Luke Littler’s hopes of completing the set of major tournaments ended for another year as Ross Smith won the European Championship in Germany.

Littler is vying to become just the second player after Michael van Gerwen to win all major televised events and the tournament in Dortmund is the only missing piece.

And that remains the case as the 19-year-old was well below par in a shock quarter-final defeat to Krzysztof Ratajski in what is one of the worst results of his fledgling career.

He posted on Instagram: “Played well in the lead up to today, but just didn’t click for me earlier.

“Thank you for all the support this weekend. The wait for this one goes on.”

Smith was able to take advantage of Littler’s newfound vulnerability, with an 11-8 victory over home favourite Martin Schindler.

Littler seemed unbeatable when he won the World Matchplay in July with a record average to make it five major tournaments from five this year.

This time last month, Littler was going for a clean sweep of major titles in 2026 and he seemed untouchable, but he has lost his cloak of invincibility.

He lost in the quarter-finals of the World Series of Darts, the first round of the World Grand Prix and now exited in the last eight in Dortmund.

And that could give hope to the rest of the tour that Littler’s untouchable spell at the top events is over.

Littler’s attention will now turn to his Netflix show where he will take on 24 ‘amateur’ players in a one-off leg with a £501,000 prize on the line.

The show has attracted controversy this week after the line-up includes Fallon Sherrock, who has reached the third round of the World Championship, and World Darts Federation number one Mitchell Lawrie.

Smith claimed a second major title in six weeks by backing up his victory at the World Series of Darts Finals in September.

He was the top seed, based on his performances on the European Tour throughout the course of 2026, and lived up to the billing with a fine weekend of action.

The 37-year-old overcame Luke Woodhouse in the quarter-final before then seeing off Gerwyn Price in the last four.

He was then too strong for Schindler, earning a hard-fought victory in the final, silencing the partisan Westfalenhalle crowd with a second European Championship crown.

“It’s absolutely amazing, I was a bit sweaty going into the end with Martin, he wouldn’t let up,” Smith, who has gone up to number six in the world, said.

“To have this trophy in my hand and win another major, I am absolutely over the moon. Drained, but I’m buzzing.

“I don’t expect anything, I just play the game in front of me, every game I play. I don’t really know what to say.

“I am buzzing to have won another major.”

Still, it was quite the weekend for Schindler, who created history in Dortmund by becoming the first German to reach the final of a major event.