“What a night”
Despite injury: 23-year-old makes darts history
October 27, 2025 – 8:58 a.mReading time: 1 min.
At the age of 23, Gian van Veen is crowned European champion. In Dortmund, the Dutchman achieved his greatest success to date – under special circumstances.
Not even an injured throwing hand could stop Gian van Veen on his way to becoming the youngest European champion in darts history. “I’m bleeding a little,” said the 23-year-old after a thrilling semi-final against compatriot Michael van Gerwen. Van Veen cut himself on one of his sharp arrows.
Only shortly afterwards the young star achieved the greatest success of his darts career to date: the European Championship title. In the final against Luke Humphries he won 11:10. “I will never forget this moment and it’s incredible to win my first major title in Germany. What a night!”
Van Veen even took the European Championship trophy with him to sleep. “Back in my own bed with a nice souvenir from this weekend,” van Veen captioned a photo on Instagram. Aside from the trophy, his sporting success also brought him financial recognition: 120,000 pounds (around 137,000 euros) went to the tournament winner. Van Veen also moved up eight places in the world rankings and is now in seventh place.
For the final opponent Luke Humphries, the narrow defeat was doubly bitter. Not only did he miss out on his first European Championship title again, he is also in danger of losing the top position in the rankings to Luke Littler. “It’s hard for me to cope with this. I’m devastated, but I accept the defeat – it just wasn’t my night,” explained the Englishman.