2026 World Matchplay Darts Preview & Tips – JP
2026 World Matchplay Darts Betting Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2026 World Matchplay Darts outright betting preview. Will Littler’s domination of Majors continue? Can Luke Humphries, or anyone else, stop The Nuke? Find out what James thinks below.
2026 World Matchplay Darts
The 33rd World Matchplay is the highlight of the summer season of darts and is second only to the World Championship in prestige.
The tournament consists of 32 players. The top 16 in the PDC World Rankings are seeded 1-16. The other 16 are from the top sixteen players from the PDC Pro Tour rankings, not already qualified. Basically, the world’s top 16 and the next best 16 on ‘current form’.
Format
The format is longer matches than we get on the Pro Tour. All matches must be won by two clear legs. If the scores are tied and the players cannot be separated after an additional six legs, the match will be decided by a sudden death leg.
First round is the best of 19 legs (sudden death at 12–12), second round best of 21 legs (sudden death at 13–13), quarter finals round best of 31 legs (sudden death at 18–18), semi-finals best of 33 legs (sudden death at 19–19) and the final best of 35 legs (sudden death at 20–20).
Longer formats favour the better players and that is reflected in the higher seeded players dominating the tournament. In the last twenty years the number 1 seed has won ten times, the number 2 four times and only once has it been won by an unseeded player. That was in 2020, the only year that the event was not played at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. It was a behind closed doors event during the Covid pandemic. A coincidence? Maybe not.
Sweaty Conditions
The Winter Gardens is a very hot venue, and not just because it is played in mid-summer. The crowd are close to the stage and it has its own, intense atmosphere. The stage lighting in an already hot venue can slowly cook the players.
Fatties are going to be at a disadvantage, especially if the hot weather continues. The long-range forecast has warm weather for the first five days, rather than the really hot weather of recent weeks. The final four days are expected to be cooler and showery with temperatures under 20c.
Outside of that win behind closed doors, nobody outside of the top 11 seeds has won, and in the last ten years, effectively the post Taylor era, nobody higher than the 9th seed has won.
Top Seeds Prosper
It is the same story for the runners up. In the last twenty years there was one unseeded runner up, James Wade in 2006. The rest have all been ranked between 1st and 9th, with the 3rd seed being runner up six times. Interestingly, the 3rd seed has never won in the last twenty years but is the most successful number for runners up.
It is a good way to narrow the field and say that the unseeded, Pro Tour qualifiers can be excluded, unless there is a very, very good reason to include them.
After years of Phil Taylor monopolising this evet with 16 wins, we have now had nine different winners in the last nine years, and ten different runners up in the last ten years, but all top 11 seeds, Van den Bergh excepted.
2026 World Matchplay Darts: The Seeds
1 Luke Littler
The defending champion and many people’s idea of this year’s winner, the first player to defend the title since Phil Taylor, and a player likely to win many more.
Of the last thirteen PDC ranking televised events, Littler has won ten and been runner up in one. Needless to say, he is the hot favourite to win it. Only two number 1 seeds have won it in the last ten years, but Littler is re-writing the history books. His recent form sees him winning seven of his last ten matches.
Littler comes here fresh. He doesn’t play a lot of darts compared to most. He has only played two Euro Tour events in 2026, winning one. The Nuke hasn’t played any Players Championships and his last 50 matches have all been Premier League matches, six UK Open matches (won it), five Euro Tour matches, and seven World Series matches.
He won forty of those fifty matches and did so against what is a who’s who of the darting world. He did lose a match to Niels Zonneveld in ET3, but otherwise any defeats have been at the hands of top 10 ranked players.
2 Luke Humphries
The other Luke, and the most realistic alternative to Littler. Humphries won this in 2024 and in the last twenty-two ranking Majors he has won seven and been runner up in six others.
His recent form sees eight wins from his last ten matches. Like Littler, he plays a limited schedule, but he has played in seven Players Championships, winning one. Like Littler he has played in two Euro Tour events and won one.
But perhaps his most important piece of form is that he has beaten Littler in four of their last five H2Hs. OK, two were in the mickey mouse World Series events, but it will have done his confidence no harm. Littler did beat him in the Premier League final, but it took a deciding leg to do it.
