Entries Preliminary-round Winmau World Masters 2026 announced: Peter Wright, Michael Smith set to battle it out in group stages today

The entries for the preliminaries of the Winmau World Masters 2026 have been officially confirmed. On Wednesday, January 28, no fewer than 122 players will battle in the prelims for just eight coveted spots in the main event of this first major of the new season. The tournament takes place at Arena MK in Milton Keynes and boasts a prize fund of no less than £500,000.

The prelims serve as the prelude to the televised event, which runs from Thursday, January 29 through Sunday, February 1. The top 24 players on the PDC Order of Merit are seeded straight into the main draw and therefore do not feature in the preliminaries. All other PDC Tour Card holders do, however, get the chance to qualify for the big stage via the prelims.

In addition to PDC Tour Card holders, invited players from the Challenge Tour, Development Tour and PDC-affiliated Tours of 2025 are involved, supplemented by four talents from the JDC Advanced Tour. This creates a varied field where established names and emerging talents collide.

The format for the prelims of the Winmau World Masters is clear but unforgiving. The top-ranked 32 players are seeded and enter directly at the last 64 stage. They are joined there by 32 group winners from the preceding group phase.

In the group stage, 32 players are also seeded, one per group. The remaining entrants are randomly allocated across the groups. Only the group winners advance to the knockouts, which means every match counts and mistakes can be punished immediately.

All matches in the prelims are played in a best of five sets format, with each set being best-of-3 legs. This short format guarantees tension, upsets, and little room to play your way into a match.

Several big names will take to the oche on Wednesday. Peter Wright, two-time world champion and Masters winner in 2020, makes his bow in Milton Keynes. Former world champion Michael Smith also returns to the big stage.

In addition, the line-up includes Joe Cullen, Masters champion in 2022, and Dimitri Van den Bergh, a World Masters semi-finalist last year. Also involved include Wessel Nijman and Dirk van Duijvenbode, while Krzysztof Ratajski and Justin Hood, both quarter-finalists at the last World Championship, aim to extend their strong form.

Not all familiar names are present in Milton Keynes. Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld is one of eight PDC Tour Card holders not taking part in the prelims this year. Mickey Mansell, Ryan Meikle, Maximilian Czerwinski, Adam Leek, Jurjen van der Velde, Filip Bereza and Matthias Ehlers are also missing from the entry list.

There is good news for darts fans worldwide: full coverage of the prelims is available live on PDCTV. Play takes place on two stages, with the first matches starting at 12:00 PM.

Luke Littler

Luke Humphries

Gian van Veen

Michael van Gerwen

Jonny Clayton

Gary Anderson

Stephen Bunting

Ryan Searle

Josh Rock

Danny Noppert

James Wade

Gerwyn Price

Chris Dobey

Nathan Aspinall

Martin Schindler

Ross Smith

Damon Heta

Jermaine Wattimena

Mike De Decker

Rob Cross

Luke Woodhouse

Dave Chisnall

Daryl Gurney

Ryan Joyce

1. Dimitri Van den Bergh

2. Cameron Menzies

3. Ritchie Edhouse

4. Krzysztof Ratajski

5. Wessel Nijman

6. Dirk van Duijvenbode

7. Peter Wright

8. Michael Smith

9. Andrew Gilding

10. Ricardo Pietreczko

11. Joe Cullen

12. Martin Lukeman

13. Kevin Doets

14. Callan Rydz

15. Ricky Evans

16. Brendan Dolan

17. Niels Zonneveld

18. William O'Connor

19. Scott Williams

20. Madars Razma

21. Gabriel Clemens

22. James Hurrell

23. Connor Scutt

24. Justin Hood

25. Jeffrey de Graaf

26. Ian White

27. Alan Soutar

28. Niko Springer

29. Mensur Suljovic

30. Richard Veenstra

31. Keane Barry

32. Nick Kenny

1. Kim Huybrechts

2. Thibault Tricole

3. Lukas Wenig

4. Rob Owen

5. Mario Vandenbogaerde

6. Karel Sedlacek

7. Bradley Brooks

8. Cam Crabtree

9. Wesley Plaisier

10. Sebastian Bialecki

11. Max Hopp

12. Adam Lipscombe

13. Dominik Gruellich

14. Cor Dekker

15. Maik Kuivenhoven

16. Andy Boulton

17. Tavis Dudeney

18. Oskar Lukasiak

19. Darryl Pilgrim

20. Tom Bissell

21. Christian Kist

22. Leon Weber

23. Dennie Olde Kalter

24. Jim Long

25. Thomas Lovely

26. Marvin van Velzen

27. Viktor Tingstrom

28. Adam Warner

29. Greg Ritchie

30. Adam Paxton

31. Tytus Kanik

32. Stefaan Henderyck

Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

Pero Ljubic

Kai Gotthardt

Stefan Bellmont

Darius Labanauskas

Beau Greaves

Owen Bates

Rhys Griffin

Carl Sneyd

Niall Culleton

Tom Sykes

Shane McGuirk

Charlie Manby

Samuel Price

Stephen Burton

Mervyn King

Tyler Thorpe

Stephen Rosney

David Sharp

Arno Merk

Jeffrey Sparidaans

Cristo Reyes

Yorick Hofkens

Jeffrey de Zwaan

Sietse Lap

Jimmy van Schie

Chris Landman

Marvin Kraft

Benjamin Pratnemer

Adam Gawlas

Alexander Merkx

Pascal Rupprecht

Jamai van den Herik

Ryan Branley

James Beeton

Jenson Walker

Patrik Williams

Nathan Potter

Henry Coates

Ted Evetts

Jack Tweddell

Sam Spivey

Scott Waites

Scott Campbell

Danny van Trijp

Graham Hall

Fallon Sherrock

Lisa Ashton

Andreas Harrysson

Teemu Harju

Andreas Hyllgaardhus

Gary Mawson

Jesus Salate

Roberto Wentz

Archie Self

Mason Teese

Nico Bado

Taylor McGuckian