2019 Unibet European Championship Preview

The 2019 Unibet European Championship gets underway on Thursday at the Lokhalle in Göttingen, Germany as James Wade begins his title defence against Jonny Clayton on the opening night. The Unibet European Championship will be held from October 24-27, with the top 32 players from the 2019 European Tour competing for £500,000 in prize money. The tournament will be broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK, on PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers and through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7. Wade defeated Simon Whitlock 11-8 in last year's gripping final in Dortmund having survived missed match darts in both his quarter-final win over Gerwyn Price and a dramatic semi-final against German favourite Max Hopp. The title came just 13 days after Wade became a father for the first time to son Arthur, and the ten-time televised PDC champion holds fond memories of last year's triumph. "I do have fond memories of winning this event last year, it meant a lot to me," said Wade, who hit a nine-dart finish on the European Tour in March. “I'd won TV titles before but I'd never made the most of them and that one was extra special because it was for Arthur. "I felt emotional after I won it. I've been through some tough times in my career and winning this last year was a really sweet moment after coming through it all. "But that's gone now and my focus is on this weekend and giving the best performance I can. I'm a dangerous player and I know what I'm capable of." Thursday's action-packed opening session will begin with a clash between European Darts Matchplay winner Joe Cullen and Mervyn King before a meeting between former European Championship winners Adrian Lewis and Whitlock. Michael van Gerwen will begin his quest for a third televised title in as many weeks against Ross Smith after winning the World Grand Prix and Champions League over the past fortnight. The world number one, Unibet’s 6/4 pre-tournament favourite, is confident of regaining his European Championship title after losing out in last year’s second round. "Last year was very disappointing for myself, fair play to Steve West he played a great game to beat me," said Van Gerwen, who held the European Championship title from 2014 to 2017. "This tournament is important to me because I play all year on the European Tour to be number one seed here. "Last weekend was a phenomenal weekend of high-standard darts for me, I didn't have one average under 100. "There's lots of TV tournaments coming up and that's a really nice position to be in because I love to perform on stage, especially when I'm playing well and winning things." Day One also sees Rob Cross in action against Darren Webster, while Danish Darts Open winner Dave Chisnall takes on Dimitri Van den Bergh. Ian White, a winner of two European Tour titles in 2019, will play Michael Smith in Friday afternoon's star attraction, as Peter Wright faces the test of rising Dutch talent Jeffrey de Zwaan. 2019 European Tour winners Gerwyn Price, Mensur Suljovic, Krzysztof Ratajski and Jamie Hughes will also get their campaigns underway on the afternoon of Day Two. Friday's evening session will see the opening four second round ties take place, before the remaining four are played on Saturday evening. The quarter-finals will kick-off Sunday's final day of action, followed by the semi-finals and final in the evening. 2019 Unibet European Championship Thursday October 24 Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST) First Round x8 Joe Cullen v Mervyn King Dave Chisnall v Dimitri Van den Bergh Glen Durrant v Ricky Evans Adrian Lewis v Simon Whitlock Rob Cross v Darren Webster James Wade v Jonny Clayton Michael van Gerwen v Ross Smith Daryl Gurney v William O'Connor Friday October 25 Afternoon Session (1245 local time, 1145 BST) First Round x8 Jamie Hughes v Jermaine Wattimena Keegan Brown v Stephen Bunting Krzysztof Ratajski v Chris Dobey Nathan Aspinall v Steve Beaton Mensur Suljovic v Vincent van der Voort Ian White v Michael Smith Peter Wright v Jeffrey de Zwaan Gerwyn Price v Ted Evetts Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST) Second Round x4 Cullen/King v Cross/Webster Gurney/O'Connor v Lewis/Whitlock Chisnall/Van den Bergh v Wade/Clayton Van Gerwen/R Smith v Durrant/Evans Saturday October 26 Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST) Second Round x4 Suljovic/Van der Voort v Ratajski/Dobey White/M Smith v Brown/Bunting Price/Evetts v Aspinall/Beaton Wright/De Zwaan v Hughes/Wattimena Sunday October 27 (1245 local time, 1145 BST) Afternoon Session Quarter-Finals Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT) Semi-Finals & Final Draw Bracket (1) Michael van Gerwen v (32) Ross Smith (16) Glen Durrant v (17) Ricky Evans (8) Joe Cullen v (25) Mervyn King (9) Rob Cross v (24) Darren Webster (5) Dave Chisnall v (28) Dimitri Van den Bergh (12) James Wade v (21) Jonny Clayton (4) Daryl Gurney v (29) William O'Connor (13) Adrian Lewis v (20) Simon Whitlock (2) Ian White v (31) Michael Smith (15) Keegan Brown v (18) Stephen Bunting (7) Peter Wright v (26) Jeffrey de Zwaan (10) Jamie Hughes v (23) Jermaine Wattimena (6) Mensur Suljovic v (27) Vincent van der Voort (11) Krzysztof Ratajski v (22) Chris Dobey (3) Gerwyn Price v (30) Ted Evetts (14) Nathan Aspinall v (19) Steve Beaton Prize Fund Winner £120,000 Runner-Up £60,000 Semi-Finalists £32,000 Quarter-Finalists £20,000 Second Round Losers £10,000 First Round Losers £6,000 Total £500,000 Format First Round - Best of 11 legs Second Round - Best of 19 legs Quarter-Finals - Best of 19 legs Semi-Finals - Best of 21 legs Final - Best of 21 legs