Preview Schedule Saturday evening session Players Championship Finals 2024 with Littler and Humphries remaining in wide open field

Saturday night the eighth finals of the Players Championship Finals will be played. Anyone who survived the second round this afternoon may re-form tonight to fight for a place in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

This event is taking place for the sixteenth year. Michael van Gerwen is the record winner with seven titles. Phil Taylor, with three titles, is the only other player to have won the Players Championship Finals more than once. Gary Anderson, Kevin Painter, Paul Nicholson, Daryl Gurney, Peter Wright and Luke Humphries are the other former winners. In 2023, the title went to Humphries, who was too strong for Van Gerwen in the final, 11-9.

In the second round, we again saw a number of big names who had to clear the field early in the tournament. Nathan Aspinall, Dave Chisnall, Michael Smith and Raymond van Barneveld failed to secure a spot in the last 16.

Defending champion Luke Humphries is provisionally well on course to prolong his title reign at the Butlin's Resort in Minehead. The world number one won 6-2 over Gabriel Clemens in his opening match and then outlasted Raymond van Barneveld 6-3. Humphries' next opponent is Damon Heta. The Australian easily defeated Mervyn King (6-1) in the first round but then had to work hard to hold off Krzysztof Ratajski (6-5). In the head-to-head, Humphries is leading by as much as 7-1, however, the positive news for Heta is that he managed to win the last showdown between them in October.

Luke Littler has also reached the Last 16. After 'The Nuke' impressed earlier with a 6-0 victory over Rob Cross (where he shot 112 average) he managed to average over 105 again this afternoon. He defeated his opponent Ritchie Edhouse 6-2. The 17-year-old will meet a Dutchman in the next round in the form of Danny Noppert. 'The Freeze' struggled in his second round match against Stephen Burton but eventually won it 6-4. Although he will have to do a lot better tonight if he wants to stand a chance against the teenage sensation.

Jermaine Wattimena did qualify for the Last 16. After his earlier victory over Alan Soutar (6-4), the Dutchman made perhaps the most impression of all in the second round by defeating Josh Rock 6-0 with a finish percentage of a whopping 85.7. He will face another Dutchman in the next round: Dirk van Duijvenbode. 'Aubergenius' was too strong for Callan Rydz (6-1) in the first round. His match against Florian Hempel took some time to get going but he eventually won the match 6-3.

Niels Zonneveld is one of the surprising names in the last sixteen. In the first round he defeated William O'Connor (6-3) and then surprisingly defeated Nathan Aspinall 6-3 this afternoon. Last year the Dutchman also managed to reach the eighth final, although tonight he will try to improve on his performance of last year. To do so, he will have to beat his southern neighbor Mike De Decker. 'The Real Deal' already eliminated a Dutchman in the first round in Richard Veenstra (6-1) before sweeping Ian White 6-0 off the board in the second round. The current World Grand Prix winner has played against Zonneveld five times before, 3 of which he managed to win. Who knows, maybe the Dutchman can even the score again tonight.

Jeffrey de Graaf may try to reach the quarterfinals of a ranking major at the PDC for the first time in his career on Saturday night. After his handsome 6-5 victory over Ryan Searle, he also sent Thibault Tricole (6-3) home. The Swedish Dutchman will face Scott Williams in the last sixteen. The Englishman won in his first two rounds against Gian van Veen (6-5) and Kim Huybrechts (6-4). Williams caused a sensation earlier this year by reaching the semifinals of the World Darts Championship, but had a rather colorless season.

Former Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney will face Connor Scutt at the last sixteen. Gurney was responsible for eliminating both Peter Wright (6-1) and Michael Smith (6-4) earlier in the tournament. Scutt made it to the last sixteen of a PDC major for the first time in his career after victories over Martin Lukeman (6-4) and Mario Vandenbogaerde (6-3).

Martin Schindler will face 'Relentless' Ryan Joyce in the eighth final. The German defeated Brendan Dolan (6-2) and Ryan Meikle (6-4) on his way to the last sixteen. Joyce was successively too strong for Karel Sedlacek (6-4) and Cameron Menzies (6-5).

The last match of the eighth finals involves two men who both know what it's like to win a major tournament. Former European Championship winner Ross Smith faces UK Open winner Andrew Gilding. 'Smudger' managed to deal with Dimitri van den Bergh and Wesley Plaisier (both 6-1) in his previous matches, while 'Goldfinger' was too strong for Kevin Doets (6-3) and Dave Chisnall (6-5).

The Players Championship Finals will be broadcast on ITV4. All matches during both the afternoon and evening sessions can be seen via this pay channel. Belgian fans can turn to VTM 2 to follow the tournament.

A second stage will be used during the first two days of play. The matches on this stage can be seen on PDC TV. The afternoon sessions will start at 12:50 p.m., while the evening sessions over the weekend will begin at 7 p.m.

During the Players Championship Finals, 600,000 pounds of prize money will be distributed. This event is taking place for the sixteenth time. The first edition was in 2009, when a total of 200,000 pounds was made available. Then the winner went home with the top prize of 50,000.

Meanwhile, the winner of the Players Championship Finals gets more than double that. All 64 participants in the Players Championship Finals are guaranteed a starting bonus of 3,000 pounds. This amount eventually rises to a £120,000 reward for the winner of the tournament.

First round: Best of 11 legs

Second round: Best of 11 legs

Third round: Best of 19 legs

Quarterfinals: Best of 19 legs

Semifinals: Best of 21 legs

Final: Best of 21 legs

Connor Scutt v Daryl Gurney

Jermaine Wattimena v Dirk van Duijvenbode

Luke Littler v Danny Noppert

Damon Heta v Luke Humphries

Jeffrey de Graaf v Scott Williams

Niels Zonneveld v Mike De Decker

Martin Schindler v Ryan Joyce

Andrew Gilding v Ross Smith