European Championship Darts: Luke Littler to face William O'Connor in opener as Gian van Veen starts defence vs Andrew Gilding

Luke Littler will face William O'Connor in his European Championship Darts opener, while Gian van Veen will start his title defence against Andrew Gilding on Thursday in Dortmund.

World champion Littler, who won two of the three European Tour events he played in this year, will seek to arrest a poor run of form which has seen him lose in the quarter-finals of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, in the first round at the World Grand Prix and the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship.

Littler had been hoping to add the World Series of Darts, World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals trophies to complete a historic clean sweep of the year. But his bid was derailed by Jonny Clayton in the Netherlands.

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Defending champion Van Veen and world No 2 Luke Humphries are among the headline acts on Thursday evening, with the Dutch No 1 kicking off his Dortmund campaign against former UK Open champion Gilding.

Last year's runner-up Humphries faces World Championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle, while two-time champion Rob Cross takes on Gerwyn Price in a rematch of the 2019 final.

Former champions James Wade and Ross Smith will also star on the opening night of action, as the pair have been pitted against Damon Heta and Karel Sedlacek respectively.

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On Friday evening, Littler and four-time champion Michael van Gerwen take centre stage.

Van Gerwen will face fellow Dutchman Kevin Doets in a tantalising round-one contest, while former World Grand Prix winner Clayton locks horns with Niko Springer.

German No 1 Martin Schindler will feature on home soil against No 2 seed Wessel Nijman, while former semi-finalist Nathan Aspinall takes on Spain's Cristo Reyes.

Saturday's action will see eight round-two ties played across the afternoon and evening sessions, before the quarter-finals take place on Sunday afternoon ahead of the semi-finals and final on Sunday evening.

The action gets under way at Dortmund's Westfalenhallen on Thursday, with a top prize of £150,000 up for grabs on Sunday October 25.

2026 Machineseeker European Championship

Thursday October 22 (6pm)
Round One x8
Luke Woodhouse vs Dirk van Duijvenbode
Danny Noppert vs Stephen Bunting
Niels Zonneveld vs Cameron Menzies
Gerwyn Price vs Rob Cross
James Wade vs Damon Heta
Luke Humphries vs Ryan Searle
Gian van Veen vs Andrew Gilding
Ross Smith vs Karel Sedlacek

Friday October 23 (6pm)
Round One x8
Ryan Joyce vs Jermaine Wattimena
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Dave Chisnall
Nathan Aspinall vs Cristo Reyes
Jonny Clayton vs Niko Springer
Luke Littler vs William O'Connor
Wessel Nijman vs Martin Schindler
Kevin Doets vs Michael van Gerwen
Josh Rock vs Chris Dobey

Saturday October 24
Afternoon Session (12pm)
Round Two x4 - order of games TBC
Smith/Sedlacek vs Wade/Heta
Van Veen/Gilding vs Woodhouse/Van Duijvenbode
Zonneveld/Menzies vs Price/Cross
Noppert/Bunting vs Humphries/Searle

Evening Session (6pm)
Round Two x4 - order of games TBC
Nijman/Schindler vs Joyce/Wattimena
Clayton/Springer vs Rock/Dobey
Ratajski/Chisnall vs Doets/Van Gerwen
Aspinall/Reyes vs Littler/O'Connor

Sunday October 25 - PLEASE NOTE CLOCKS GO BACK OVERNIGHT
Afternoon Session (12pm)
Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (6pm)
Semi-Finals
Final

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