Two Host Nation Qualifiers for the European Tour events in Göttingen and Munich were held in Hildesheim on Saturday, with eight German players securing spots. As with every European Tour event, four spots go to players from the host nation, and in the first tournament of the day, Florian Hempel, Dragutin Horvat, Paul Krohne, and Florian Preis earned their places for Göttingen.
The qualification of 18-year-old Florian Preis is particularly noteworthy, marking his European Tour debut after a stretch of strong performances. Hempel returns to the big stage after losing his PDC Tour Card, giving him a chance to step back into the TV spotlight after a longer absence. Horvat dominated the bulk of his matches, marking his return to the PDC stage in 2026, while Krohne continued his impressive winning run, reinforcing his status as one of Germany's in-form players despite not holding a Tour Card. Added spice came from the early exit of Ricardo Pietreczko, Germany's number three, who used his right as a Tour Card holder to play one Host Nation Qualifier per season but fell 2-6 to Florian Preis in round two.
In the second tournament of the day, four more spots were awarded for Munich, with Jan Schmidt, Marcel Hausotter, Kevin Troppmann, and Finn Behrens qualifying. Behrens returns to Munich after qualifying for last year's German Darts Grand Prix in the Bavarian capital, Troppmann will appear on a European Tour stage for the third season in a row, and Hausotter will make his third outing at this level. For Jan Schmidt, however, it will be a debut night—his first time on a PDC stage. One storyline continued as Matthias Ehlers also used the entry right for Tour Card holders but went out to Florian Preis, who then played his way through to the deciding match but missed the qualification double in the final against Behrens.
