Luke Littler joined by three more big named withdrawals from the Flanders Darts Trophy
PDCThursday, 10 September 2026 at 14:09
There has been some late changes to the Flanders Darts Trophy which will take place from September 11-13 in Antwerp.
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The 13th European Tour event has huge implications for such events as the World Grand Prix with some players desperate for more ranking money as well as for the European Championship with there only three more European Tour events of 2026.
The likes of Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, James Wade, Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock, Nathan Aspinall and Wessel Nijman headline the tournament as they look to seal glory on Belgian soil.
Humphries, Clayton and Anderson all withdraw
The news of Luke Littler's withdrawal was already confirmed earlier in the week. 'The Nuke' hinted it following winning the Czech Darts Open in his return to the European Tour with the European Championship qualification seemingly wrapped up. He is the reigning champion after defeating Rock 8-7 last year, but will not return to defend his title.
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The field has been blown wide open with Luke Humphries also not participating following his final run in Prague. The world number two almost pulled out of the prior tournament due to shoulder pain, and may be opting to rest up ready for another busy period in the darting calendar.
Jonny Clayton will not be in the Flanders Darts Trophy lineup as his wait for a PDC ranking title in 2026 prolongs. It seems that it could also be that for Gary Anderson on the European Tour in 2026. He sparkled in Budapest with a final run but the early exit last week has all-but ended his ambitions of qualifying for the European Championship in Dortmund.
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Gary Anderson has seemingly thrown in the towel for his European Championship participation
Huge opportunity for Huybrechts
Kim Huybrechts was already scheduled to play in his home event thanks to the reigning champion pulling out. He was third reserve with the other names finally being revealed. The fortunate names to participate are Gabriel Clemens, James Hurrell and Brendan Dolan.
For the Belgian, this is not only a golden chance to perform well on home soil, but to rack up enough money to confirm his qualification for the World Grand Prix. He sits £2,500 behind Cristo Reyes in the final qualification spot with this set to be a dramatic weekend.
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Martin Schindler's Leicester chances have also taken a boost with him boosted up to a seed, guaranteeing a bye to the second round. Luke Woodhouse, Jermaine Wattimena and Krzysztof Ratajski also benefit from this.
Lucas MichaelDarts Journalist
Lucas Michael is a darts journalist and reporter based in Cambridge, UK, and has been part of the DartsNews team since 2025. He covers professional darts through reports, analysis, round-ups, and live coverage, with a focus on clear context and accurate reporting across the PDC calendar.
A key part of his work is liveblogging major tournaments throughout the year, providing real-time updates, match coverage, and contextual reporting across the professional circuit. He also reports regularly from events on site and has covered the PDC World Darts Championship from the venue, delivering first-hand insight throughout the tournament.
Within the newsroom, Lucas works closely with the editorial team and supports coverage alongside Chief Content Officer Samuel Gill and reporter Kieran Wood.
Lucas holds a BA (Hons) in Sports Journalism. In his work, he places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating content promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
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