Schedule and preview Saturday night at World Matchplay - Defending champion Luke Humphries headlines alongside Nathan Aspinall

The 2025 World Matchplay gets underway tonight. The best darters in the world will compete for the coveted Phil Taylor Trophy.

The tournament at the Winter Gardens is the second largest ranking tournament of the year. With a prize pool of 800,000 pounds, players can take a big hit in the world rankings. The field of participants at the World Matchplay consists of 32 players. The top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit are seeded in the first round, and the 16 best Pro Tour players complete the lineup.
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We look for a successor to Luke Humphries, who beat Michael van Gerwen 18-15 in last year's final. Below is a preview of the matches from the opening session.

The opening night and thus the tournament will be kicked off by James Wade and Joe Cullen. Wade is a former World Matchplay winner, in 2007 he defeated Terry Jenkins 18-7 in the final. 'The Machine' played five more finals in Blackpool, but lost four times to Phil Taylor and once to Van Gerwen. Even at 42, Wade still remains someone to be reckoned with, after all, he is still ranked number eight in the world. Moreover, Wade already won a Players Championship this year, so the form is definitely there.

To reach the second round, Wade must get past his compatriot Cullen. The Rockstar's best performance came in 2023, when he lost 17-9 in the semifinals to eventual winner Aspinall. Cullen is currently only 24th in the world rankings, but has already - like Wade - won a Players Championship this year. Cullen has also repeatedly proven in the past that he can win against any top player. If the 36-year-old Englishman reaches his level, this could be an exciting match.

Next up Danny Noppert faces Cameron Menzies. It is Noppert's seventh consecutive appearance at the World Matchplay. Noppert is trying to do better than in 2022, when he lost 17-11 to Gerwyn Price in the semifinals. Otherwise, he has not had particular success at this tournament, losing three times in the first round and twice in the second round. Noppert is often praised for his regularity and it shows again, the 34-year-old Fries is the only Dutchman who managed to qualify through the world rankings (16th place). The rest did so through the one-year Pro Tour rankings. Noppert has not won a tournament so far this year, so maybe the World Matchplay is the perfect opportunity to wipe the zero off the tables. It would already mean a second major title for Noppert, after his final victory at the 2022 UK Open.

While it is a debut for Cameron Menzies. 'Cammy' already won a Players Championship this year and has climbed to 34th place in the world rankings. He has only been a full-time professional since this year and can therefore fully devote himself to darts from now on. That he has talent is indisputable, but he still alternates good performances with bad just a little too often. For the 36-year-old Menzies it will be his debut at the World Matchplay, so it remains to be seen how he handles the nerves of playing in an iconic venue such as the Winter Gardens.

The third match of the opening night is the clash between Luke Humphries and Gian van Veen. Humphries starts this tournament as the defending champion, after defeating Michael van Gerwen 18-15 in last year's final. For Humphries, it was his first final victory at the World Matchplay. Since then, the 30-year-old Englishman has certainly not been idle, winning the Winmau World Masters and the Premier League Darts, among others, this year. Last month, however, "Cool Hand Luke" disappointed at the World Cup of Darts. At Luke Littler's side, England went down immediately in its opening match against Germany. Since then, Humphries has not seen much action, losing 6-3 to Gerwyn Price in the quarterfinals of the Baltic Sea Darts Open last week. It remains to be seen which Humphries we will see in Blackpool, the dominant world number one or the doubting player of the past few weeks.

Humphries, by the way, will have to be wary of Van Veen anyway. The 23-year-old Dutch talent won his first PDC ranking title this year and will be at the World Matchplay for the second consecutive time. Last year he did not make it through the opening round after a particularly narrow 13-12 defeat to Rob Cross. Van Veen has climbed to 22nd place in the world rankings and reached the quarterfinals at the UK Open earlier this year. Van Veen is known as someone with a high scoring ability, which he will certainly need to make things difficult for Humphries. If he reaches his best level, we could well see a match with lots of 180's and high finishes;

The evening will be closed by Nathan Aspinall and Wessel Nijman. Aspinall won the World Matchplay in 2023 and thus has a particularly large amount of prize money to defend this year. 'The Asp', however, after a difficult 2024, is on a particularly good run this year and has already won two Euro Tours. He also reached the semifinals of the playoffs in Premier League Darts at the end of May. Aspinall struggled for a long time with darteritus and shoulder problems, but seems to have overcome this and is once again reaching a high level. He therefore starts as the logical favorite against Nijman.

Still, he will certainly not underestimate the 25-year-old Dutchman. Nijman already reached the semifinals twice on the European Tour this year and seems ready to step up with a strong performance on a major.