Peter Wright was the defending champion, having won the tournament for the first time with an 11–4 win over James Wade in the 2020 final.[2] However, he became the third consecutive defending champion to be eliminated in the first round after losing 6–3 to Florian Hempel.[3]
In the quarter-finals, Gerwyn Price's average of 107.56 against van Gerwen became the highest ever losing average at a European Championship.
Prize money
The 2021 European Championship had a total prize fund of £500,000, the same as its previous edition.[5]
The following is the breakdown of the fund:
Position (no. of players)
Prize money (Total: £500,000)
Winner
(1)
£120,000
Runner-up
(1)
£60,000
Semi-finalists
(2)
£32,000
Quarter-finalists
(4)
£20,000
Last 16 (second round)
(8)
£10,000
Last 32 (first round)
(16)
£6,000
Qualification
The 2021 tournament continued the new qualification system used in the three previous editions: the top 32 players from the European Tour Order of Merit qualified for the tournament.[6] The Order of Merit is solely based on prize money won in the two European tour events during the season.
As with the previous tournaments, players were drawn in a fixed bracket by their seeded order with the top qualifier playing the 32nd, the second playing the 31st, and so on.
The following players qualified for the tournament:
