2008 European Championship (darts)

European Championship
Tournament information
Dates	30 October – 2 November 2008
Venue	Südbahnhof
Location	Frankfurt
Country	Germany
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs Final – best of 21
Prize fund	£200,000
Winners share	£50,000
High checkout	160 Denis Ovens 160 Robert Thornton
Champion(s)
Phil Taylor
2009»

The 2008 European Championship was the inaugural edition of the Professional Darts Corporation tournament—which thereafter was promoted as the annual European darts championship, matching top European players qualifying to play against the highest ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit. Played from October 30 to November 2 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 winner's purse going to Phil Taylor of England.

Format

First round — best of nine legs (by two legs)
Second round — best of seventeen legs (ditto)
Quarter-finals — best of seventeen legs (ditto)
Semi-finals — best of twenty-one legs (ditto)
Final — best of twenty-one legs (ditto)

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.

Prize money

A total of £200,000 was on offer to the players, divided based on the following performances:

Champion - £50,000
Runner-up - £25,000
Semi-finalists - £12,500
Quarter-finalists - £8,500
Second round losers - £4,000
First round losers - £2,000

Nine-dart jackpot - Unknown
Highest checkout - £2,000

Qualification

The top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit after the 2008 Sky Poker World Grand Prix automatically qualified for the event. 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 main European contingent then came from the following: 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 October 25, and the last two places from a qualifier event held in Dinslaken on October 26 - an event which was open to any player with a full PDPA membership.

PDC Top 16 Phil Taylor Raymond van Barneveld James Wade John Part Terry Jenkins Colin Lloyd Andy Hamilton Wayne Mardle Adrian Lewis Alan Tabern Dennis Priestley Roland Scholten Mervyn King Colin Osborne Ronnie Baxter Peter Manley

Players Championship qualifiers Denis Ovens Robert Thornton Mark Walsh Chris Mason Kevin Painter Vincent van der Voort Alex Roy Wayne Jones

European qualifiers Carlos Rodríguez Mensur Suljović Jelle Klaasen Jan van der Rassel

German Darts Corporation qualifiers Andree Welge Hannes Schnier

Dinslaken event qualifiers Jacko Barry Andy Jenkins

Draw and results

	1st Round, 30-October 31 best of 9 legs					2nd Round, November 1 best of 17 legs					Quarter Finals, November 2 best of 17 legs					Semi Finals, November 2 best of 21 legs					Final, November 2 best of 21 legs
	1	Phil Taylor 106.10	5
		Jacko Barry 79.50	1
						1	Phil Taylor 113.92	9
							Mervyn King 101.30	3
		Mervyn King 102.72	6
		Wayne Jones 95.13	4
											1	Phil Taylor 103.26	9
												Mark Walsh 98.84	5
	8	Wayne Mardle 89.50	5
		Andree Welge 71.30	0
						8	Wayne Mardle 92.74	6
							Mark Walsh 96.76	9
		Colin Osborne 95.46	4
		Mark Walsh 104.10	6
																1	Phil Taylor 113.33	11
																	Robert Thornton 102.50	7
	5	Terry Jenkins 95.74	5
		Carlos Rodriguez 93.92	7
							Carlos Rodriguez 86.03	5
							Ronnie Baxter 87.45	9
		Ronnie Baxter 85.80	6
		Vincent van der Voort 95.10	4
												Ronnie Baxter 91.00	5
												Robert Thornton 92.25	9
	4	John Part 90.06	3
		Robert Thornton 96.00	5
							Robert Thornton 91.76	9
							Mensur Suljović 89.46	7
		Roland Scholten 51.60	1
		Mensur Suljović 81.10	5
																					1	Phil Taylor 104.35	11
																						Adrian Lewis 96.56	5
	2	Raymond van Barneveld 88.38	5
		Andy Jenkins 78.98	2
						2	Raymond van Barneveld 107.02	9
							Dennis Priestley 102.35	4
		Dennis Priestley 93.42	5
		Jan van der Rassel 79.12	3
											2	Raymond van Barneveld 102.48	2
												Adrian Lewis 108.62	9
	7	Andy Hamilton 94.80	1
		Denis Ovens 95.96	5
							Denis Ovens 87.98	5
							Adrian Lewis 89.53	9
		Adrian Lewis 93.27	5
		Hannes Schnier 80.08	2
																	Adrian Lewis 92.06	11
																	Peter Manley 90.45	7
	6	Colin Lloyd 84.79	2
		Jelle Klaasen 96.75	5
							Jelle Klaasen 97.86	6
							Alan Tabern 93.55	9
		Alan Tabern 94.18	5
		Chris Mason 90.45	1
												Alan Tabern 85.92	4
												Peter Manley 85.90	9
	3	James Wade 94.19	5
		Alex Roy 85.83	1
						3	James Wade 88.52	9
							Peter Manley 88.94	11
		Peter Manley 94.19	5
		Kevin Painter 92.08	2

Scores after player's names are three-dart averages (total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3)

All games had to be won by 2 clear legs, if after six more legs the players still couldn't be separated, a sudden death leg would take place to decide the winner. i.e. if Round One matches went 7-7, there would have been a decider.

Television coverage and Sponsorship

The PDC announced on 12 August 2008 that ITV4 would broadcast the entire event live. This was the second PDC darts tournament that ITV4 has broadcast, after the inaugural Grand Slam of Darts - after its rating success ITV chose to broadcast this event as well as the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts.

The tournament was sponsored by PartyPoker.net, who also sponsor the US Open, the Las Vegas Desert Classic and the German Darts Championship.

External links

• Collated results of the 2008 European Championship