybrechts enjoyed a Thursday he will not forget in a hurry. The Belgian darter was not even in the European Darts Championship field on Thursday morning, but received an unexpected phone call asking whether he could make it to Dortmund. Just hours later, he was on stage at the Westfalenhalle, where he thrashed Ryan Searle 6-1. Afterwards, Huybrechts was visibly emotional, with the 40-year-old Belgian viewing his victory as a fresh start to his career.

Speaking in an extensive post-match press conference, attended by Dartsnews.com among others, Huybrechts explained how his extraordinary Thursday had unfolded. He had originally made very different plans for the weekend, with a league match scheduled for Friday, a tournament with friends on Saturday and commentary duties for Belgian television on Sunday.

Those plans went straight out of the window when it emerged that a place might become available at the European Championship. Initially, Huybrechts was only told that a player was feeling unwell and that he might be called up as a replacement.

"I think it was the late call-up that helped me, to be honest. There were no expectations," he explained. "I was scheduled for doing a commentary box on Belgian TV on Sunday. I was going to play league tomorrow, I was going to play a tournament on Saturday, just have some fun with some friends. And then all of a sudden you get a message. Somebody's not feeling really well. There is a chance you might have to play."

Confirmation finally arrived at around 9.30am on Thursday morning. Huybrechts saw the name of PDC official Graeme Fairhurst appear on his phone and immediately suspected he was about to receive good news. "Obviously, I saw my phone, Graeme Fairhurst. I was like, dancing around the house just before I picked up. So happy days!" the Belgian recalled. "And he said, 'Can you come to Dortmund?' And I said straight away, 'Of course.'"

Huybrechts quickly contacted his compatriot Eric Clarys to arrange the journey. "I phoned Eric Clarys and said, 'Have you got any plans today?' He said, 'Picking up the grandkids, but for the rest, I'm free.' We're going to Dortmund and the rest is history, I think."

The pair met up at around 1.30pm or 2pm before embarking on the three-hour journey to Germany. There was little time for extensive preparation, but Huybrechts felt that actually worked in his favour. "Actually, it was good practice. It was calm, relaxed, no pressure."

The Belgian had not even booked a hotel. With no match scheduled for Friday, he decided to head straight home after his victory. "I'm going to drive home now, three hours back. We haven't got a hotel, because tomorrow is free, obviously. The other players are playing. So I'll decide tomorrow what to do, to come back during the day or to come back tomorrow evening. I haven't decided yet."

He was certainly looking forward to the journey back. "Eric's going to drive and I'm going to fall asleep. It's going to be very good."

The unexpected opportunity meant an enormous amount to Huybrechts, who had endured several painful near misses in his attempts to qualify for major televised tournaments over recent months.

He narrowly missed out on the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix, before appearing to suffer the same fate at the European Championship following the final European Tour event of the season. "I thought I blew another chance," Huybrechts admitted. "I blew the Matchplay. That was close. I was, I think, first or second reserve, well, 33rd place. Grand Prix, just dropped out, bottled that. Same with the European Championship. And I was thinking, that's three in a year."

Huybrechts' priority at the beginning of the season had been to retain his PDC Tour Card and avoid losing his professional status. "The goal was keep your Tour Card. The main goal, that was like the big red flag, keep your Tour Card. When that's safe, you can go for another type of goals."

However, the repeated disappointments were increasingly difficult to accept. Those around him tried to offer reassurance by reminding him that his primary objective was being achieved, but that provided little consolation.

"You missed the Matchplay. Yeah, but the first thing was keeping my Tour Card. So I'm happy. Yeah, you missed the Grand Prix just by one spot. Yeah, but the main thing was keeping my Tour Card. European Championship. Yeah, you've just missed it. Yeah, but the main thing was keeping my Tour Card."

Huybrechts understood the reasoning, but insisted his ambitions extended far beyond merely holding on to his professional status. "We all want to play majors. We all want to be in them last phases of tournaments. And I'm not here to make up numbers. I'm not here to make up just the top 64 or the top 100. I want to be in that top 20, top 25, top 32, top 10, top 5. It doesn't matter. But I want to be amongst them numbers. That's me. I can't live with just being one of them 128 Tour Card holders."

The manner in which Huybrechts had squandered his qualification opportunities was particularly frustrating. A few weeks earlier, he had missed six match darts against Sebastian Bialecki, ultimately costing him a place at the World Grand Prix. "It felt a bit like a déjà vu, because a couple of weeks before, I missed six match darts against Bialecki for the World Grand Prix. Missed out on that tournament, my own fault, because I should have won that game. Not easily, but I should have won that game."

Something similar happened against Jimmy van Schie at the final European Tour event of the season. Huybrechts again had opportunities to close out the match, only for his opponent to snatch victory. "It's them type of players, when you give them a chance, there's always a chance they're going to finish that big number."

The atmosphere that evening had hardly helped matters either. "The crowd wasn't particularly on my side. It was one of the most hostile crowds I've ever experienced."

After that defeat, Huybrechts believed another opportunity to compete at the European Championship had disappeared. It only made Thursday morning's unexpected phone call all the more special.

Despite his many years competing at the highest level and the fact that Dortmund would mark his tenth European Championship appearance, Huybrechts reacted to the invitation as though he were qualifying for his first major tournament. "It still gave me butterflies when they phoned me up. I was jumping around the house. I was like, 'I'm in the European Championship!'"

