Gian van Veen

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Veen, not Veen.

Gian van Veen
Van Veen at the 2025 European Championship
Personal information
Full name	Pieter Gerard van Veen
Nickname	The Giant [1] [2]
Born	(2002-04-23) 23 April 2002 (age 23) Poederoijen, Netherlands
Darts information
Playing darts since	2015
Darts	21g Red Dragon [1] [2]
Laterality	Right-handed [2]
Walk-on music	"Astronomia" by Tony Igy & Vicetone [1] [2] "Losse Pols" by Donnie, Marco Schuitmaker, Russo and LA$$A [3]
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2022– (Tour Card: 2023–)
Current world ranking	( PDC ) 7 (30 October 2025) [4]
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Last 64: 2025
World Matchplay	Quarter-final: 2025
World Grand Prix	Last 32: 2024, 2025
UK Open	Quarter-final: 2025
Grand Slam	Quarter-final: 2024
European Championship	Winner (1): 2025
PC Finals	Last 32: 2023
World Series Finals	Last 32: 2024
Other achievements
2023 Best Newcomer [5]

Pieter Gerard "Gian" van Veen (born 23 April 2002) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number seven. He is the reigning European champion, having won the 2025 European Championship. He won his first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 6 on the 2025 PDC Pro Tour. He is also the reigning World Youth champion.

Van Veen won two youth titles in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and found more success in the PDC's youth system. He won the 2024 PDC World Youth Championship, as well as nine PDC Development Tours, including six titles to top the 2023 Development Tour rankings. He won a PDC Challenge Tour event during the 2022 season and reached his first PDC ranking final the same year, despite not holding a PDC Tour Card. Upon gaining one in 2023, his first deep run at a major tournament came at the 2023 European Championship, where he reached the semi-finals. In 2025, he won his first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 6 and won his first PDC major title at the 2025 European Championship, defeating Luke Humphries in the final on both occasions. He has finished as runner-up at two European Tour events: the 2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy and the 2025 German Darts Grand Prix.

Career

2022

Van Veen attended 2022 PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School. He reached the final stage but lost his opening games on the first two days, losing 6–3 to Mario Vandenbogaerde in the last 16 in event three ^[6] and to Ricardo Pietreczko 6–4 in the last 32 in event four. ^[7] This meant he failed to gain a PDC Tour Card but gained access to the secondary tour, the 2022 Challenge Tour.

On 15 July 2022, Van Veen won his only Challenge Tour (CT) title to-date at CT12, defeating David Pallett 5–4 in a deciding leg in the final. ^[8]

While participating in the Challenge Tour, Van Veen suffered with dartitis, a neurological condition which makes it difficult to release a dart. Van Veen has spoken out about it, stating that dartitis actually made him play better, and that an opponent had accused him of cheating while he suffered with it. ^{[9] [10]}

On 4 November 2022, Van Veen reached the final of the Players Championship 29 event, losing 4–8 to Gerwyn Price in the final. ^[11]

2023

In January 2023, he attended 2023 PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School (Q–School) and won a PDC Tour Card by finishing ninth on the European Q–School Order of Merit. ^[12]

On 27 August, he reached his second Pro Tour final. He finished as the runner-up at Players Championship 18, being defeated by Gerwyn Price 8–1 in the final. ^{[13] [14]}

He qualified for the 2023 European Championship, held in late-October, and reached his first PDC major semi-final. He achieved victories against Damon Heta, Daryl Gurney and Michael van Gerwen. He lost to James Wade 11–9 in the semi-finals. ^[15]

Van Veen won 6 titles and topped the 2023 Development Tour Order of Merit, ahead of Luke Littler. ^[16] On 26 November, Littler beat Van Veen 6–4 in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final. ^[17]

2024

Van Veen made his PDC World Championship debut in the 2024 edition. He was eliminated in the first round by Hong Kong qualifier Man Lok Leung, who overturned a 2–0 deficit to defeat Van Veen 3–2 in a major upset. ^{[18] [19]}

Van Veen won two 2024 Development Tour (DT) titles: DT5 on 25 February, with a 5–0 whitewash of Dylan Slevin in the final; ^[20] and DT7 on 3 May, with a 5–1 win against Nathan Rafferty. ^[21]

