The European Tour returns this weekend. And just to shake things up a little, it’s heading to Germany – a nation that’s not featured for a good month now and is, therefore, well overdue a trip there.

Of course, that was sarcasm. But it seems the PDC has a love for staging events in Deutschland, so off we go again – this time to Leverkusen for the European Darts Open. Somewhere in the background, you can probably hear Wales, Scotland and Ireland shouting, “Hang on, we’re in Europe too.” Doesn’t seem to matter, sorry.

Should he decide to go, Nathan Aspinall will arrive at the Ostermann Arena as the reigning and defending champion following his victory over Damon Heta in last year’s final. I say if purely because The Asp has skipped all but two Players Championship events since April.

That said, Nathan was present at the last Euro Tour outing together with the majority of his stag party. So, without a banging hangover and lack of sleep, I fully expect him to show up in Leverkusen. The bigger surprise would probably be if his luggage joined him on the journey.

Immediately – well, if you scroll down – you can see The Asp will begin his defence against Mickey Mansell or the lesser-known Czech operator, Michal Šmejda. That’s assuming the Eastern European qualifier overcomes the odds and either beats the Clonoe Cyclone or stays awake long enough to give it a decent shot.

The two Dutch giants near the top of the PDC Order of Merit pile won’t have it easy. Their national number one, Gian van Veen, who is starting to pick up where he left off before kidney stones unceremoniously ruined his momentum, will face the winner of Niko Springer – a Euro Tour champion playing on home soil – or the dangerous Lithuanian, Darius Labanauskas. And by dangerous, I mean on the oche. He is hardly a menace to society.

For The Green Machine, it’s guaranteed English opposition in the shape of either Joe Cullen or Charlie Manby. Will it be a Rockstar or Mr Champagne for MVG? Joe hit a nine-darter in Leicester the other day, and if you’re pinning them, you’re doing something right.

All the rest of the seeds now know what fate could await them. But the first round, as always, is filled with jeopardy. No longer are players who aren’t household names simply spanked. They can all throw, and when they perform crap, it’s generally nerves, not ability.

I’m going to pick out a few first-round matches which fascinate me.

Goldfinger Gilding takes on Rob Owen. Perhaps a draw neither will have been too happy with. The Welshman was always destined to take on a top-16 ProTour Order of Merit player, so he probably accepted his medicine. Andrew is so laid back, he wouldn’t care if he were drawn in the next lane to Usain Bolt in the Olympic 100m final. As it is, he has Rob Owen, who may not be blessed with the speed on the track of the Jamaican superstar – but stick him on an oche and he’s pretty damn good.

Huybrechts versus Price looks tasty and screams fireworks. But it’s not the Welsh one made out of ice – it’s England’s Samuel Price making his Euro Tour bow. Up against The Hurricane, who will blow whose chances of silverware away on day one?

Then finally, Rob Cross going up against Max Hopp on his homeland looks interesting. Voltage will start favourite, and rightly so. But with the fans behind him, The Maximiser will be hunting to put the former electrician’s lights out.

It all kicks off at 12pm UK time. Enjoy.

ROUND ONE – Friday Afternoon (12pm BST)
Ryan Joyce v Mio Varila
Karel Sedlacek v Rhys Griffin
Mario Vandenbogaerde v Dragutin Horvat
Andrew Gilding v Rob Owen
Cameron Menzies v Jan Schmidt
Mickey Mansell v Michal Smejda
Lukas Wenig v Bradley Brooks
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Jaimy Van de Weerd

ROUND ONE – Friday Evening (6pm BST)
Kim Huybrechts v Samuel Price
Daryl Gurney v Maik Kuivenhoven
William O’Connor v Sebastian Bialecki
Rob Cross v Max Hopp
Joe Cullen v Charlie Manby
Kevin Doets v Dominik Gruellich
Niko Springer v Darius Labanauskas
Niels Zonneveld v Daniel Klose