His excitement was just as remarkable for his family. "It doesn't sound like somebody's going to play his 10th European Championship. Usually when somebody gets a call, 10th European Championship, you're like, 'Yay, I'm in.' I was jumping around the house. The family was... It was like a national holiday. I had butterflies in my stomach, honestly."

Huybrechts believes those emotions played a significant part in his convincing victory over Searle. "And I think that gave me the energy on stage."

Even after the match, he struggled to contain his emotions, with his celebrations clearly audible outside the press room. For Huybrechts, the victory meant considerably more than simply reaching the second round. "If I speak about my career, I don't think there's a lot of players that had careers like me. I was a nobody. I went to the Premier League in a couple of years, which is the highest place you can be in darts."

"And then I went to the lowest point in two, three years after. So I went from the highest to the lowest point in darts and this still means a lot to me."

Huybrechts has made no secret of the difficulties he has experienced in recent years, but he has no intention of winding down his career.

Quite the opposite. The Belgian sees his recent performances as the beginning of an entirely new chapter. "There's a lot of darts players that would be in my spot that would say like, 'I've had it. It's been good.' But I'm very hungry. This is for me a Kim Huybrechts 2.0, new start, new career."

Nor does he intend to live off his achievements from the past. "Forget about Premier League and all what I've done before. I want to still be there for the next 20 years and I want to be a contender for every tournament."

That does not mean Huybrechts suddenly considers himself a favourite to win the European Championship. "I'm not going to say I'm going to be a title favourite or I'm going to win this. I'm not that kind of person. But if I play a tournament, I want to win it."

"I want to be a European champion now. Am I going to win it? Probably not. But this is my goal. That's what I want to do. I'm not the type of person that says, 'Hey, I'm happy to be here.'"

Victory over Searle has also given Huybrechts a significant boost in the world rankings. According to the live rankings mentioned during his press conference, he had already climbed nine places.

The Belgian believes every major tournament presents an opportunity to make substantial progress in a short space of time. "Every tournament's an opportunity. Every tournament, I've seen it in the past with, for instance, Mike De Decker. He's won the World Grand Prix. It made him from a top 50 player to a top 20 player."

Huybrechts knows, however, that establishing yourself among the elite is only half the challenge. "Getting there is, I'll not say easy, but it's more easy. Staying there a lot of years like MVG, like players like Rob Cross, at the moment Luke Humphries, James Wade. Staying there a lot of years, it's more difficult than just climbing up them rankings."

His ambitions are therefore centred on sustained success rather than a brief spell among the world's leading players. "Of course, everybody wants to be a top 10 player in the world, but I want to be a top 16 player for the next 10, 20 years. I'll be happy with that."

During the press conference, Huybrechts was also asked about the current struggles of fellow Belgians Dimitri Van den Bergh and Mike De Decker. Both have previously won major PDC titles but have endured more difficult periods recently.

Huybrechts was reluctant to judge his compatriots too harshly, although he stressed the importance of mental strength and maintaining performances over a prolonged period. "I can't speak for the other guys. It's two of the biggest talents we've ever had in Belgium, but it's not only talent. It's mentally as well. Both of them won majors. They're amazing dart players. There's no question about it."

For Huybrechts, the challenge of sustaining a career becomes even greater after lifting a major trophy. "But after that major you won, there's a lot of other tournaments and it's how you cope with them tournaments that decides your future."

He then contrasted his own longevity with the major successes enjoyed by his compatriots. "I've been there for 16 years and I haven't won a major. Okay, that's painful because you want to win a major, but would you rather have a longer career and just every year make your money and just be a professional like for me for 16 years, or peak six, seven years and then, well, be a semi-professional?"

Huybrechts insisted he had demonstrated considerable mental resilience throughout the season. Having spent much of the campaign focusing on securing his Tour Card, he now wants to start looking further ahead. "I think I've showed a lot of bottle this year. And I'm not one of them players that is going to clamp on and just go down the rankings year by year by year."

His unexpected European Championship appearance and commanding victory over Searle have only strengthened that belief. "I'm just looking up now, not looking down anymore."

After five years away from the European Championship, Huybrechts had finally won another match at the tournament. His previous victory came eleven years earlier against Mervyn King, something the Belgian was able to joke about afterwards. "But that was an easy game. No, Merv, I'm joking, Merv. I'm joking!"

Above all, Thursday was a day when everything unexpectedly fell into place. Without extensive preparation, a hotel booking or the usual pressure of an approaching major tournament, Huybrechts delivered one of his most memorable victories in recent years.

Normally, he spends considerable time developing a game plan based on his opponent's playing speed, scoring ability and finishing. This time, there had simply been no opportunity to do so. "Normally, when I play a major tournament, the whole week, you're like, I have to play him. You've got a game plan. Whoever you're playing, you've got a game plan. And yesterday, I didn't have a game plan because I wasn't in this. I never thought about this tournament because I'm the type of player that, if I'm not in the tournament, I'm not interested."

That lack of expectation gave him an unusual sense of freedom. "You've got nothing to lose. Yesterday, I wasn't even in this tournament. I wasn't thinking about it." And having taken full advantage of his unexpected opportunity, Huybrechts summed up his mindset with a simple declaration: "And I'm free now. I'm free."