On 22 September 2024, he reached his third Pro Tour final at the Hungarian Darts Trophy. In his first PDC European Tour final, he finished as runner-up after missing a match dart at the bullseye. He was defeated by Michael van Gerwen 8–7. ^[22] In November, he reached his second PDC major quarter-final at the Grand Slam. He was defeated by Gary Anderson 16–14. ^[23] Having been defeated by Luke Littler in the previous year's final, Van Veen defeated fellow Dutchman Jurjen van der Velde 6–5 to win the 2024 World Youth Championship. ^[24]

2025

Van Veen (right) and his Dutch teammate Danny Noppert at the 2025 PDC World Cup of Darts

Van Veen entered the second round of the 2025 World Championship as the 28th seed, but lost 3–1 to Ricardo Pietreczko. ^[25] Van Veen made his third UK Open appearance at the 2025 event. He reached the quarter-finals for the first time, before losing there to world champion Luke Littler 10–4. ^{[26] [27]} He reached the final of Players Championship 5 by defeating Luke Littler 7–6 in the semi-finals – ending Littler's 19-match winning streak. In the final, he led 7–4 against Joe Cullen but missed six match darts on his way to an 8–7 loss. ^[28] The following day, he won his first ranking PDC title by winning Players Championship 6, defeating world number one Luke Humphries 8–3 in the final. ^[29] He reached a second European Tour final at the German Darts Grand Prix, where he lost 8–5 to Michael van Gerwen. ^[30]

Van Veen represented the Netherlands at the World Cup of Darts for the first time, teaming with Danny Noppert. ^[31] The pair reached the semi-finals, where they were defeated 8–5 by runners-up Wales. ^[32] Following Players Championship 30, he entered the top 16 in the world on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time. ^[33] At the European Championship, Van Veen defeated Michael van Gerwen 11–9 to progress to his first PDC major final against Luke Humphries. The match went to a deciding leg, where Humphries missed a match dart and Van Veen completed a 100 checkout to win 11–10 and capture his first PDC major title, resulting in him rising to world number seven. ^[34]

Personal life

Van Veen was born Pieter Gerard van Veen ^[35] on 23 April 2002 in Poederoijen, a small village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. ^{[36] [37]} He studied aerospace engineering and earned a bachelor's degree in aviation in 2023. ^{[38] [39]} He worked a part-time office job near Amsterdam Airport Schiphol before pursuing darts full-time. ^[40]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2024: First round (lost to Man Lok Leung 2–3)
• 2025: Second round (lost to Ricardo Pietreczko 1–3)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 1 (1 title)

Legend
European Championship (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score [N 1]
Winner	1.	2025	European Championship	Luke Humphries	11–10 (l)

1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

Tournament	2020	2022	2023	2024	2025
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	Did not qualify			1R	2R
PDC World Masters [N 1]	Did not qualify				Prel.
UK Open	DNQ		3R	6R	QF
World Matchplay	Did not qualify			1R	QF
World Grand Prix	Did not qualify			1R	1R
European Championship	DNP		SF	1R	W
Grand Slam of Darts	DNQ		RR	QF
Players Championship Finals	DNP	1R	2R	1R
PDC Non-ranked televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNP				SF
World Series of Darts Finals	Did not participate			1R	DNQ
PDC World Youth Championship	2R	RR	F	W
Career statistics
Season-end ranking (PDC)	NR	103	43	27

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
2022	IDO DNQ	GDC 1R	Did not qualify									BDO 1R	GDT DNQ
2023	Did not qualify					DDC 1R	DNQ		EDG QF	EDM QF	GDO 2R	HDT 3R	GDC 2R
2024	BDO 1R	GDG 2R	IDO 2R	EDG 1R	ADO QF	BSD 2R	DDC 3R	EDO QF	GDC 3R	FDT 3R	HDT F	SDT 2R	CDO 3R
2025	BDO 2R	EDT 3R	IDO 2R	GDG F	ADO 2R	EDG 2R	DDC 1R	EDO 2R	BSD 2R	FDT QF	CDO SF	HDT 1R	SDT SF	GDC SF

