Draw 2026 Players Championship Finals | Gerwyn Price v Gian van Veen likely second round tie as Ross Smith v Michael Smith set for opening round
PDC
The draw has been set ahead of the Players Championship Finals which is due to take place between November 27-29 with the top 64 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit in action.
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Wessel Nijman is top seed and will take on rising star and ProTour winner Henry Coates in the opening round. Coates stormed to a memorable victory back in July, but only just qualified by £250. Chris Dobey is second seed and will face off against former World Grand Prix winner, Mike de Decker.
Humphries, Nijman and Dobey among leading seeds
Nijman, Dobey and Luke Humphries were the standouts over the course of the season as the only players to win three or more Players Championship titles across the season. Humphries only played 11 events, but he won four titles.
Humphries will face off against Darryl Pilgrim in Round One after winning the title in 2023 and 2024. Michael van Gerwen is also involved and kicks off his bid for a record-extending eighth title after encouraging signs as of late against Connor Scutt, while Gary Anderson who forced his way through qualification late on faces Karel Sedlacek in a tough opening round.
Ross Smith will go head-to-head with 2022/23 World Champion Michael Smith with the former aiming to add to his two major triumphs this season. Gian van Veen faces Jeffrey de Graaf and the winner could face Gerwyn Price who faces Sebastian Bialecki in the first round.
Beau Greaves was one of the real stars of the year and makes her debut in the event as eighth seed against Christian Kist.
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Round One will take place on Friday November 27, with Round Two and Round Three set to be held across Saturday’s double session. This will be followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on Sunday November 29 as well as the World Youth Championship.
Luke Littler is one of the leading lights not to be involved this time around with Littler finishing outside the top 100 in qualification. Nathan Aspinall and Josh Rock also lead the high profile contingent who won't be playing.
Draw Players Championship Finals
| Player 1 | Player 2 | |
| (1) Wessel Nijman | v | (64) Henry Coates |
| (32) Gabriel Clemens | v | (33) Dave Chisnall |
| (16) Charlie Manby | v | (49) Martin Schindler |
| (17) Cameron Menzies | v | (48) Mensur Suljovic |
| (8) Beau Greaves | v | (57) Christian Kist |
| (25) Tom Bissell | v | (40) Rob Owen |
| (9) Ross Smith | v | (56) Michael Smith |
| (24) Niels Zonneveld | v | (41) Niko Springer |
| (4) Luke Woodhouse | v | (61) Alexander Merkx |
| (29) Stephen Bunting | v | (36) Max Hopp |
| (13) Sebastian Bialecki | v | (52) Gerwyn Price |
| (20) Jeffrey de Graaf | v | (45) Gian van Veen |
| (5) Jermaine Wattimena | v | (60) Keane Barry |
| (28) Ryan Searle | v | (37) Brendan Dolan |
| (12) William O’Connor | v | (53) James Hurrell |
| (21) Tommy Morris | v | (44) Callan Rydz |
| (2) Chris Dobey | v | (63) Mike De Decker |
| (31) Richard Veenstra | v | (34) Joe Cullen |
| (15) Cristo Reyes | v | (50) Darius Labanauskas |
| (18) Michael van Gerwen | v | (47) Connor Scutt |
| (7) Luke Humphries | v | (58) Darryl Pilgrim |
| (26) Krzysztof Ratajski | v | (39) Damon Heta |
| (10) Danny Noppert | v | (55) Scott Williams |
| (23) Jonny Clayton | v | (42) Tom Sykes |
| (3) Kevin Doets | v | (62) Ritchie Edhouse |
| (30) James Wade | v | (35) Justin Hood |
| (14) Dirk van Duijvenbode | v | (51) Alan Soutar |
| (19) Maik Kuivenhoven | v | (46) Daryl Gurney |
| (6) Andrew Gilding | v | (59) Bradley Brooks |
| (27) Kim Huybrechts | v | (38) Joe Hunt |
| (11) Karel Sedlacek | v | (54) Gary Anderson |
| (22) Rob Cross | v | (43) Mickey Mansell |
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- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026