The world number two was diagnosed with gastroenteritis and misses the European Championship in Dortmund, which starts on Thursday, 22 October.
Belgium's Kim Huybrechts, the highest-ranked non-qualified player in the 2026 European Tour rankings, now faces Ryan Searle on Thursday evening.
Luke Littler starts against William O'Connor on Friday, 23 October, and the final is scheduled for Sunday, 25 October.
World number two Luke Humphries has withdrawn from the European Championship in Dortmund after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis. He had been due to open his campaign against Ryan Searle on Thursday evening, 22 October, and will miss the event. According to the BBC, he arrived at the tournament after winning the World Grand Prix. His place in the field goes to Belgium's Kim Huybrechts, a replacement made under PDC rules.
“Under PDC rules, Humphries will be directly replaced in the field by Kim Huybrechts, the highest-ranked non-qualified player in the 2026 European Tour rankings.”
Huybrechts now meets Searle on Thursday evening. The winner of that match faces Danny Noppert or Stephen Bunting on Saturday, 24 October, the PDC said.
The European Championship is a 32-player knockout event. The opening round runs over the first two days, with the second round and quarter-finals across the weekend and the semi-finals and final on Sunday, 25 October. Thursday's night of eight matches also includes Gerwyn Price against Rob Cross and defending champion Gian van Veen against Andrew Gilding. NOS reported that van Veen beat Humphries 11-10 in last year's final, which was his first big title with the PDC. Luke Littler opens his tournament against William O'Connor on Friday, 23 October, and the Independent expects the teenager to face a partisan German crowd in Dortmund.
The Independent noted that Humphries's absence could help Littler, whose record lacks only the European Championship among the PDC's leading televised events. The tournament closes a series of fifteen Euro Tours held this year across Europe, and the rankings from those events set the draw. Eight Dutch players take part, including van Veen, Danny Noppert, Wessel Nijman, Michael van Gerwen, Jermaine Wattimena, Niels Zonneveld, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Kevin Doets. Zonneveld won the year's last Euro Tour in Maastricht, and NOS reported that Nijman has previously won two of these events.
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Belgium's Kim Huybrechts takes Luke Humphries's place in the Dortmund draw after the world number two was diagnosed with gastroenteritis. The event opens on Thursday, 22 October, with Humphries's first-round match now cancelled.
AI text based on reports by BBC, The Independent, NOS and other publishers. Published .