DRAW PDC Players Championship 26 | Michael van Gerwen withdraws as Beau Greaves leads Hildesheim field
PDC
Michael van Gerwen will not compete at Players Championship 26 after being omitted from the final draw in Hildesheim. The Dutchman had initially been included among the entries but has withdrawn one day after reaching the last 16 of Players Championship 25.
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His absence leaves Beau Greaves among the leading attractions in Wednesday’s 128-player field. The reigning Women’s World Matchplay champion begins against Adam Paxton as she looks to continue a remarkable debut season on the PDC ProTour.
Greaves became the first woman to win a PDC senior ranking title at Players Championship 11 and has already produced a nine-dart finish on the circuit.
She also reached the last 16 of Tuesday’s tournament, where her run was ended by eventual semi-finalist Niko Springer.
Henry Coates returns after stunning Players Championship 25 triumph
The most intriguing storyline from the previous day belongs to Henry Coates, who produced a major shock by winning Players Championship 25 as a Challenge Tour replacement.
The 20-year-old defeated Damon Heta 8-4 in the final, averaging 104.88 to become only the fifth non-Tour Card holder to win a PDC ranking title. His reward is an immediate return to action against experienced Latvian Madars Razma.
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Coates will now have to deal with a completely different challenge. He arrived at Tuesday’s event with little attention surrounding him, but will begin Players Championship 26 as the man every opponent wants to beat.
Heta also returns after his run to the final and has been drawn against former Tour Card holder Harry Ward. Springer, meanwhile, faces two-time World Championship semi-finalist Scott Waites after reaching the last four at PC25.
Heta in action
Beau Greaves joined by major names in Hildesheim
Wessel Nijman begins against Pero Ljubic as the Dutchman attempts to strengthen his commanding position at the top of the 2026 Players Championship Order of Merit. Nijman has won six titles during a dominant campaign, making him the circuit’s most successful player this season.
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Former world champions Michael Smith, Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld are also involved. Smith faces Radek Szaganski, Wright takes on Jim Long and Van Barneveld opens against Ben Townley.
Several of Germany’s leading players have potentially difficult assignments on home soil. Martin Schindler meets Alan Soutar, Gabriel Clemens plays Niall Culleton and Ricardo Pietreczko faces Martin Lukeman.
One of the standout first-round ties sees Scott Williams meet Callan Rydz. Both players are dangerous scorers capable of making deep ProTour runs, while Kim Huybrechts against Ritchie Edhouse and Dirk van Duijvenbode against James Hurrell also catch the eye.
Chris Dobey, already a two-time Players Championship winner this season, starts against Chris Landman. Gian van Veen will attempt to respond to his early PC25 defeat when he meets Benjamin Pratnemer, while former major champion Mike De Decker faces Bradley Brooks.
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Full Players Championship 26 first-round draw
| Player 1 | v | Player 2 |
| Michael Smith | v | Radek Szaganski |
| Cam Crabtree | v | Lewis Pride |
| Wessel Nijman | v | Pero Ljubic |
| Stefaan Henderyck | v | Owen Bates |
| Jeffrey de Graaf | v | Christopher Wickenden |
| Peter Wright | v | Jim Long |
| Karel Sedlacek | v | Filip Bereza |
| Samuel Price | v | Christian Kist |
| Madars Razma | v | Henry Coates |
| Rusty-Jake Rodriguez | v | Darius Labanauskas |
| Niko Springer | v | Scott Waites |
| Martijn Dragt | v | Justin Hood |
| Gabriel Clemens | v | Niall Culleton |
| Levy Frauenfelder | v | Charlie Manby |
| William O'Connor | v | Jenson Walker |
| Alexander Merkx | v | Jeffrey de Zwaan |
| Tom Bissell | v | Brendan Dolan |
| David Sharp | v | Keane Barry |
| Kevin Doets | v | Mervyn King |
| Tytus Kanik | v | Mario Vandenbogaerde |
| Richard Veenstra | v | Adam Leek |
| Thomas Lovely | v | Marvin van Velzen |
| Martin Schindler | v | Alan Soutar |
| Dominik Gruellich | v | Jimmy van Schie |
| Lukas Wenig | v | Carl Sneyd |
| Marvin Kraft | v | Kai Gotthardt |
| Krzysztof Ratajski | v | Joe Hunt |
| Nathan Potter | v | Jack Tweddell |
| Maik Kuivenhoven | v | Darryl Pilgrim |
| Arno Merk | v | Oskar Lukasiak |
| Niels Zonneveld | v | Adam Warner |
| Stefan Bellmont | v | Shane McGuirk |
| Mensur Suljovic | v | Pascal Rupprecht |
| Wesley Plaisier | v | Matthias Ehlers |
| Jermaine Wattimena | v | Steve Lennon |
| Daniel Ayres | v | Leon Weber |
| Cristo Reyes | v | Tavis Dudeney |
| Sietse Lap | v | Andy Boulton |
| Kim Huybrechts | v | Ritchie Edhouse |
| Martin Lukeman | v | Ricardo Pietreczko |
| Mickey Mansell | v | Greg Ritchie |
| Maximilian Czerwinski | v | Ted Evetts |
| Gian van Veen | v | Benjamin Pratnemer |
| Adam Gawlas | v | Stephen Rosney |
| Max Hopp | v | Stephen Burton |
| Jeffrey Sparidaans | v | Connor Scutt |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode | v | James Hurrell |
| Ricky Evans | v | Florian Preis |
| Mike De Decker | v | Bradley Brooks |
| Oliver Mitchell | v | Jurjen van der Velde |
| Chris Dobey | v | Chris Landman |
| Tyler Thorpe | v | Tommy Morris |
| Sebastian Bialecki | v | Dennie Olde Kalter |
| Cor Dekker | v | Thibault Tricole |
| Dave Chisnall | v | Viktor Tingstrom |
| Adam Lipscombe | v | Nick Kenny |
| Rob Owen | v | Ryan Meikle |
| Ben Townley | v | Raymond van Barneveld |
| Andrew Gilding | v | Daniel Klose |
| Tom Sykes | v | Gilbert van der Meijden |
| Beau Greaves | v | Adam Paxton |
| Rhys Griffin | v | Yorick Hofkens |
| Damon Heta | v | Harry Ward |
| Scott Williams | v | Callan Rydz |
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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- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- 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