3 Gian van Veen
Third seeds don’t have a great record of winning the title, but do have a good record of coming second. Being in the different side of the draw from the number 1 seed helps of course.
Unfortunately, Gian hasn’t been in great form since his gallbladder surgery. He is showing signs of coming back, but the consistency isn’t there. He has lost four of his last ten matches and he is only at about 80% of his capacity. He is hard to fancy, despite being the only player not called Luke to have won one of the last thirteen ranking Majors.
4 Michael van Gerwen
A three-time winner of the Matchplay, but his last was back in 2022. He was runner up in 2024, but his stock is falling. His last ranking Major title was won in 2022. These days his titles are coming in World Series events and a single Players Championship in 2026.
Mighty Mike is not so mighty anymore. His recent form sees six wins from his last ten matches and it is hard to see a fourth Matchplay title going his way.
5 Jonny Clayton
Has lost five of his last ten matches and while he is hitting a lot of 90+ averages, he isn’t scoring as heavily as the likes of Littler, Humphries and a few others. Six of his last ten matches saw sub 94 averages and while that is very good, it probably isn’t going to be good enough to go all the way.
Clayton’s 12-month average is 96.13 and he has played under that in 44% of his last 50 matches. From mid-May to mid-June Clayton was at his best. He hit 12 ton plus averages from 23 matches but he has dropped of that peak Ferreting.
If he is to reach his second World Matchplay final, Clayton needs to turn up showing better form than he has been showing recently.
6 James Wade
Has won six of his last ten matches and has the second-best checkout rate in the game. He does rely on that finishing power to win matches. He doesn’t have quite the fire power of the very top players, but he can close out legs very efficiently. Give him a chance and he usually takes it. That is why he has been a top player for so long.
Wade was runner up here last year, but he was in better form, having won a Players Championship title a few weeks before, and a Euro Tour semi-final the week before the Matchplay.
This year he reached a Players Championship semi-final a month ago, and Euro Tour quarter final last weekend. He is not far off the form he was in last year, so maybe that is a hint that he can have another good run.
Wade has made the final in three of the last nine ranking Majors (and three other quarter finals), so he has to be on the radar.
7 Gerwyn Price
Has been honest enough to admit that darts is taking a back seat for now. He is busy re-developing a farm that he has bought and that is consuming his time for now and for the next few months in all likelihood.
The Iceman isn’t putting in the practice and it shows. He has lost seven of his last ten matches. Price has played in eleven Matchplay’s and lost in the first or second round seven times. We could get another early exit.
8 Josh Rock
Reached the semi-final here last year having gone out in the first round in his first two appearances. He has won six of his last ten matches but isn’t playing with any great consistency. Rock has made at least the quarter final in six of the last nine ranked Majors but is yet to make a final.
9 Stephen Bunting
Something of a local tournament for the man from St. Helens. Bunting has played in eleven Matchplays and reached two quarter finals, but gone out in round one of two nine times.
Bunting’s recent form sees just four wins from his last ten matches. He has hit four ton plus averages, but he has lacked some consistency. Bunting has never won a ranking TV Major.
10 Danny Noppert
Reached the semi-final in four ranking Majors in 2025 and two quarter finals from three in 2026. However, his recent form is not good, losing five of his last ten matches. Noppert did ‘win’ a ranking Major (gifted it by Michael Smith), but he is more famous for losing nine Major semi-finals.
11 Ryan Searle
An underperformer when it comes to the big TV Majors. Heavy Metal was runner up in the 2021 Players Championship Finals but outside of that, he has made one semi-final and two quarter finals from fifty one played. His recent form sees seven wins from his last ten, but he has played just four matches in the last four weeks.
12 Gary Anderson
Won this in 2018 and was runner up in 2020. His last Major final was in 2021 and he hasn’t got past the second round here for the last five years. He is a part timer these days and gets his best results on the floor.
Anderson has only played 47 matches in total in 2026 and his win rate is a respectable 61%. Respectable, but well shy of the top players these days. Anderson has lost six of his last ten matches and it remains to be seen if the longer format will help or hinder him.
13 Chris Dobey
Is playing some great darts, hitting five ton plus averages from his last ten matches, winning six. It is fair to say that scoring wise, Dobey is near the very top, but he struggles to convert that into winning titles, certainly TV titles. It is hard to see any reason why that will change.
