Swiss Darts Trophy draw: Price, Anderson, Aspinall and Joyce withdraw from Basel

[WWEAlfie45]

The Swiss Darts Trophy runs from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, LiveDarts reports. It is the 14th of 15 PDC European Tour events this year. There are 48 players and a prize fund of £230,000, with £35,000 going to the winner. Stephen Bunting is the defending champion after beating Luke Woodhouse 8-3 in last year's final

There have been some big withdrawals. Gerwyn Price, Gary Anderson, Nathan Aspinall and Ryan Joyce have all pulled out. They are replaced by Karel Sedlacek, Alan Soutar, Rob Owen and Nick Kenny. Losing three major winners from one event takes some of the shine off the draw, but it opens the door for others

Friday's first round includes some tasty ties. Rob Cross plays Mario Vandenbogaerde and Michael Smith faces Rob Owen. Raymond van Barneveld meets Maik Kuivenhoven and Dave Chisnall takes on Alan Soutar. Damon Heta plays Alex Fehlmann, and Mensur Suljovic faces Gyorgy Jehirszki

The 16 seeds join on Saturday. Newly crowned World Grand Prix champion Luke Humphries meets Kevin Doets or Nick Kenny. Gian van Veen faces Niko Springer or Roman Wellinger, and Michael van Gerwen meets Suljovic or Jehirszki. Round three is on Sunday afternoon, with the quarter finals, semi finals and final that evening

Matches are best of 11 legs up to the quarter finals, then best of 13 in the semis and best of 15 in the final. Humphries will be the man to beat after his win at the World Grand Prix. A home crowd will also be cheering on the Swiss players, with Fehlmann having a decent chance against Heta. With only one European Tour event left after this, there is plenty at stake for anyone chasing ranking places

Who do you fancy to win in Basel? And are you worried about the number of top players pulling out of European Tour events?

Swiss Darts Trophy 2026 Schedulewww.live-darts.com