European Championship predictions and darts betting tips

Darts tips, best bets & analysis for the 2021 European Championship at the Salzburgarena in Austria.

Where to watch

ITV4, 7pm Thursday

Best bet

R Searle to win second quarter
1pt 8-1 BoyleSports

B Dolan to win fourth quarter
1pt 6-1 bet365

Tournament preview

The major season is in full swing as the best arrowsmiths in the world head for Austria for the European Championship Finals.

Just a few days after Welsh pals Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price contested the final of the Grand Prix, a 32-man field gathers in Salzburg for the next biggie.

Clayton, who triumphed on Sunday night in Leicester, hasn't made it into the field, the victim of a truncated qualifying campaign which amounted to just two events – in Hungary and Gibraltar – which were both won by Price.

The seedings, too, are based solely on those two qualifiers which is why Price, the world number one and top seed, is slated to meet Michael van Gerwen, seeded eight, as early as the quarter-finals.

That's the major headline from the most curious of draws which has left a whole list of decently-priced runners looking to take advantage.

Certainly quarter betting looks interesting. Even if we ignore quarter one – the section that houses Van Gerwen and Gezzy – there are three other sectors with mouthwatering possibilities, especially given the absence of top-ten stars Clayton and Dimitri van den Bergh.

Ryan Searle, for example, represents a decent bet at 8-1 to win a wide-open second quarter.

The Somerset headbanger played really well in Leicester last weekend, beating Van den Bergh and Luke Humphries to reach the quarter-finals, and there is no reason why he can't go well again here.

Peter Wright is the stand-out name in quarter three and isn’t easy to oppose.

The fourth quarter is Jose de Sousa's to lose and the big-hitting Portuguese will have his fans, but he's 10-1 to win the tournament and that looks short.

Brendan Dolan, twice a floor finalist this year with one win, is such a consistent sort and quite capable of upsetting the odds in the bottom section.

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