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
2022 [nb 1]	Did not participate																					BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR F	BAR 3R
2023	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR QF	HIL 1R	HIL QF	WIG 1R	WIG 3R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	LEI 1R	LEI DNP	HIL 2R	HIL F	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR SF	BAR 2R	BAR QF	BAR SF
2024	WIG SF	WIG 4R	LEI 2R	LEI 4R	HIL 3R	HIL 1R	LEI 3R	LEI SF	HIL 4R	HIL 4R	HIL 3R	HIL 4R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 3R	WIG 4R	WIG QF	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 1R
2025	WIG 4R	WIG QF	ROS 1R	ROS 2R	LEI F	LEI W	HIL 3R	HIL 2R	LEI 4R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	LEI SF	ROS 4R	ROS 2R	HIL QF	HIL 3R	LEI SF	LEI 3R	LEI QF	LEI 3R	LEI 2R	HIL QF	HIL 4R	MIL 1R	MIL QF	HIL F	HIL 1R	LEI 4R	LEI 3R	LEI 3R	WIG 1R	WIG DNP

PDC Development Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
2021 EU	NIE SF	NIE 4R	NIE 5R	NIE 4R	NIE 4R	NIE QF	NIE 5R	NIE 1R	NIE 4R	NIE 3R	NIE 4R	NIE 4R
2022	Did not participate					WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	WIG SF	HIL F	HIL 4R	HIL 4R	HIL 3R	HIL 3R	HIL 3R	HIL 2R	HIL W	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	WIG QF	WIG QF	WIG 1R	WIG 1R
2023	MIL 3R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL W	MIL QF	DNP	WIG W	WIG 5R	WIG W	HIL 5R	HIL SF	HIL W	HIL 5R	HIL 2R	LEI 3R	LEI W	LEI QF	LEI F	LEI F	MIL 1R	MIL SF	MIL W	MIL 3R
2024	MIL 2R	MIL F	MIL QF	MIL 6R	MIL W	HIL SF	HIL W	HIL QF	HIL 6R	HIL F	Not eligible [nb 2]

1. Not a Tour card holder
2. Van Veen was ranked in the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit ranking, therefore was not eligible to play in Development Tour events.

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

1. A non-ranked event until 2025

Titles

PDC

• PDC Pro Tour (1)
  • PDC Players Championships:
    • 2025: 6

• PDC Challenge Tour
  • 2022: 12

Youth titles

• • PDC Development Tour (9)
    • 2022: 18
    • 2023 (×6): 4, 8, 10, 13, 17, 23
    • 2024 (×2) : 5, 7

