International Darts Open 2026 Predictions: Rock or Springer can lift the trophy
The European Tour is back this weekend in Germany, with all 48 players looking to grab another ranking title on the continent.
Of course, our resident darts tipster Sean Rafferty is back on board and he picks out two names to know, one at 11/1 with another 66/1 selection that could provide betting value. Here are his International Darts Open 2026 Betting Tips on Betfred Insights...
International Darts Open 2026 Betting Tips
*odds correct at time of publication
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History, Location and Format
The 2026 International Darts Open is the seventh of fifteen events on the PDC European Tour this season.
The event is once again being held at the SACHSENarena in Riesa, Germany and runs from Friday 22 May to Sunday 24 May. It will be aired on PDC and Viaplay in the UK.
The 48 strong field features all the top 16 in the world, the next 16 from the Pro Tour order of merit and 16 regional qualifiers.
The defending champion is Stephen Bunting, who defeated his countryman Nathan Aspinall 8-5 in the 2025 final.
TV
This event isn't being broadcast by either Sky Sports or ITV4. If you want to follow arrow-by-arrow action, then you'll need to subscribe to PDC TV, where the whole event will be live-streamed.
Prize Money
There is a prize fund of £230,000 on offer to the 48 participants, with £35,000 going to the winner.
| Finishing Position | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| Winner | £35,000 |
| Runner-up | £15,000 |
| Semi-Finalists | £10,000 |
| Quarter-Finalist | £8,000 |
| Last 16 | £5,000 |
| Last 32 | £3,500 |
| Last 48 | £2,000 |
You can bet on the event and check out all the live International Darts Open 2026 Odds over on betfred.com
Josh Rock to win tournament @ 11/1
Rock has had it pretty tough this year with his forgettable debut Premier League campaign being the main focus. Similar Premier League horror stories have gone on to affect the careers of some players, but Josh isn’t letting it hinder his form elsewhere - things got a whole lot brighter for him a few weeks ago when he won the Austrian Darts Open last time out on the European Tour.
It was his second European Tour title, having won the Dutch Darts Championship in 2024. It should give him a boost of confidence that can perhaps see him hit a good run of form ahead of defending the World Cup alongside Daryl Gurney next month as they once again represent Northern Ireland.
The draw was one of the main reasons I backed Josh - this looks to be a fairly inviting quarter, with other seeded players being Wade, Nijman and Schindler. Wade’s recent record in Euro Tours are shocking, Nijman hasn’t looked as good in recent weeks following a stellar run on the Pro Tour and Schindler’s form has been a bit inconsistent.
Menzies or Unterbuchner will be first up for Rocky on Saturday, which I’m sure he’ll fancy to come out on top in, whoever he faces and you’d like to think he can kick on from there, having made the Sunday evening session in half of the Euro Tour events this year so far.
Becoming a regular winner on the Euro Tour would be a good step for Josh, as we saw Luke Humphries do a few years ago which was the catalyst for him to go on and become a multiple major winner. This weekend looks a good opportunity for Rocky to go back-to-back.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
Niko Springer to win tournament @ 66/1
Some of these sections of the draw are absolutely wide open, which led to me looking a bit further afield in terms of the odds and Springer was the one I eventually committed to. It’s been a quieter year for Niko so far, but he’s quietly creeping into a bit of consistent form on the Pro Tour in recent weeks, which is where he’s predominantly struggled to produce his best so far in his young career. The German has made a semi-final and a quarter-final across the last three Pro Tour events.
The Euro Tour has been where he’s produced his best performances to date - his best run so far this year was at the European Darts Trophy, where he made the quarter-finals, losing in a last leg decider against Damon Heta, having defeated Stephen Bunting and Ross Smith before that. He of course won his maiden PDC title last year on the European Tour, winning the Hungarian Darts Trophy, as well as making the final of the Dutch Darts Championship.
There’s no easy ties for him in this event, but with the out of sorts Van Veen being the top seed in this section, it’s fairly wide open and Niko looks the best value in it at 66/1. He’s proved he can get it done at this level and with the German crowd behind him this weekend, Meenzer Bub could do some real damage.
Odds correct at time of publishing.
You can keep up to date with all the Darts Odds over on betfred.com where we have markets for all PDC events and plenty more...
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