2025 European Darts Trophy

The 2025 European Darts Trophy, known as the 2025 Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was a professional darts tournament that took place at the Lokhalle in Göttingen, Germany from 21–23 March 2025. It was the second of fourteen PDC European Tour events on the 2025 PDC Pro Tour. It featured a field of 48 players and £175,000 in prize money, with £30,000 going to the winner.

Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion after defeating James Wade 8–3 in the final of the last edition of the event, which was in 2018. However, he lost 7–5 to Ryan Joyce in the semi-finals.

Nathan Aspinall won his first European Tour title by defeating Joyce 8–4 in the final.

Prize money

The prize fund remained at £175,000, with £30,000 to the winner:

* Pre-qualified players from the Orders of Merit who lose in their first match of the event shall not be credited with prize money on any Order of Merit. A player who qualifies as a qualifier, but later becomes a seed due to the withdrawal of one or more other players shall be credited with their prize money on all Orders of Merit regardless of how far they progress in the event.

Qualification and format

In a change from the previous year, the top 16 on the two-year main PDC Order of Merit ranking were now seeded and entered the tournament in the second round, while the 16 qualifiers from the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit ranking entered in the first round. The seedings were confirmed on 7 February.

The remaining 16 places went to players from four qualifying events – 10 from the Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 12 February), four from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 8 February), one from the Nordic & Baltic Associate Member Qualifier (held on 14 February), and one from the East European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 1 February).

The following players took part in the tournament:

:Seeded Players
# ''(quarter-finals)''
# ''(semi-finals)''
# ''(third round)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(third round)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(quarter-finals)''
# (champion)
# ''(second round)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(semi-finals)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(second round)''
# ''(third round)''

:Pro Tour Order of Merit Qualifiers
:* ''(second round)''
:* ''(third round)''
:* ''(quarter-finals)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(third round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(quarter-finals)''
:* ''(third round)''
:* ''(third round)''
:* ''(second round)''
:* ''(third round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(second round)''
:* ''(second round)''
:* ''(second round)''
:* ''(runner-up)''

:Tour Card Qualifier
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(second round)''
:* ''(second round)''
:Host Nation Qualifier
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:* ''(first round)''
:Nordic & Baltic Qualifier
:* ''(first round)''
:East European Qualifier
:* ''(second round)''

Summary

First round

The first round was played on Friday 21 March. Reigning European Champion Ritchie Edhouse progressed to the next round by defeating Kevin Doets 6–2. Belgian Darts Open runner-up Mike De Decker prevailed 6–3 against 2024 Grand Slam of Darts runner-up Martin Lukeman. Ricky Evans defeated Raymond van Barneveld on stage for the first time as he won 6–4; Evans, whose sister Elisha died earlier that month, commented: "I've just won a game of darts after everything I've been through, so I'm the happiest man in Germany right now." Boris Krčmar added to his wins at the Belgian Darts Open with a 6–4 victory over Dirk van Duijvenbode, setting up a match against world number one Luke Humphries in the second round. Recent Players Championship title winner Martin Schindler beat Adam Hunt 6–2. Ryan Joyce whitewashed Joe Cullen, converting two-thirds of his attempts at double in the process. Connor Scutt missed five match darts to allow Gian van Veen to win their tie in a last-leg decider. Wessel Nijman almost conceded victory to a comeback from Paul Krohne but also managed to triumph 6–5. Ross Smith averaged 106.44 in a 6–1 win over Michael Unterbuchner.

Second round

The second round was played on Saturday 22 March, where the 16 seeded players entered the tournament. Michael van Gerwen, who won the tournament in 2017 and 2018, came back from 5–3 down to defeat Germany's Niko Springer 6–5. "We all know good Niko Springer is and I had to fight really hard," Van Gerwen admitted. Luke Humphries battled past Boris Krčmar to win 6–4 to reach the third round. Jermaine Wattimena achieved the second-highest average of his career (111.07) in a 6–4 victory over Chris Dobey. Martin Schindler saw off Jonny Clayton 6–1 while Mike De Decker eliminated Peter Wright 6–4. Nathan Aspinall put an end to a late comeback from Ritchie Edhouse to set up a third-round meeting with Wattimena. Ryan Joyce produced a 167 checkout on his way to a 6–4 victory over Dimitri Van den Bergh. Former world champions Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, Michael Smith and Gary Anderson all advanced.

Final day

The third round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final were played on Sunday 23 March. The final day saw Nathan Aspinall and Ryan Joyce reach the final. Aspinall got past Jermaine Wattimena in a last-leg decider in the third round before a 6–1 rout of Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals. In his semi-final tie against Gary Anderson, Aspinall took the match to another last-leg decider with a dramatic 170 checkout and progressed to the final with a 7–6 win. Joyce followed victories over Rob Cross and Cameron Menzies by stunning Michael van Gerwen 7–5 in the semi-finals. This was Joyce's first European Tour final, while Aspinall was unsuccessful in his only previous final at the 2023 German Darts Grand Prix.

Aspinall broke Joyce's throw in the first leg and established a 4–1 lead. Joyce made the match close by pulling the contest back to scores of 4–3 and 5–4 but Aspinall won the final three legs to win the final. Aspinall averaged 98 with five 180s scored. It was his first European Tour title and his first title overall since winning the 2023 World Matchplay. He became the 38th different player to win a European Tour event. Following his triumph, Aspinall said that after dealing with injuries and dartitis, this was "probably isproudest moment." He also stated: "This is what I needed. This will help me believe in myself and it shows I'm still good enough to compete against the top boys."

Draw

The draw was announced on 20 March. Numbers to the left of players' names show the seedings for the top 16 in the tournament. The figures to the right of a player's name state their three-dart average in a match. Players in bold denote match winners.

Top averages

The table lists all players who achieved an average of at least 100 in a match. In the case one player has multiple records, this is indicated by the number in brackets.

References

{{2025 in PDC darts

European Darts Trophy
2025 PDC Pro Tour
2025 in German sport