World champion Luke Littler will face William O'Connor in his European Championship Darts opener, while Gian van Veen starts his title defence against Andrew Gilding on Thursday in Dortmund.
Littler, who won two of the three European Tour events he played this year, will look to halt a poor run of form. He lost in the quarter-finals of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, in the first round at the World Grand Prix and in the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship. He had been chasing a historic clean sweep of the year's major trophies, but Jonny Clayton derailed that bid in the Netherlands.
Dutch No 1 Van Veen, who set a new record average on the European Tour this weekend, has fond memories of Dortmund. He secured his maiden Premier title there 12 months ago before reaching the World Championship final in January. The 24-year-old has also enjoyed a successful European Tour year, making the final of the season opener in Poland and three consecutive semi-finals in the last three events.
Following the Dutch Darts Championship, where Niels Zonneveld won his first-ever European Tour title, the 32-player field was confirmed. Ross Smith, a winner of two European Tour titles this year, is the top seed and faces Karel Sedlacek. Luke Humphries, world No 2 and last year's runner-up, starts as 12th seed against Ryan Searle. Other notable ties include Gerwyn Price vs Rob Cross and Kevin Doets against four-time champion Michael van Gerwen. The action gets under way at Dortmund's Westfalenhallen on Thursday, with a top prize of £150,000 up for grabs on Sunday October 25.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing