The 2017

Unibet Unibet provides a platform for sports betting, online casino, bingo and online poker to over 11 million customers in over 100 countries. Unibet is a part of Kindred Group–an online gambling operator which consists of 11 brands along with Maria Ca ...

European Championship was the tenth edition of the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

tournament, the European Championship, which saw the top players from the twelve European tour events compete against each other. The tournament took place from 26–29 October 2017 at the

Ethias Arena The Trixxo Arena is the largest multipurpose arena in Hasselt, Limburg, Belgium used for music concerts, sports (tennis, indoor cycling, jumping, etc.) and other large events. It opened in September 2004 at a total construction cost of €11.7milli ...

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

was the three-time defending champion, having beaten

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (BD ...

11–1 in the final of the 2016 tournament, and he retained once again to capture his fourth title, by defeating Rob Cross 11–7 in the final. Notably, Kyle Anderson hit a

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

in his semi-final defeat to van Gerwen, in which he also missed two match darts to win the match himself. Former World champions Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson,

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

and

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

were notable absences at the tournament after taking part in none or too few European Tour events to qualify.

Prize money

The 2017 European Championship will have a total prize fund of £400,000, equal the amount of the last staging of the tournament. The following is the breakdown of the fund:

Qualification

The 2017 tournament continues the new system in terms of qualification of the 2016 edition: The top 32 players from the European Tour Order of Merit, which is solely based on prize money won in the twelve European tour events during the season, qualifying for the tournament. New regulations affected the prize money counting for seeds at all European Tour Events: If a seeded player loses in the second round (seeds enter already at second stage of the events), they still receive the full prize money payment, but their prize money will not count towards any Orders of Merit. The following players will take part in the tournament, with the top 8 players being seeds:

Draw

References

{{European championships in 2017 European Championship (darts) European Championship European Championship Sport in Hasselt October 2017 sports events in Europe