2021 European Championship

Darts tournamentTemplate:SHORTDESC:Darts tournament
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 14–17 October 2021 at the Salzburgarena in Salzburg, Austria.

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. However, he became the third consecutive defending champion to be eliminated in the first round after losing 6–3 to Florian Hempel.

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

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

## Format

The format remained the same as the previous year.

 Second
 Semi-finals
 Final

## Prize money

The 2021 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 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. 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

The draw was made following the conclusion of the 2021 Gibraltar Darts Trophy on 26 September.

## References

1. ↑ Cazoo European Championship heading to Salzburg. Professional Darts Corporation.
2. ↑ Terrific Wright wins Unibet European Championship. Professional Darts Corporation.
3. ↑ Cross denies Van Gerwen to end title drought at Cazoo European Championship. Professional Darts Corporation.
4. ↑ Prize Money Soars Above £14m In 2019. PDC.
5. ↑ 2020 European Tour Order of Merit.
6. ↑ Cazoo European Championship field & draw confirmed. Professional Darts Corporation.