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The 2022 European Championship will be the 15th installment of the tournament under the Professional Darts Corporation banner and will be held from October 27-30 in Dortmund, Germany.
Rob Cross is the defending champion after defeating Michael van Gerwen 11-8 to lift his second European Championship following his first success back in 2019.
The European Championship sees the top 32 players from the European Tour of Merit all take part. The Order of Merit is determined by the amount of prize money won throughout the 13 European Tour events this season.
Luke Humphries is ranked number one with Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Cross and Damon Heta all making up the top five. The rest of the field includes the likes of Joe Cullen, Dave Chisnall, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Jonny Clayton and Dimitri van den Bergh to name a few.
Cross goes up against James Wade in the opening round, while other big fixtures include Heta versus Vincent van der Voort, Humphries against Krzysztof Ratajski and Dave Chisnall versus Stephen Bunting in an all-St Helens affair.
Nathan Aspinall seems to have recovered from his recent injury problems. He was runner-up in the World Grand Prix this season when he lost 5-3 to MVG. He played brilliantly in that tournament, so I am backing him to kick on and show he deserves to be fighting for titles on a regular basis.
Back Aspinall to dispatch Joe Rock in the first round before winning four more matches and being crowned European Champion for the first time.
2022 Cazoo European Championship
Schedule of Play
Thursday October 27 (1845 local time, 1745 BST)
8x First Round
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 (1845 local time, 1745 BST)
8x First Round
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)
4x Second Round
Evening Session (2000 local time, 1900 BST)
4x Second Round
Sunday October 30
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Semi-Finals & Final
Draw Bracket
(1) Luke Humphries v (32) Krzysztof Ratajski
(16) Ryan Searle v (17) Martin Lukeman
(8) Michael Smith v (25) Karel Sedlacek
(9) Nathan Aspinall v (24) Josh Rock
(4) Rob Cross v (29) James Wade
(13) Dirk van Duijvenbode v (20) Madars Razma
(5) Damon Heta v (28) Vincent van der Voort
(12) Danny Noppert v (21) Andrew Gilding
(2) Michael van Gerwen v (31) Chris Dobey
(15) Jose de Sousa v (18) Martin Schindler
(7) Dave Chisnall v (26) Stephen Bunting
(10) Jonny Clayton v (23) Gabriel Clemens
(3) Peter Wright v (30) Ryan Meikle
(14) Gerwyn Price v (19) Rowby-John Rodriguez
(6) Joe Cullen v (27) Ross Smith
(11) Dimitri Van den Bergh v (22) Daryl Gurney
