Entries for Players Championship 1 and 2: Five Premier League Darts players - including Luke Littler and Luke Humphries - skip Pro Tour opener
PDC
The fields for the first two Players Championship tournaments of the new season have been officially confirmed. That means the PDC ProTour 2026 kicks off next week with a double header in Germany. On Sunday, February 9 and Monday, February 10, Players Championship 1 and 2 will be staged at Halle 39 in Hildesheim, where the international darts elite will battle for the first ranking prizes of the year.
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As is customary at Players Championship tournaments, the field consists of 128 players. These are made up of all PDC Tour Card holders, supplemented by PDPA Associate Members.
That traditionally produces a mix of absolute world stars, seasoned ProTour specialists, and ambitious talents eager to test themselves against the established order.
For both tournaments, a top prize of £15,000 awaits the winner, while valuable ranking points are also on offer for the Players Championship Order of Merit. This ranking plays a major role in qualification for majors later in the season, such as the Players Championship Finals and the European Tour events.
Van Gerwen confirmed to play
Among the confirmed names are several major stars. Michael van Gerwen, a three-time world champion and always a dangerous force on the floor, will be in action. The Dutchman begins his hunt for new titles in Hildesheim after a winter spent preparing once again for a long and intense ProTour season. Gian van Veen, runner-up at the most recent World Darts Championship, also lines up. For Van Veen, it will be intriguing to see how he translates his strong big-stage form to the floor events.
There is also plenty of focus on Gerwyn Price. The Welshman ended last season as number one on the Players Championship Order of Merit and will be determined to carry that dominance into 2026. The ProTour traditionally suits Price, and he again ranks among the leading favourites for the title this week.
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The schedule for both days is identical. Matches start at 1:00 PM local time, with simultaneous action across multiple boards. In total, four boards per tournament will be broadcast live via PDCTV and through various bookmakers’ platforms worldwide.
Players Championship events are known for their unpredictability. Without a stage, walk-ons, and the pressure of a big crowd, outsiders regularly get the chance to go deep into the tournament. That makes the two events in Hildesheim compelling not only for the headline acts, but also for fans eager to see which players catch the eye early in the season.
Entrants Players Championships 1-2 Halle 39, Hildesheim February 9 and 10
| Player |
| Gary Anderson |
| Nathan Aspinall |
| Keane Barry |
| Owen Bates |
| Stefan Bellmont |
| Filip Bereza |
| Sebastian Bialecki |
| Tom Bissell |
| Andy Boulton |
| Bradley Brooks |
| Stephen Burton |
| Dave Chisnall |
| Gabriel Clemens |
| Cam Crabtree |
| Rob Cross |
| Joe Cullen |
| Niall Culleton |
| Maximilian Czerwinski |
| Mike De Decker |
| Jeffrey de Graaf |
| Jeffrey de Zwaan |
| Cor Dekker |
| Chris Dobey |
| Kevin Doets |
| Brendan Dolan |
| Martijn Dragt |
| Tavis Dudeney |
| Ritchie Edhouse |
| Matthias Ehlers |
| Ricky Evans |
| Adam Gawlas |
| Andrew Gilding |
| Kai Gotthardt |
| Beau Greaves |
| Rhys Griffin |
| Dominik Gruellich |
| Daryl Gurney |
| Stefaan Henderyck |
| Damon Heta |
| Yorick Hofkens |
| Justin Hood |
| Max Hopp |
| Joe Hunt |
| James Hurrell |
| Kim Huybrechts |
| Ryan Joyce |
| Tytus Kanik |
| Nick Kenny |
| Mervyn King |
| Christian Kist |
| Marvin Kraft |
| Maik Kuivenhoven |
| Darius Labanauskas |
| Chris Landman |
| Sietse Lap |
| Adam Leek |
| Steve Lennon |
| Adam Lipscombe |
| Pero Ljubic |
| Jim Long |
| Thomas Lovely |
| Oskar Lukasiak |
| Martin Lukeman |
| Charlie Manby |
| Mickey Mansell |
| Shane McGuirk |
| Ryan Meikle |
| Cameron Menzies |
| Arno Merk |
| Alexander Merkx |
| Tommy Morris |
| Wessel Nijman |
| Danny Noppert |
| William O'Connor |
| Dennie Olde Kalter |
| Rob Owen |
| Adam Paxton |
| Ricardo Pietreczko |
| Darryl Pilgrim |
| Wesley Plaisier |
| Benjamin Pratnemer |
| Gerwyn Price |
| Samuel Price |
| Krzysztof Ratajski |
| Madars Razma |
| Cristo Reyes |
| Greg Ritchie |
| Rusty-Jake Rodriguez |
| Stephen Rosney |
| Pascal Rupprecht |
| Callan Rydz |
| Martin Schindler |
| Connor Scutt |
| Ryan Searle |
| Karel Sedlacek |
| David Sharp |
| Michael Smith |
| Ross Smith |
| Carl Sneyd |
| Alan Soutar |
| Jeffrey Sparidaans |
| Niko Springer |
| Mensur Suljovic |
| Tom Sykes |
| Tyler Thorpe |
| Viktor Tingstrom |
| Thibault Tricole |
| Jack Tweddell |
| Raymond van Barneveld |
| Dimitri Van den Bergh |
| Jurjen van der Velde |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode |
| Michael van Gerwen |
| Jimmy van Schie |
| Gian van Veen |
| Marvin van Velzen |
| Mario Vandenbogaerde |
| Richard Veenstra |
| James Wade |
| Adam Warner |
| Jermaine Wattimena |
| Leon Weber |
| Lukas Wenig |
| Ian White |
| Scott Williams |
| Luke Woodhouse |
| Peter Wright |
| Niels Zonneveld |
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Absent PDC Tour Card holders: Stephen Bunting, Jonny Clayton, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Josh Rock
Called-up non-Tour Card holders: Joe Hunt, Martijn Dragt, Jack Tweddell, Steve Lennon, Tommy Morris
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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- 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
- No point in being there? Champions want to win.Deduce635828-10-2026
