Nathan Aspinall’s European Darts Open defence has been given its full Leverkusen frame after PDC Europe confirmed the 48-player field, session schedule and £230,000 prize fund for the July 10-12 European Tour event at the Ostermann-Arena.
The tournament is Event 10 on the 2026 European Tour, with the top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit entering at the second-round stage. That list includes Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade, Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting, Gary Anderson and Aspinall himself.
The ProTour qualifiers add another heavy layer, with Wessel Nijman, Damon Heta, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Martin Schindler, Joe Cullen and Cameron Menzies among the names in a field that also includes host-nation qualifiers Dragutin Horvat, Jaimy van de Weerd, Jan Schmidt and Daniel Klose.
Why Leverkusen carries ranking weight
The confirmed prize structure matters because the money counts towards the PDC Order of Merit, ProTour Order of Merit and European Tour Order of Merit, the latter feeding the European Championship race.
Aspinall won last year’s final 8-6 against Damon Heta, while Van Gerwen remains the tournament’s dominant historic figure with five European Darts Open titles. The latest European Darts Open tournament information also confirms best-of-11 legs through the last 16, before best-of-13 semi-finals and a best-of-15 final on Sunday night.
