Why Luke Littler is seeded 11th at the European Championship

Luke Littler will be the 11th seed at this week’s European Championship because the tournament uses prize money earned on the 2026 European Tour to determine its field and draw.

Ross Smith takes top spot in Dortmund, with Luke Humphries seeded 12th and Michael van Gerwen 19th.

Those positions reflect a specific part of the darts calendar. World Championship winnings do not count towards this qualifying table.

How the European Championship seedings work

Under the PDC’s ranking rules, the top 32 players on the European Tour rankings qualify and enter a draw determined by their finishing positions.

The distinction is the period and competitions covered:

Ranking	What counts
European Tour rankings	Prize money from that calendar year’s European Tour events
Main world ranking	Prize money from ranking majors, European Tour events and Players Championships over 104 weeks

This year’s European Tour consisted of 15 tournaments, ending with the Dutch Darts Championship in Maastricht on Sunday.

Littler won the Poland Darts Open and Czech Darts Open, but tournament wins alone do not decide the order. Money earned across the series determines each player’s position.

Why Ross Smith is the top seed

Smith’s lead was already secure before Maastricht. PDC Europe confirmed that his £153,000 total after 14 events could not be caught.

He won the International Darts Open and Hungarian Darts Trophy during the season.

Other positions remained unsettled until Sunday, when Niels Zonneveld’s first ranking title lifted him to fourth.

Who does Luke Littler play?

Littler faces 22nd seed William O’Connor, while Smith meets 32nd seed Karel Sedlacek.

The tournament runs from 22–25 October in Dortmund. Our European Championship draw and schedule has every first-round pairing and the session times.

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