Players Championship 8 Round-up | Wessel Nijman becomes first player to win multiple Players Championship titles in 2026 with victory over Joe Cullen

Wessel Nijman is a force to be reckoned with on the Pro Tour. He produced another brilliant day of darts on the way to defeating Joe Cullen 8-4 to win Players Championship 8, his sixth PDC title.

Cullen was hitting 180’s for fun in the final and ended up averaging over 98. Nijman averaged a little less but was clinical in the right moments to come out on top in another incredible showing on the floor while being the number one seed for the first time.

It is Cullen’s first final of the year. He reached three in 2025, winning a brace of them. He will be full of confidence after another deep run in Leicester. He began with his most comfortable win of the day: a 6-2 victory against Samuel Price. He followed it up with a 6-4 triumph against former world champion Michael Smith.

It would not get much easier as he was forced to clinch a final leg decider in a thrilling matchup against Damon Heta before repeating the 6-5 scoreline against Tom Sykes while averaging over 103. The Englishman ended Charlie Manby’s run to the quarterfinal before confirming an 18th PC final by taking down Sebastian Bialecki 7-4.

Nijman has reached three of the first eight PC finals in 2026, and that is with the caveat that he did not compete in two of them. He began the day in ominous form, thrashing Dominik Gruellich 6-1 while averaging over 103. It was slightly tighter against Thomas Lovely but a 6-4 victory was followed in hot pursuit by a whitewash over Tytus Kanik.

His average had fallen to 86 in that match, but the Dutchman would shoot it back up to see off an inform Keane Barry 6-5. Dave Chisnall was averaging as high as 110 as he stormed into a 4-1 lead at the last-eight stage but a heroic comeback saw Nijman tick off five consecutive legs to make the semi-final stage once more. Here, fellow countryman Kevin Doets gave him a headache by continuously breaking. However, Nijman broke back on every occasion before surviving a brace of match darts to win 7-6.

A couple of years ago, the pair played out a very memorable match at the World Championship where Cullen was displeased that he was not the favourite against the Dutch talent. He would have to relinquish that favourite tag as Nijman races out in front with a hold. Cullen responded with a 12-darter but a terrific 87 outshot on the bull from Nijman put him back in command.

‘The Rockstar’s’ maximum hitting was on point. Three 180’s in the first four legs gave him chances as he levelled up once more. Nijman accelerated out in front once more before starting to threaten the first break. However, a timely 180 from Cullen made him the favourite but two missed doubles proved costly. Nijman took out 96 on double nine and broke to move 4-2 in front.

The former Masters champion did not panic as he broke instantly back on double 16. Another hold and the score would be level, but that was not the case. Nijman made Cullen pay with a 121 checkout on the bull, his opponent was stranded on 44 in a painful turn of events. Nevertheless, Cullen again responded in convincing fashion, getting back to within a leg of his rival.

After five consecutive holds to kick this final off, Nijman confirmed a fifth consecutive break. An accidental showman’s outshot involving two double eights pinned put him two legs away. He managed to go 7-4 ahead, but that was largely afforded by Cullen slipping up on the outer ring. Seven of the nine missed doubles in that leg came on double three as Nijman, who also ended up on that target, split it for double two and edged one from victory. He finished up with a clinical dart into the double eight segment to become the first player to win more than one PC title in 2026.

The world number one and two Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were the obvious exclusions from the action in Leicester. Fellow Premier League names Gerwyn Price and Josh Rock also opted to put the darts down for the week as other big names looked to capitalise.

Michael van Gerwen would play well but come unstuck by a magnificent Mervyn King 6-2 in the third round. Stephen Bunting made it one round further, but youth would prevail in the form of Manby who culminated at a second quarterfinal on the bounce. Jonny Clayton was also in action but failed to make any inroads past the third round with Doets winning a dramatic final leg decider.

Chisnall produced the performance of the day with a 111.72 average enroute to blowing Martin Schindler away 6-1. Chris Dobey continued to show his worth on the floor and had dropped just seven legs ahead of his quarterfinal match but was not able to keep that up as Doets took down another notable name. PC7 champion Ryan Searle and runner-up Alan Soutar did not stick around long, exiting at the first hurdle.