Luke Humphries (Picture: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe)

European Championship 2022: Darts betting tips, preview and predictions for the ITV4-televised major in Germany

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu October 27, 2022 · 2y ago

The European Championship takes place in Dortmund from October 27-30 - live on ITV4 - and our expert Chris Hammer brings you his preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: European Championship

1pt e.w. Luke Humphries to win the European Championship at 18/1 (Sky Bet 1/2, 1,2)

1pt e.w. Damon Heta to win the European Championship at 20/1 (bet365 1/2, 1,2)

1pt e.w. Dave Chisnall to win the European Championship at 33/1 (Sky Bet 1/2, 1,2)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

This is the first European Championship since 2019 when the seedings have been based on a full season of European Tour action and as a result, the draw bracket doesn't look quite as unusual as the previous two stagings when very few events were staged due to the pandemic.

That said, the sight of Gerwyn Price as 17th seed is an obvious outliner having only played in seven of the 13 tournaments and although he managed to win the very first of the season at the International Darts Open, he suffered early exits in all of his other six.

Luke Humphries is the top seed thanks to winning no fewer than four of the events between April and July but that could become a familiar sight in majors of the future if he continues his rapid ascent up the ranks.

As usual for major previews, I'll run through each quarter of the draw...

Quarter one

(1) Luke Humphries v Krzysztof Ratajski (32)
(16) Ryan Searle v Martin Lukeman (17)
(8) Michael Smith v Karel Sedlacek (25)
(9) Nathan Aspinall v Josh Rock (24)

Odds to win the quarter: Smith 3/1, Aspinall 7/2, Humphries 4/1, Rock 5/1, Searle 6/1, Ratajski 15/2, Lukeman 14/1, Sedlacek 22/1

As previously mentioned Luke Humphries is top seed by virtue of winning four European Tour events earlier in the season and although his form has cooled off somewhat during the autumn months, he's still produced plenty of encourage displays to warrant a flutter in the outright markets.

The Newbury man averaged 100+ in five of his seven matches during Sunday's Players Championship event, including the final when he ran into an inspired Josh Rock, while he reached the quarter-finals of his last two European Tour outings over the past couple of months.

Of the players in the field who regularly play in majors, his seasonal average of over 97 is among the top five alongside MVG, Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Damon Heta while he remains one of the most explosive 180 hitters in the game.

He's very closely followed by rising star Rock at 5/1 in the quarter betting and he'll have plenty of interest following his maiden PDC title on Sunday.

The 21-year-old from Northern Ireland has enjoyed a stunning season on the ProTour and his average of 98.14 puts him in the top five overall and is even higher than the likes of Jonny Clayton, Humphries, Wright and Price.

However, a first-round exit at this year's UK Open is his only taste of major darts action and that has to be taken into consideration. That's not to say he hasn't got some decent experience on a big stage having reached two quarter-finals on the European Tour in recent weeks and those runs included victories over Clayton, Michael Smith and Heta.

He finds himself in the same mini section as a slightly out of form Bully Boy and recent World Grand Prix runner-up Nathan Aspinall, who vie for favouritism in this quarter, so it couldn't really be tougher for him.

It's really hard to pick which of those three will come through to the quarter-finals and given none of their prices look value given the circumstances of the draw, I'm going to side with Humphries in the 'slightly' easier section.

First-round opponent Krzysztof Ratajski has endured a disappointing season by his standards - as has Ryan Searle since winning a ProTour title back in April - while Martin Lukeman will lack the firepower should they meet in round two.

Verdict: Humphries to win the quarter and an each-way tip for the title

Click here to back Luke Humphries to win the European Championship each-way with Sky Bet

Quarter two

(4) Rob Cross v James Wade (29)
(13) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Madars Razma (20)
(5) Damon Heta v Vincent van der Voort (28)
(12) Danny Noppert v Andrew Gilding (21)

Odds to win the quarter: van Duijvenbode 10/3, Heta 7/2, Noppert 4/1, Cross 5/1, Wade 13/2, Gilding 12/1, van der Voort 16/1, Razma 18/1

Dirk van Duijvenbode is the marginal favourite to come through this quarter but you can make a serious case for Damon Heta, Danny Noppert, Rob Cross and James Wade.

On very recent form and average stats, you can't really look past Damon Heta, who actually defeated 'Aubergenius' 8-4 in last Friday's Players Championship final to pick up his third individual title of the season.

The Heat's average of 103.5 was his third highest of the day while he posted a total of 13 100+ averages in his 20 matches over the four days of Pro Tour action, including a mammoth 114 against van Duijvenbode en route to Sunday's semi-finals.

All this came off the back of winning the Gibraltar Darts Trophy a weekend earlier, when he beat Michael van Gerwen 7-6 in a thrilling semi-final with an average of 102 before surviving more insane deciding leg drama against Peter Wright in the final.

That was huge for Heta because he hadn't won an individual title in a stage event since the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters and questions were being asked about whether he could transfer in stunning floor form to bigger arenas.

Gibraltar hardly counts as one of those but it's a start, while we must also mention how well he performed in helping Australia win the World Cup of Darts in Germany several months ago.

I did back Noppert for glory at the World Grand Prix earlier this month but his form has been patchy since his disappointing second-round exit in Leicester and although the UK Open champion has got a better track record in majors than Heta, I'd rather go with a player in such a hot streak.

