{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDC_European_Tour"}
Darts competition

The PDC European Tour is a series of darts tournaments held across Europe organized by the Professional Darts Corporation. Starting in 2012 with five events, the number of events has steadily risen with eight held in 2013 and 2014, nine in 2015, ten in 2016, twelve in 2017, thirteen in both 2018 and 2019, and thirteen once more in 2020 (although that was reduced to four, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic), and only two events took place in 2021, with a return to thirteen events in 2022.

These events see the top players on the PDC ProTour Order of Merit compete against players from six different regional qualifiers. Currently the prize fund for each tournament is £175,000, with £30,000 going to the winner. These events differ from others held on the Pro Tour as they are played on one board in front of an audience. They are not televised, but are streamed on the PDC's subscription service.

Since 2016, the end of the European Tour marks the end of qualification for the European Championship, with the top 32 players on the European Tour Order of Merit comprising the field for the televised premier event.

Locations

Since its inception in 2012, the majority of PDC European Tour events have been held in Germany. The only exception being in 2021, when owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the only two events held that year took place in Hungary and Gibraltar.

Prize money

Prize money for European Tour events rose to £175,000 in 2023. The prize fund has been divided as follows:

Active tournaments

Austrian Darts Open
German Darts Championship
European Darts Open
European Darts Grand Prix
International Darts Open
European Darts Matchplay
German Darts Open
German Darts Grand Prix
Dutch Darts Championship
Czech Darts Open
Hungarian Darts Trophy
Belgian Darts Open
Baltic Sea Darts Open
Former tournaments

UK Masters
German Darts Masters
European Darts Trophy
Danish Darts Open
Austrian Darts Championship
Dutch Darts Masters
Belgian Darts Championship
Gibraltar Darts Trophy
Records and statistics

Total finalist appearances

As of 16 October 2022.
Nine-dart finishes

Thirteen nine-darters have been thrown on the European Tour. The first one was thrown by Michael Smith in the inaugural tournament in Austria in 2012.

After a gap of just over 5 years between nine-darters, the so-called "Curse of Ross Smith" hung over the European Tour, named after Smith, who got his in the 2013 Gibraltar Darts Trophy. Since Michael van Gerwen broke the curse at the 2018 European Darts Matchplay, there have been six more nine-dart finishes.