ROUND TWO – Saturday Afternoon (12pm BST)
Damon Heta v Gilding/Owen
Mike De Decker v Menzies/Schmidt
Luke Woodhouse v Vandenbogaerde/Horvat
Danny Noppert v O’Connor/Bialecki
Jermaine Wattimena v Huybrechts/Price
Chris Dobey v Van Duijvenbode/Van de Weerd
Wessel Nijman v Wenig/Brooks
Krzysztof Ratajski v Cross/Hopp

ROUND TWO – Saturday Evening (6pm BST)
Stephen Bunting v Joyce/Varila
James Wade v Gurney/Kuivenhoven
Jonny Clayton v Sedlacek/Griffin
Michael van Gerwen v Cullen/Manby
Gian van Veen v Springer/Labanauskas
Martin Schindler v Doets/Gruellich
Nathan Aspinall v Mansell/Smejda
Ross Smith v Zonneveld/Klose

FULL DRAW (seeds in brackets)
(6) Stephen Bunting v Ryan Joyce/Mio Varila
(11) Jermaine Wattimena v Kim Huybrechts/Samuel Price
(3) Jonny Clayton v Karel Sedlacek/Rhys Griffin
(14) Luke Woodhouse v Mario Vandenbogaerde/Dragutin Horvat
(7) Chris Dobey v Dirk van Duijvenbode/Jaimy Van de Weerd
(10) Wessel Nijman v Lukas Wenig/Bradley Brooks
(2) Michael van Gerwen v Joe Cullen/Charlie Manby
(15) Damon Heta v Andrew Gilding/Rob Owen
(5) Danny Noppert v William O’Connor/Sebastian Bialecki
(12) Martin Schindler v Kevin Doets/Dominik Gruellich
(4) James Wade v Daryl Gurney/Maik Kuivenhoven
(13) Mike De Decker v Cameron Menzies/Jan Schmidt
(8) Nathan Aspinall v Mickey Mansell/Michal Smejda
(9) Ross Smith v Niels Zonneveld/Daniel Klose
(1) Gian van Veen v Niko Springer/Darius Labanauskas
(16) Krzysztof Ratajski v Rob Cross/Max Hopp

….and finally, a full list of who is heading to Leverkusen, and how:

Seeded Players
• Gian van Veen (NED)
• Michael van Gerwen (NED)
• Jonny Clayton (WAL)
• James Wade (ENG)
• Gerwyn Price (WAL)
• Danny Noppert (NED)
• Stephen Bunting (ENG)
• Gary Anderson (SCO)
• Chris Dobey (ENG)
• Ryan Searle (ENG)
• Nathan Aspinall (ENG)
• Ross Smith (ENG)
• Wessel Nijman (NED)
• Jermaine Wattimena (NED)
• Martin Schindler (GER)
• Mike De Decker (BEL)

PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit Qualifiers
• Kevin Doets (NED)
• Luke Woodhouse (ENG)
• Niko Springer (GER)
• Damon Heta (AUS)
• Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED)
• Krzysztof Ratajski (POL)
• Niels Zonneveld (NED)
• Daryl Gurney (NIR)
• William O’Connor (IRL)
• Andrew Gilding (ENG)
• Joe Cullen (ENG)
• Cameron Menzies (SCO)
• Ryan Joyce (ENG)
• Karel Sedláček (CZE)
• Rob Cross (ENG)
• Kim Huybrechts (BEL)

Tour Card Qualifiers
• Mario Vandenbogaerde (BEL)
• Sebastian Białecki (POL)
• Bradley Brooks (ENG)
• Rhys Griffin (WAL)
• Darius Labanauskas (LIT)
• Samuel Price (ENG)
• Lukas Wenig (GER)
• Maik Kuivenhoven (NED)
• Charlie Manby (ENG)
• Mickey Mansell (IRL)

Host Nation Qualifiers
• Jaimy Van de Weerd (GER)
• Dragutin Horvat (GER)
• Daniel Klose (GER)
• Jan Schmidt (GER)

Nordic & Baltic Qualifier
• Mio Varila (FIN)

East European Qualifier
• Michal Šmejda (CZE)

First Reserve
• Michael Smith (ENG)