Michael Smith could miss World Matchplay for first time in 12 years as World Matchplay race goes down to the wire

The Race for the 2025 World Matchplay is nearing its conclusion. Only two tournaments remain to be played prior to the cutoff. On July 9, we will know which 32 players will compete in the prestigious tournament in Blackpool at the end of the latest Players Championship double header.

The World Matchplay is considered the second biggest tournament of the year after the World Darts Championship. The field of participants includes the top 16 players in the world rankings and the 16 best players on the cleaned Pro Tour Order of Merit.

Leading the lineup is defending champion Luke Humphries, who last year dealt with Michael van Gerwen in the final. The Dutchman is seeded third this year, facing Luke Littler in addition to Humphries. Van Gerwen won last year in the first round from Littler, but in the upcoming edition of the World Matchplay they can only meet in the semifinals.

Stephen Bunting will end up in Humphries' half as number four seed, and so will number five Jonny Clayton. The order of the remaining seeds may still be changed after the Players Championship tournaments on July 8 and 9. What is certain is that Chris Dobey, Nathan Aspinall, James Wade, Damon Heta, Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall, Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson are among the top-16 seeded players anyway, while this almost certainly includes Ross Smith and Peter Wright. Danny Noppert still has to try to keep Josh Rock behind him to get a more favorable draw on paper. In theory, Martin Schindler could also still make the top-16, but the German would have to win both of the next two floor tournaments.

Should Noppert fall out of the top-16 of the PDC Order of Merit, he can fall back to his Pro Tour position. Through this ranking, Rock and Schindler have already guaranteed participation. In addition, Gian van Veen, Cameron Menzies, Wessel Nijman, Ryan Searle, Mike de Decker, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Jermaine Wattimena, Andrew Gilding and Daryl Gurney will certainly also make an appearance in Blackpool.

The virtual field of participants is currently completed by Ricardo Pietreczko, Joe Cullen, Luke Woodhouse, Raymond van Barneveld and Ryan Joyce. They will have to try to keep out players outside the top-16 during the final floor tournaments until the cutoff. Former world champion Michael Smith is currently the first in line, but 'Bullyboy' already faces a £4250 deficit against number sixteen Joyce. Players such as Krzysztof Ratajski, Ritchie Edhouse and Niels Zonneveld follow at an even greater disadvantage.

Although Smith still has a chance to make it to the World Matchplay, Dimitri van den Bergh will be missing from the English coastal resort anyway. 'The Dreammaker' has not had enough good results on the Pro Tour to qualify. He has also missed most of the season.

The upcoming edition of the World Matchplay will be the 32nd in history and will be held from July 19 to 27 at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. The prize fund at this tournament contains as much as £800,000, of which £200,000 is reserved for the winner.