All to play for at last Players Championship of 2025: Here's how things stand in race to the Ally Pally with two former world champions in trouble
PDCThursday, 30 October 2025 at 09:30
The last Players Championship of the year takes place today in Wigan. It is also the last chance for several players to get into the top-40 of the Pro Tour Order of Merit and thus secure a place at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship.
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The upcoming World Darts Championship will feature 128 players for the first time. Of the 128 PDC Tour Card holders, the top-40 of the world rankings and the top-40 of the Pro Tour Order of Merit qualify for the darts spectacle in 'Ally Pally'.
The 34th and final Players Championship therefore, promises to provide some excitement. Cor Dekker is currently 37th on the Pro Tour Order of Merit and is almost certain to qualify for the World Darts Championship.
Behind him are currently Keane Barry, Owen Bates and Connor Scutt still just inside the top-40. Just outside of that fall Andy Boulton and Maik Kuivenhoven. The latter two need to win at least one match and hope the players ahead of them lose right away in the first round.
Former world champions in trouble
Belgian Andy Baetens still has a small chance to qualify. The winner of the WDF World Championship at Lakeside in 2023 would have to reach the quarter-finals at least this afternoon, something he has not managed to do all year.
Or will Jelle Klaasen pull another gigantic stunt? The 2006 BDO world champion reached the final of the third Players Championship early this year, but has since fallen completely silent. 'The Cobra' is currently 49th on the Pro Tour Order of Merit and needs to reach at least the semifinals today to still qualify for the World Darts Championship.
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Excitement is guaranteed at the last Players Championship of the year. As always, you will be able to follow all the action right here on Dartsnews.com, including in our liveblog, so stay tuned for more updates as the day progresses.
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
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