World Matchplay 2024 draw: Michael van Gerwen vs Luke Littler & Michael Smith vs Gary Anderson in first round crackers
PDCThursday, 04 July 2024 at 13:26
The draw for the 2024 World Matchplay has produced an absolute cracker between Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler. For the 17-year-old Littler, it will be a baptism of fire at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
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Littler is darts' new rising star. After a blistering World Championship campaign, Littler won the Premier League Darts, a World Series title, two Euro Tours and a Players Championship tournament in his first six months on the PDC circuit. Along with world champion Luke Humphries, Littler is one of two top favorites to win the World Matchplay.
The stakes are pretty high for Van Gerwen at the World Matchplay. The Dutchman managed to win the tournament in Blackpool in 2022. So that means 'Mighty Mike' will have to defend the prize money he earned then on the world rankings this year. A defeat in the first round would cause Van Gerwen to lose nearly 20 percent of his amount on the PDC Order of Merit.
The draw between Van Gerwen and Littler did ensure that Humphries could theoretically face his two biggest rivals only in the final. 'Cool Hand Luke' leads the seeding list in Blackpool and was paired with Ricardo Pietreczko.
Another top affair for the first round is the clash between Gary Anderson and Michael Smith. Anderson was 'Bullyboy's mentor in the past, and managed to add the World Matchplay to his record in 2018.
The 31st edition of the World Matchplay will take place from July 13 to 21. Nathan Aspinall is the defending champion in Blackpool. 'The Asp' won 18-6 over Jonny Clayton in last year's final. The defending champion begins his tournament against rookie Luke Woodhouse.
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Draw World Matchplay 2024
(1) Luke Humphries v Ricardo Pietreczko
(16) Stephen Bunting v Ryan Joyce
(8) Jonny Clayton v Raymond van Barneveld
(9) Dimitri van den Bergh v Martin Schindler
(4) Gerwyn Price v Daryl Gurney
(13) Ross Smith v Josh Rock
(5) Nathan Aspinall v Luke Woodhouse
(12) Danny Noppert v James Wade
(2) Michael van Gerwen v Luke Littler
(15) Joe Cullen v Brendan Dolan
(7) Dave Chisnall v Krzysztof Ratajski
(10) Peter Wright v Andrew Gilding
(3) Michael Smith v Gary Anderson
(14) Chris Dobey v Ritchie Edhouse
(6) Rob Cross v Gian van Veen
(11) Damon Heta v Ryan Searle
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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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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