Michael van Gerwen reportedly spotted at airport as Players Championship Finals all but fade
PDCTuesday, 14 October 2025 at 20:25
Michael van Gerwen seems as good as certain to miss the Players Championship Finals later this year in Minehead. It would be the first time 'Mighty Mike' would have to miss out on this finals tournament, which he has been competing in since 2009.
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The Players Championship Finals is the final tournament of the ProTour circuit and also counts as the final preparation tournament for the World Cup of Darts. The best 64 players on the Players Championship Order of Merit get an invitation, but Van Gerwen is in a disappointing 93rd place after 31 of the 34 Players Championship tournaments.
Like the other top players, Van Gerwen regularly skipped Players Championship tournaments this season, but at the events where he did show up, 'Mighty Mike' also performed extremely poorly. He played 15 of the 31 Players Championship tournaments, with Van Gerwen being eliminated in the first round no less than eight times and only managing to reach the quarter-finals once. Van Gerwen earned just 14,500 pounds on the Players Championship circuit in 2025, putting him 9,000 pounds behind anyway for a spot in the top 64. Another Players Championship tournament will be played Wednesday and the final two floor tournaments will follow later this month.
However, it appears that Van Gerwen is no longer going to try to qualify for the Players Championship Finals. German darts commentator Adrian Geiler reports that Van Gerwen was spotted at Manchester airport later Tuesday, and presumably flew back to the Netherlands. Earlier, the three-time world champion indicated that he will not play the last two Players Championship tournaments because of a planned vacation with his children in Dubai.
Dom Taylor was the player to defeat MVG in what is a pivotal few days for the top names. Luke Littler was also defeated by Ritchie Edhouse while Nathan Aspinall improved his hopes. Jermaine Wattimena for a long time was the top ranked player without a title and now he has two after scooping the crown earlier today.
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Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
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- 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
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
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