2020 European Championship (darts)

The 2020 Unibet European Championship was the thirteenth edition of the Professional Darts Corporation's European Championship tournament, which saw the top players from the four European tour events compete against each other. The tournament took place from 29 October–1 November 2020 at the König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany, having been moved from its original venue of the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund.[1]

2020 Unibet European Championship
Tournament information
Dates	29 October–1 November 2020
Venue	König Pilsener Arena
Location	Oberhausen
Country	Germany
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs
Prize fund	£500,000
Winner's share	£120,000
Nine-dart finish	José de Sousa (First round)
High checkout	170 Max Hopp (First round)
Champion(s)
Peter Wright
«2019 2021»

Rob Cross was the defending champion after defeating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the 2019 final. However, he was beaten 6–3 by Martijn Kleermaker in the first round, as was top seed Joe Cullen in another upset, who lost to William O'Connor by the same scoreline.

Peter Wright won the tournament for the first time with an 11–4 win over James Wade in the final.

José de Sousa hit a nine-darter in his first-round match with Jeffrey de Zwaan, which he won 6–3.

Prize money

The 2020 European Championship has a total prize fund of £500,000, the same as its previous edition.[2]

The following is the breakdown of the fund:

Position (no. of players)		Prize Money (Total: £500,000)
Winner	(1)	£120,000
Runner-Up	(1)	£60,000
Semi-finalists	(2)	£32,000
Quarter-finalists	(4)	£20,000
Last 16  (Second round)	(8)	£10,000
Last 32  (First round)	(16)	£6,000

Qualification

The 2020 tournament continued the new qualification system used in the two previous editions: the top 32 players from the European Tour Order of Merit qualified for the tournament.[3] The Order of Merit is solely based on prize money won in the four European tour events during the season, reduced from the planned 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As with the previous tournaments, players were drawn in a fixed bracket by their seeded order with the top qualifier playing the 32nd, the second playing the 31st and so on.

Glen Durrant (who would've been 23rd seed) had to withdraw from the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19 the week before,[4] allowing William O'Connor to enter the tournament as the 32nd seed.[3]

The following players qualified for the tournament:

1. Joe Cullen (First round)
2. Gerwyn Price (Second round)
3. José de Sousa (Second round)
4. Devon Petersen (Semi-finals)
5. Michael van Gerwen (Second round)
6. Michael Smith (Second round)
7. Mensur Suljović (Second round)
8. Nathan Aspinall (Second round)
9. James Wade (Runner-up)
10. Krzysztof Ratajski (First round)
11. Danny Noppert (First round)
12. Mervyn King (First round)
13. Rob Cross (First round)
14. Jonny Clayton (Semi-finals)
15. Peter Wright (Champion)
16. Jamie Hughes (Second round)
17. Dave Chisnall (First round)
18. Gabriel Clemens (First round)
19. Max Hopp (First round)
20. Martijn Kleermaker (Second round)
21. Ian White (Quarter-finals)
22. Dirk van Duijvenbode (Quarter-finals)
23. Steve West (Quarter-finals)
24. Steve Lennon (First round)
25. Maik Kuivenhoven (First round)
26. Daryl Gurney (First round)
27. Ross Smith (First round)
28. Darius Labanauskas (First round)
29. Andy Hamilton (First round)
30. Jeffrey de Zwaan (First round)
31. Kim Huybrechts (First round)
32. William O'Connor (Quarter-finals)

Draw

	First round (best of 11 legs) 29 October					Second round (best of 19 legs) 30 October					Quarter-finals (best of 19 legs) 31 October					Semi-finals (best of 21 legs) 1 November					Final (best of 21 legs) 1 November
	1	Joe Cullen 86.05	3
	32	William O'Connor 88.17	6
						32	William O'Connor 95.26	10
						16	Jamie Hughes 83.63	3
	16	Jamie Hughes 94.22	6
	17	Dave Chisnall 92.66	5
											32	William O'Connor 91.65	4
											9	James Wade 98.69	10
	8	Nathan Aspinall 86.68	6
	25	Maik Kuivenhoven 82.21	3
						8	Nathan Aspinall 95.72	8
						9	James Wade 96.75	10
	9	James Wade 92.42	6
	24	Steve Lennon 93.02	5
																9	James Wade 94.51	11
																4	Devon Petersen 97.38	10
	4	Devon Petersen 95.29	6
	29	Andy Hamilton 87.69	1
						4	Devon Petersen 101.09	10
						20	Martijn Kleermaker 91.40	8
	13	Rob Cross 95.18	3
	20	Martijn Kleermaker 91.15	6
											4	Devon Petersen 106.30	10
											21	Ian White 94.13	6
	5	Michael van Gerwen 103.13	6
	28	Darius Labanauskas 100.06	1
						5	Michael van Gerwen 101.95	4
						21	Ian White 103.64	10
	12	Mervyn King 86.66	2
	21	Ian White 91.83	6
																					9	James Wade 95.28	4
																					15	Peter Wright 104.33	11
	2	Gerwyn Price 103.68	6
	31	Kim Huybrechts 87.00	1
						2	Gerwyn Price 100.76	6
						15	Peter Wright 102.70	10
	15	Peter Wright 104.73	6
	18	Gabriel Clemens 100.36	3
											15	Peter Wright 104.19	10
											23	Steve West 98.21	6
	7	Mensur Suljović 90.96	6
	26	Daryl Gurney 84.52	2
						7	Mensur Suljović 95.01	9
						23	Steve West 97.19	10
	10	Krzysztof Ratajski 99.76	5
	23	Steve West 95.19	6
																15	Peter Wright 102.06	11
																14	Jonny Clayton 100.95	8
	3	José de Sousa 95.32	6
	30	Jeffrey de Zwaan 87.65	3
						3	José de Sousa 98.75	6
						14	Jonny Clayton 98.49	10
	14	Jonny Clayton 98.88	6
	19	Max Hopp 97.59	5
											14	Jonny Clayton 88.19	10
											22	Dirk van Duijvenbode 84.21	4
	6	Michael Smith 89.29	6
	27	Ross Smith 91.34	5
						6	Michael Smith 92.63	8
						22	Dirk van Duijvenbode 92.44	10
	11	Danny Noppert 92.93	0
	22	Dirk van Duijvenbode 98.02	6

References

1. Allen, Dave. "2020 European Championship moves to Oberhausen". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
2. Allen, Dave. "Prize Money Soars Above £14m In 2019". PDC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
3. "2020 European Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
4. "Premier League Darts champion Glen Durrant tests positive for coronavirus". Sky Sports. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.