• • PDC World Youth Championship
    • 2024

BDO/WDF

• Youth titles (2)
  • 2018 Denmark Masters
  • 2019 Belfry Open

References

1. "Gian van Veen player profile". Professional Darts Players Association .
2. "Gian van Veen player profile". Mastercaller.
3. Hartman, Tim (11 December 2024). "Nederlandse artiesten maken lied voor WK darts: deze darter gaat het gebruiken als opkomstnummer" [Dutch artists make song for World Darts Championship: This darts player will use it as a walk-on song]. AD (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 March 2025.
4. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 30 October 2025. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
5. "Annual Awards". Professional Darts Players Association .
6. "PDC EU Q-School Final Stage Event 03 | Last 16 | Mario Vandenbogaerde 6–3 Gian van Veen". Dart Connect.
7. "PDC EU Q-School Final Stage Event 04 | Last 32 | Ricardo Pietreczko 6–4 Gian van Veen". Dart Connect.
8. Gorton, Josh (15 July 2022). "Dutch duo Van Trijp & Van Veen share Winmau Challenge Tour titles". Professional Darts Corporation.
9. ""I was in tears crying my eyes out because I was struggling so badly": Gian van Veen got accused of faking dartitis in 'heartbreaking' Challenge Tour moment". Darts News. 5 August 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
10. Tops & Tales Darts Podcast (4 August 2025). Tops and Tales S2E8: Gian Van Veen: "You're the one in control, that's when my confidence grew" . Retrieved 5 August 2025– via YouTube.
11. "Gerwyn Price beats Dutch youngster Gian van Veen to claim title". Sporting Life. 4 November 2022.
12. Phillips, Josh (15 January 2023). "Brown & Huybrechts headline Tour Card winners as 2023 Q Schools conclude". Professional Darts Corporation . Retrieved 20 January 2023.
13. "Darts results: Gerwyn Price wins back-to-back Players Championship titles". Sporting Life. 30 August 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
14. "Gerwyn Price continues prolific form with dominant win at Players Championship 18". Planet Sport. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
15. Beesten, Dennis van (29 October 2023). "Van Veen gestrand in halve finale EK". Darts Actueel (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 October 2023.
16. Gorton, Josh (19 August 2023). "Van Veen tops Development Tour Order of Merit as 2023 season concludes". PDC.
17. Gorton, Josh (26 November 2023). "Teenage sensation Littler wins Winmau World Youth Championship thriller". PDC.tv.
18. "World Darts Championships: Hong Kong's Leung causes major upset on debut, downs van Veen with stunning comeback". South China Morning Post. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
19. "World darts results: Gerwyn Price wins 3-0; Man Lok Leung steals the show". Sporting Life. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
20. Allen, Dave (25 February 2024). "Superb Van Veen seals Winmau Development Tour Event Five win". Professional Darts Corporation . Retrieved 25 February 2024.
21. Gorton, Josh (3 May 2024). "Van Veen & Benecky claim Development Tour titles in Hildesheim". Professional Darts Corporation . Retrieved 2 March 2025.
22. "Michael Van Gerwen wins Hungarian Darts Trophy: 'My love for the game is still there'". Sky Sports. 22 September 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
23. Wellens, Megan (17 November 2024). "Grand Slam of Darts 2024: Luke Littler puts on a show and dominates Jermaine Wattimena to book semi-final clash with Gary Anderson". Sky Sports . Retrieved 2 March 2025.
24. Allen, Dave (24 November 2024). "Van Veen becomes first Dutch winner of Winmau World Youth Championship". Professional Darts Corporation . Retrieved 24 November 2024.
25. Colman, Jonty; Matthews, Callum (23 December 2024). "Cross loses as record number of seeds out of Worlds". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
26. Abraham, Timothy (2 March 2025). "Littler into UK Open semi-finals but Humphries out". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
27. Wood, Kieran (2 March 2025). "Luke Littler wins battle of World Youth Champions, eases past Gian van Veen into UK Open semi-finals". Darts News. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
28. "Luke Littler produces perfect leg in Leicester before losing to Gian van Veen". The Independent. PA Sport. 11 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
29. "Luke Humphries beaten by Gian van Veen in final of sixth Players Championship, Luke Littler suffers early exit". BBC Sport. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
30. Drury, Sam (21 April 2025). "Van Gerwen wins German Grand Prix after nine-darter". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 October 2025.
31. Phillips, Josh (14 May 2025). "Pairings confirmed for 2025 BetVictor World Cup of Darts". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
32. Keogh, Francis; Cartwright, Phil (15 June 2025). "Northern Ireland lift World Cup with epic last-leg win over Wales". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
33. Gorton, Josh (3 October 2025). "PDC Werner Rankings Ladder update following Players Championships 28-30". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
34. "Gian van Veen denies Luke Humphries to claim maiden major at European Championship". RTÉ. Press Association. 27 October 2025. Retrieved 27 October 2025.
35. @viaplaysportnl (16 May 2024). "'Officieel heet ik helemaal geen Gian' 🤯" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
36. "Gian van Veen". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
37. Loef, Marco (27 October 2025). "Gian van Veen: de jongste Europees kampioen darten ooit" [Gian van Veen: the youngest European darts champion ever]. Omroep Gelderland (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 October 2025.
38. Gorton, Josh (6 December 2023). "Emerging star Van Veen determined to savour Ally Pally debut". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
39. "Dit moet je weten van alle zestien Nederlanders op WK darts: van transdartster tot caravanverkoper" [This is what you need to know about all sixteen Dutch players at the World Darts Championship: from trans darts player to caravan salesman]. sportnieuws.nl (in Dutch). 13 December 2024. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
40. Boon, Thierry (18 December 2023). "Nu WK is begonnen, hoeft dartstalent Van Veen geen luchtvracht meer te verkopen" [Now that the World Championship has started, darts talent Van Veen no longer has to sell air cargo]. NOS Sport (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 October 2025.

External links

• Gian van Veen player profile at Darts Orakel
• Player profile for Gian van Veen from Dartsdatabase