2008 European Championship

Darts tournamentTemplate:SHORTDESC:Darts tournament
The **2008 PartyPoker.net European Championship** was the inaugural edition of the Professional Darts Corporation tournament, which thereafter was promoted as the annual European Championship, matching top European players qualifying to play against the highest ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit.

The details of the tournament were first announced on 11 August 2008, and the event was played from 30 October–2 November 2008 at the Südbahnhof in Frankfurt, Germany, the inaugural tournament featured a field of 32 players and £200,000 in prize money, with a £50,000 prize for the winner.

Phil Taylor won the tournament, by defeating Adrian Lewis 11–5 in the final.

## Format

Each game had to be won by two clear legs, except that a game went to a sudden death leg if a further six legs did not separate the players; for example, a first round match played out to 7–7 is then decided with one sudden death leg.

 Second
 Semi-finals
 Final

## Prize money

A total of £200,000 was on offer to the players.

This is the breakdown of the prize fund:

## Qualification

The top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2008 World Grand Prix automatically qualified for the event, with the top 8 seeded. Then, the top 8 non-qualified players from the 2008 Players Championship Order of Merit after the October German Darts Trophy in Dinslaken, Germany joined them to make a field of 24.

The remaining places came from the leading 4 non-qualified players from the 2008 Continental Europe Order of Merit, following the October German Darts Trophy in Dinslaken, the top two non-qualified players from the German Darts Corporation rankings on 25 October, and the last two places from a qualifier event held in Dinslaken on 26 October - an event which was open to any player with a full PDPA membership.

1. **Phil Taylor**  **(Champion)**
2. Raymond van Barneveld  *(Quarter-finals)*
3. James Wade  *(Second round)*
4. John Part  *(First round)*
5. Terry Jenkins  *(First round)*
6. Colin Lloyd  *(First round)*
7. Andy Hamilton  *(First round)*
8. Wayne Mardle  *(Second round)*
9. Adrian Lewis  *(Runner-Up)*
10. Alan Tabern  *(Quarter-finals)*
11. Dennis Priestley  *(Second round)*
12. Roland Scholten  *(First round)*
13. Mervyn King  *(Second round)*
14. Colin Osborne  *(First round)*
15. Ronnie Baxter  *(Quarter-finals)*
16. Peter Manley  *(Semi-finals)*
1. Denis Ovens  *(Second round)*
2. Robert Thornton  *(Semi-finals)*
3. Mark Walsh  *(Quarter-finals)*
4. Chris Mason  *(First round)*
5. Kevin Painter  *(First round)*
6. Vincent van der Voort  *(First round)*
7. Alex Roy  *(First round)*
8. Wayne Jones  *(First round)*
1. Carlos Rodríguez  *(Second round)*
2. Mensur Suljović  *(Second round)*
3. Jelle Klaasen  *(Second round)*
4. Jan van der Rassel  *(First round)*

**German Darts Corporation Order of Merit Qualifiers**
1. Andree Welge  *(First round)*
2. Hannes Schnier  *(First round)*

**PDPA Qualifiers**
* Jacko Barry  *(First round)*
* Andy Jenkins  *(First round)*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 European Championship Details Confirmed. PDC.
2. ↑ Taylor Rules Europe!. PDC.
3. ↑ Top 16 For European Championship Confirmed. PDC.
4. ↑ European Championship Draw & Schedule of Play. PDC.