Dover’s Ross Smith has his sights set on joining darts’ Premier League in 2027 after his second major title in just over a month.

Smith won the European Championship in Dortmund on Sunday with an 11-8 victory over Martin Schindler - his second European crown - and believes he should be battling it out with the likes of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries when the game’s best face each other on a weekly basis.

Now sixth in the world rankings, Smith is coming into form at the right time after also beating Gerwyn Price at the World Series of Darts in September.

The top four automatically qualify for the Premier League, with four wildcards available as chosen by the PDC. But with the Grand Slam of Darts, the Players Championship and the Worlds at Alexandra Palace still to come there are opportunities for Smith to stay in contention.

“Do I think I deserve the Premier League? I think you’d have to say yes, at the moment, definitely,” Smith said at his post-match press conference on Sunday.

“At the end of the year, who knows? There’s another three majors to come.

“It depends what other players do, but yeah, right now, of course I do. I’ve won two majors, finished number one on the Order of Merit in Europe.

“I feel like I do, but I’m not the one who picks it. It’s actually out of my hands. I can’t do any more than what I’m doing. I’m winning games and winning titles.

“I don’t pick the Premier League. But if I’m asked, if I get a phone call, an email, a text, I guess I don’t know what it is from Mr Porter (PDC chief executive Matt Porter) or Mr Hearn (Barry Hearn), then obviously I’d be over the moon and happy.

“But if I don’t, I’ll knuckle down next year and I’ll get on with it.”