2021 European Championship (darts)

The 2021 Cazoo European Championship was the fourteenth edition of the Professional Darts Corporation's European Championship tournament, which saw the top players from the two European tour events compete against each other. The tournament took place from 14 to 17 October 2021 at the Salzburgarena in Salzburg, Austria.[1]

2021 Cazoo European Championship
Tournament information
Dates14–17 October 2021
VenueSalzburgarena
LocationSalzburg
Country Austria
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£500,000
Winner's share£120,000
High checkout170  Danny Noppert
(second round)
Champion(s)
 Rob Cross
«20202022»

Peter Wright was the defending champion, having won the tournament for the first time with an 11–4 win over James Wade in the 2020 final.[2] However, he became the third consecutive defending champion to be eliminated in the first round after losing 6–3 to Florian Hempel.[3]

Rob Cross won his second European Championship title after defeating Michael van Gerwen 11–8 in a repeat of the 2017 final.[4]

In the quarter-finals, Gerwyn Price's average of 107.56 against van Gerwen became the highest ever losing average at a European Championship.

Prize money

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The 2021 European Championship had a total prize fund of £500,000, the same as its previous edition.[5]

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

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The 2021 tournament continued the new qualification system used in the three previous editions: the top 32 players from the European Tour Order of Merit qualified for the tournament.[6] The Order of Merit is solely based on prize money won in the two European tour events during the season.

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.

The following players qualified for the tournament:

  1.  Gerwyn Price (quarter-finals)
  2.  Mensur Suljović (quarter-finals)
  3.  Brendan Dolan (second round)
  4.  Michael Smith (first round)
  5.  Nathan Aspinall (semi-finals)
  6.  José de Sousa (quarter-finals)
  7.  Simon Whitlock (first round)
  8.  Michael van Gerwen (runner-up)
  9.  James Wade (second round)
  10.  Joe Cullen (semi-finals)
  11.  Luke Humphries (second round)
  12.  Damon Heta (second round)
  13.  Krzysztof Ratajski (first round)
  14.  Rob Cross (champion)
  15.  Peter Wright (first round)
  16.  Adam Gawlas (second round)
  17.  Joe Murnan (first round)
  18.  Florian Hempel (second round)
  19.  Keane Barry (first round)
  20.  Danny Noppert (quarter-finals)
  21.  Gabriel Clemens (first round)
  22.  Callan Rydz (first round)
  23.  Ted Evetts (first round)
  24.  Adam Smith-Neale (first round)
  25.  Boris Krčmar (first round)
  26.  William Borland (second round)
  27.  Lewy Williams (first round)
  28.  Mervyn King (first round)
  29.  Ryan Searle (second round)
  30.  Kim Huybrechts (first round)
  31.  Adam Hunt (first round)
  32.  Ritchie Edhouse (first round)

Draw

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First round
(best of 11 legs)
14–15 October
Second round
(best of 19 legs)
16 October
Quarter-finals
(best of 19 legs)
17 October
Semi-finals
(best of 21 legs)
17 October
Final
(best of 21 legs)
17 October
               
1  Gerwyn Price 104.536
32  Ritchie Edhouse 86.972
1  Gerwyn Price 102.9610
16  Adam Gawlas 86.923
16  Adam Gawlas 88.756
17  Joe Murnan 87.214
1  Gerwyn Price 107.568
8  Michael van Gerwen 107.7410
8  Michael van Gerwen 100.456
25  Boris Krčmar 92.782
8  Michael van Gerwen 98.1510
9  James Wade 97.024
9  James Wade 92.936
24  Adam Smith-Neale 87.425
8  Michael van Gerwen 103.4111
5  Nathan Aspinall 102.2910
4  Michael Smith 101.985
29  Ryan Searle 101.906
29  Ryan Searle 101.034
20  Danny Noppert 101.2110
13  Krzysztof Ratajski 94.302
20  Danny Noppert 102.316
20  Danny Noppert 99.979
5  Nathan Aspinall 103.3410
5  Nathan Aspinall 90.676
28  Mervyn King 95.204
5  Nathan Aspinall 100.9610
12  Damon Heta 101.666
12  Damon Heta 94.126
21  Gabriel Clemens 96.073
8  Michael van Gerwen 93.668
14  Rob Cross 92.9111
2  Mensur Suljović 90.766
31  Adam Hunt 88.222
2  Mensur Suljović 93.0010
18  Florian Hempel 91.269
15  Peter Wright 92.133
18  Florian Hempel 86.946
2  Mensur Suljović 90.117
10  Joe Cullen 95.3910
7  Simon Whitlock 87.773
26  William Borland 87.786
26  William Borland 87.895
10  Joe Cullen 89.2410
10  Joe Cullen 94.936
23  Ted Evetts 85.840
10  Joe Cullen 87.323
14  Rob Cross 96.7411
3  Brendan Dolan 95.956
30  Kim Huybrechts 92.472
3  Brendan Dolan 93.564
14  Rob Cross 97.6110
14  Rob Cross 84.506
19  Keane Barry 85.663
14  Rob Cross 93.9110
6  José de Sousa 94.705
6  José de Sousa 89.736
27  Lewy Williams 94.514
6  José de Sousa 95.3310
11  Luke Humphries 99.088
11  Luke Humphries 94.366
22  Callan Rydz 87.735

References

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  1. ^ Phillips, Josh. "Cazoo European Championship heading to Salzburg". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  2. ^ Allen, Dave. "Terrific Wright wins Unibet European Championship". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Hempel stuns Defending champion Wright". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  4. ^ Phillips, Josh. "Cross denies Van Gerwen to end title drought at Cazoo European Championship". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  5. ^ Allen, Dave. "Prize Money Soars Above £14m In 2019". PDC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. ^ "2020 European Tour Order of Merit". PDC. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.