If he reaches the quarter-finals then he could well come up against Cross, who played very well in reaching the Gibraltar semi-finals and could have gone further had he not run into Wright averaging 109. The defending European champion did get his revenge on Snakebite by defeating him to win his second tournament of the season in Saturday's Players Championship event while his stats have been trending in the right direction all year.

Verdict: Heta to beat Cross in the quarter-finals and an each-way tip for the title

Click here to back Damon Heta to win the European Championship each-way with Sky Bet

Quarter three

(2) Michael van Gerwen v Chris Dobey (31)
(15) Jose de Sousa v Martin Schindler (18)
(7) Dave Chisnall v Stephen Bunting (26)
(10) Jonny Clayton v Gabriel Clemens (23)

Odds to win the quarter: Van Gerwen 11/8, Clayton 10/3, Chisnall 13/2, de Sousa 17/2, Clemens 12/1, Bunting 12/1, Dobey 14/1, Schindler 14/1

Michael van Gerwen is a very fair favourite to come through this quarter and he'll no doubt have plenty of backers at 11/2 to win this title for the fifth time and first since 2017.

MVG has won nine titles this year, including the Premier League, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix, while in his only event since achieving double-start glory in Leicester, he reached the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Darts Trophy before losing to Damon Heta with a 102 average.

He opted to miss all four Players Championship events last week and will arrive in Dortmund fresh and raring to go.

However, he is in the toughest half of the draw on paper given that Gerwyn Price or Peter Wright could await in the semi-finals but his quarter is fraught with danger in the shape of Dave Chisnall and Jonny Clayton.

Chizzy in particular has enjoyed a superb autumn having won the Belgian Darts Open at the end of September and then produced a string of dazzling displays last week to claim Thursday's Players Championship title.

The St Helens man recorded five 100+ averages in his seven matches, including a 114 against Luke Humphries, and also defeated Gerwyn Price before overcoming in-form Josh Rock in the final.

It's great to see Chisnall playing the kind of darts that could finally win him a maiden major title and you'd like to think there would be a little less pressure away from home in one of the more lower key televised tournaments.

Verdict: Chisnall to win the quarter and an each-way tip for the title

Click here to back Dave Chisnall to win the European Championship each-way with Sky Bet

Quarter four

(3) Peter Wright v Ryan Meikle (30)
(14) Gerwyn Price v Rowby-John Rodriguez (19)
(6) Joe Cullen v Ross Smith (27)
(11) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Daryl Gurney (22)

Odds to win the quarter: Wright 15/8, Price 2/1, Van den Bergh 9/2, Cullen 11/2, Gurney 14/1, Smith 16/1, Rodriguez 20/1, Meikle 50/1

It's hard to split Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price in this quarter of death and they'll meet as early as the second round thanks to the Iceman's lowly 14th seeding.

As mentioned at the top of this preview, the Welshman has only entered seven of the 13 European Tour events and didn't do very well in any of the six that followed the season opening International Darts Open, which he won by defeating Wright in the final.

His European Tour form doesn't really count for much as we head deeper into the business end of the season and he'll be eager to pick up a major trophy he's never managed to lift before.

Since being stunned by Nathan Aspinall in the World Grand Prix semi-finals, Price suffered a second-round exit to Mensur Suljovic at the Gibraltar Darts Trophy and although he reached two Players Championship semi-finals last week, his performance level wasn't as blockbusting as we'd come to expect.

That's partly why Wright is very marginally favourite to get through this quarter, which also includes the highly dangerous duo of Joe Cullen and Dimitri Van den Bergh, and he so nearly added to his title tally on Saturday when losing to Cross in a Players Championship final.

Snakebite averaged 100+ across the three days but that will hardly be a crumb of comfort having also suffered an agonising defeat to Heta in the Gibraltar Darts Trophy final a week earlier.

Just like Price, Wright was looking a firm contender for World Grand Prix glory until his doubling fell apart in an embarrassing semi-final defeat to MVG but he's put that behind him now and is gunning for a repeat of his exploits at the 2020 European Championship.

Verdict: Price to beat Wright en route to winning the quarter

European Championship: Daily schedule & results

Click here for Sky Bet odds

Thursday October 27
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
First Round (Best of 11 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Madars Razma
Ryan Searle v Martin Lukeman
Danny Noppert v Andrew Gilding
Rob Cross v James Wade
Luke Humphries v Krzysztof Ratajski
Nathan Aspinall v Josh Rock
Michael Smith v Karel Sedlacek
Damon Heta v Vincent van der Voort

Friday October 28
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
First Round (Best of 11 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

Dave Chisnall v Stephen Bunting
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Daryl Gurney
Joe Cullen v Ross Smith
Jose de Sousa v Martin Schindler
Peter Wright v Ryan Meikle
Gerwyn Price v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Michael van Gerwen v Chris Dobey
Jonny Clayton v Gabriel Clemens

Saturday October 29
Afternoon Session (1345 local time, 1245 BST)
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

Four Matches

Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: ITV4

Four Matches

Sunday October 30
Afternoon Session (1345 local time, 1245 BST)
TV Channel: ITV4
Quarter-Finals (Best of 19 legs)

Four Matches

Evening Session (2000 BST)
TV Channel: ITV4
Semi-Final (Best of 21 legs)

Winner QF 1 v Winner QF 2
Winner QF 3 v Winner QF 4

Final (Best of 21 legs)

Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

European Championship odds

Click here for more darts odds from Sky Bet

What channel is the European Championship Darts on?

The European Championship will be broadcast on ITV4 in the UK, through the PDC's international broadcast partners including RTL7 and DAZN, through PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers and via matchroom.live.