German Open
The German Open are the most important WDF ranking tournament played in Germany - it's the only one in WDF category one- and it's the one with the
biggest number of participants.
The German Open were played for the first time in 1986, then called "LTU German Open". After the first tournament was a break of three years before it was taken up again and since then it is played every year. Since 2007 it's called after the main sponsor "Bull's German Open".
With the exception of one year the tournament was always organised by the
1. DSC Bochum. It first took place in Bochum then several years in Herne only to return 2006 to Bochum at the Herpener Heide.
From the beginning the tournament consisted of Ladies and Men's singles and doubles tournaments. In one year-1990-instead of the doubles mixed triples were played. In 1990 a boys tournament was added and in 1996 a girls tournament.
The German Open always starts with a Warming-up doubles contest on Friday evening.
Over the years it was won by a lot of different players. The Men's tournament most often had a winner from Great Britain. Gary Anderson won it three times, Ted Hankey and Martin Adams both won two times. Bernd Hebecker in 1986 and Kai Pfeiffer in 1990 were the only German winners. Even Phil Taylor took part in 1993 and reached together with Jamie Harvey the final of the doubles but they lost to Spiolek/Warriner. Steve Brown, at this time still "British", who now lives in America and who's column you can read here on Global darts, reached the singles final in 1991 and in 1996 together with Richie Burnett the doubles final.
Trina Gulliver won the ladies singles four times, Francis Hoenselaar five times. Francis Hoenselaar won together with different partners the doubles even eight times. Most successful she was together with Trina Gulliver but two times she won with German's Heike Jenkins. Heike Jenkins two times stood in the singles final but lost both times.
Beside the German youths the Dutch youths are the biggest group of participants in the youth tournaments and very often the Dutch boys are the winners. Karsten Koch in 1994 won the boys tournament when he still was a youth. The Girls tournament shows off several German winners and very often German girls played in the final.
Winners Men's Contests
| Singles | Doubles | |
| 1986 | Bernd Hebecker | Burke/Griffin |
Break of three years | ||
| 1990 | Kai Pfeiffer | Mixed Tripel |
| 1991 | Bruno Raes | Barneveld/Daniels |
| 1992 | Peter Evison | Eeckelaert/Laurens |
| 1993 | Peter Evison | Spiolek/Warriner |
| 1994 | Peter Skau | Barneveld/Scholten |
| 1995 | Ronnie Baxter | Barneveld/Scholten |
| 1996 | Colin Monk | Brown/Burnett |
| 1997 | Pascal Lefevre | Denny/King |
| 1998 | Alan Warriner | Walton/Widdows |
| 1999 | Steve Coote | Walton/Widdows |
| 2000 | Shayne Burgess | Baxter/Williams |
| 2001 | Martin Adams | Moen/van der Voort |
| 2002 | Ted Hankey | Fordham/Mardle |
| 2003 | Ted Hankey | Hellebrand/Komula |
| 2004 | Gary Anderson | Eccles/Greatbatch |
| 2005 | Paul Hanvidge | Seyler/Welge |
| 2006 | Gary Anderson | Gerritsen/Wensink |
| 2007 | Martin Adams | Max/Robbe |
| 2008 | Gary Anderson | Chisnall/Whitworth |
| 2009 | John Henderson | Meulenkamp/Wagner |
| 2010 | Dean Winstanley | Robson/Hankey |
| 2011 | Benito van de Pas | Adams/Montgomery |
| 2012 | Geert de Vos | Barden/Douglas |
| 2013 | Geert de Vos | Harms/De Graaf |
| 2014 | Darryl Fitton | - |
| 2015 | Jeffrey de Graaf | - |
| 2016 | Danny Noppert | - |
| 2017 | Mark McGeeney | - |
| 2018 | Scott Mitchell | - |
Winners Ladies Contests
| Singles | Doubles | |
| 1986 | Mia Mevissen | Hoefs/Maytum |
Break of Three Years | ||
| 1990 | Valerie Maytum | Mixed Tripel |
| 1991 | Vicky Pruim | Lagace/V.d.Walle |
| 1992 | Sharon Colclough | Hedman/Solomons |
| 1993 | Paivi Jussila | Laurens/Pruim |
| 1994 | Valerie Maytum | Jenkins/Hoenselaar |
| 1995 | Sharon Colclough | Jenkins/Hoenselaar |
| 1996 | Francis Hoenselaar | Pollet/Pruim |
| 1997 | Trina Gulliver | Greatbatch/Gulliver |
| 1998 | Sharon Colclough | Howat/Wright |
| 1999 | Francis Hoenselaar | Gulliver/Solomons |
| 2000 | Tricia Wright | Gulliver/Hoenselaar |
| 2001 | Francis Hoenselaar | Howat/Wright |
| 2002 | Francis Hoenselaar | Gulliver/Hoenselaar |
| 2003 | Trina Gulliver | Gulliver/Hoenselaar |
| 2004 | Francis Hoenselaar | Howat/Smith |
| 2005 | Trina Gulliver | Gulliver/Hoenselaar |
| 2006 | Carla Molema | Erades/Hoenselaar |
| 2007 | Carina Ekberg | Anderson/Ekberg |
| 2008 | Julie Gore | Armstrong/Ekberg |
| 2009 | Trina Gulliver | Gulliver/Hoenselaar |
| 2010 | Tricia Wright | Hedman/Lawman |
| 2011 | Deta Hedman | Hedman/Lawman |
| 2012 | Deta Hedman | Hedman/Gulliver |
| 2013 | Deta Hedman | Hedman/Gulliver |
| 2014 | Anastasia Dobromyslova | - |
| 2015 | Lorraine Winstanley | - |
| 2016 | Aileen de Graaf | - |
| 2017 | Deta Hedman | - |
| 2018 | Aileen de Graaf | - |
Winners Youth Contests
| Singles Boys | Singles Girls | |
| 1990 | Rene Cheng | - |
| 1991 | Yves Janssens | - |
| 1992 | Tayfun Yerlikaya | - |
| 1993 | Stefan Claessens | - |
| 1994 | Karsten Koch | - |
| 1995 | Arja Moen | - |
| 1996 | Marko Tak | Mieke de Boer |
| 1997 | Carsten Hoffmann | Diana Wulff |
| 1998 | Matthew Chapman | Sabrina Spörle |
| 1999 | Jerry Wulff | Miriam Hipper |
| 2000 | Jordy Hoeben | Nadine Nickel |
| 2001 | Michael Pestman | Michelle Sossong |
| 2002 | Joppe Bakens | Nicole Osthues |
| 2003 | Wesley Paternoster | Yvonne Bliß |
| 2004 | Johny Nijs | Denise Keijzer |
| 2005 | Paul Hanvidge | Denise Keijzer |
| 2006 | Michael van Gerwen | Priscilla Groeneweg |
| 2007 | Michael de Vries | Deborah Moet |
| 2008 | Kevin Wensink | Thea Kaaijk |
| 2009 | Tim van de Hoek | Zoe Jones |
| 2010 | Jeffrey de Zwan | Louise Rademaker |
| 2011 | Tim van de Hoek | Kaylee de Priester |
| 2012 | Jeffrey de Zwaan | Ann-Kathrin Wigman |
| 2013 | Jeffrey de Zwaan | Casey Gallagher |
| 2014 | Colin Roelofs | Shany Wastyn |
| 2015 | Callum Rydz | Sofie Jahn Behndorff |
| 2016 | Justin van Tergouw | Christina Schuler |
| 2017 | Rusty-Jake Rodriguez | Christina Schuler |
| 2018 | Jurjen van der Velde | Katie Sheldon |
