2020 European Championship

Darts tournamentTemplate:SHORTDESC:Darts tournament
The **2020 Unibet European Championship** was the thirteenth edition of the Professional Darts Corporation's European Championship tournament, which saw the top players from the four European tour events compete against each other. The tournament took place from 29 October–1 November 2020 at the König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany, having been moved from its original venue of the Westfalenhallen in Dortmund.

Rob Cross was the defending champion after defeating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the 2019 final, however, he was beaten 6–3 by Martijn Kleermaker in the first round.

Peter Wright won the tournament for the first time with an 11–4 win over James Wade in the final.

José de Sousa hit a nine-dart finish in his 6–3 first-round win over Jeffrey de Zwaan.

## Format

The format remained the same as the previous year.

 Second
 Semi-finals
 Final

## Prize money

The 2020 European Championship had a total prize fund of £500,000, the same as its previous edition.

The following is the breakdown of the fund:

 **First round** | (16) | £6,000

## Qualification

The 2020 tournament continued the new qualification system used in the two previous editions: the top 32 players from the European Tour Order of Merit qualified for the tournament. The Order of Merit is solely based on prize money won in the four European tour events during the season, reduced from the planned 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Glen Durrant (who would've been 23rd seed) had to withdraw from the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19 the week before, allowing William O'Connor to enter the tournament as the 32nd seed.

The following players qualified for the tournament:

1. Joe Cullen  *(First round)*
2. Gerwyn Price  *(Second round)*
3. José de Sousa  *(Second round)*
4. Devon Petersen  *(Semi-finals)*
5. Michael van Gerwen  *(Second round)*
6. Michael Smith  *(Second round)*
7. Mensur Suljović  *(Second round)*
8. Nathan Aspinall  *(Second round)*
9. James Wade  *(Runner-up)*
10. Krzysztof Ratajski  *(First round)*
11. Danny Noppert  *(First round)*
12. Mervyn King  *(First round)*
13. Rob Cross  *(First round)*
14. Jonny Clayton  *(Semi-finals)*
15. **Peter Wright**  **(Champion)**
16. Jamie Hughes  *(Second round)*
17. Dave Chisnall  *(First round)*
18. Gabriel Clemens  *(First round)*
19. Max Hopp  *(First round)*
20. Martijn Kleermaker  *(Second round)*
21. Ian White  *(Quarter-finals)*
22. Dirk van Duijvenbode  *(Quarter-finals)*
23. Steve West  *(Quarter-finals)*
24. Steve Lennon  *(First round)*
25. Maik Kuivenhoven  *(First round)*
26. Daryl Gurney  *(First round)*
27. Ross Smith  *(First round)*
28. Darius Labanauskas  *(First round)*
29. Andy Hamilton  *(First round)*
30. Jeffrey de Zwaan  *(First round)*
31. Kim Huybrechts  *(First round)*
32. William O'Connor  *(Quarter-finals)*

## Draw

The draw was made following the conclusion of the 2020 International Darts Open on 25 October.

## References

1. ↑ 2020 European Championship moves to Oberhausen. Professional Darts Corporation.
2. ↑ Cross Leaves Europe Victorious. *PDC.tv* (27 October 2019).
3. ↑ Terrific Wright wins Unibet European Championship. Professional Darts Corporation.
4. ↑ Prize Money Soars Above £14m In 2019. PDC.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 2020 European Tour Order of Merit.
6. ↑ Premier League Darts champion Glen Durrant tests positive for coronavirus (22 October 2020).
7. ↑ 2020 Unibet European Championship Field & Draw. Professional Darts Corporation.