14 Wessel Nijman
Interesting. Nijman has won six Players Championships and two Euro Tour titles in 2026. His win rate is 81% and there is an argument to say that he is right up there with the two Luke’s.
However, he is still yet to show what he can do on the big TV stages. It is early days of course, he has only played in fifteen, but he has lost seven first round matches, four second rounds, two third rounds, one fifth round and went out at the Group stage in last year’s Grand Slam.
It will be just a matter of time before it clicks on the big stages, and his Euro Tour form in 2026 is encouraging in that respect. He has lost three of his last four matches, but that is likely just a blip rather than a loss of form.
15 Ross Smith
Won the 2022 European Championship but hasn’t really done much else in the Majors. Just a Players Championship Finals semi-final and a couple of quarter finals, including one here in 2024. Smudger has had a good 2026, winning two Players Championships and a Euro Tour title. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he had a good run.
16 Nathan Aspinall
The last of the seeded players and the 2023 champion. The Asp has made five Major finals and when he is firing, he can have big results. Aspinall has not played a lot of darts in 2026, family issues, struggling with his throw etc., but he is playing some nice stuff. He has reached back-to-back Euro Tour quarter finals and is hitting some big averages, but he is lacking consistency, probably due to his lack of matches played. He is something of a dark horse.
The downside is that he has said that darts is not his priority right now. He is looking forward to the event, but he gets married afterwards, has his honeymoon and only then will he get his head down and start making darts his focus of attention.
The Pro Tour Qualifiers
Luke Woodhouse
The other Luke has joined the title winning party in 2026, picking up his first Players Championship title, quickly followed by a Euro Tour title. The next step is to start doing it on TV.
He has lost both of his first round matches here and his best result on TV was a European Championship semi-final in 2024. Woody has a 67% win rate and has won eight of his last ten matches.
He is one of the form players coming into this and could have a good run. He is in the Littler quarter and faces Rock in round one.
Jermaine Wattimena
Was runner up in ET10 last weekend and has won seven of his last ten matches. How is the question. It is not often that a player can reach a Euro Tour final averaging 89.23 across five matches. That is not even his B game. Wattimena has only ever won one match in the Matchplay.
Kevin Doets
A player with the firepower to have a good run. Doets has won six of his last ten matches and has had some good runs, including winning his first Players Championship title and a Euro Tour final. He isn’t playing as well as he was back in May, when he won his title. This is his Matchplay debut. He faces Ross Smith in round 1. A tough draw for both.
Andrew Gilding
Back to back quarter finals here in the last two years. Gilding has won a Players Championship in 2026 and made two other finals. There have been three Euro Tour semi-finals but Gilding has lost five of his last ten matches and isn’t playing well right now.
Rob Cross
Has won four ranking Majors, but the last was back in 2021. Cross won this in 2019 but has lost in the first or second round in seven of his nine appearances. His form is returning to something nearer his best and he has won a recent Players Championship, a World Series title and had a Euro Tour final this season.
He is playing well, with a good deal of consistency and I expect the longer format to suit him. Could have a good run and he looks to have a good path to the quarter finals.
Krzysztof Ratajski
Won his third Euro Tour title last weekend. It was a weird event, very hot, we saw the form players go out early and that left Ratajski and Wattimena to make the final with very low tournament averages.
Ratajski did hit a ton against Bialecki in the semi-final, but otherwise, it was very ordinary stuff. The Polish Eagle has won seven of his last ten matches, and while that Euro Tour win will have boosted his confidence, there are plenty of players playing better.
William O’Connor
Has won five of his last ten matches but has hit eight consecutive sub 90 averages. Since losing the final of PC20 his form has completely crashed. Certainly not the sort of form he would like to be in coming into his first ever Matchplay.
Niko Springer
Another debutant and a player who is massively inconsistent. Big ton plus averages and low 80s are all in his game right now. He is not the Punter’s Pal. He faces Luke Littler in round one, so his first visit to Blackpool could be a short one. They have only met once and that was a 6-5 win for Littler early last year.
Niels Zonneveld
Making his Matchplay debut after having a decent season, so far. It was the two Euro Tour semi-finals which boosted his ranking, but they were back in March and his more recent form see six defeats from his last ten matches, and his performances have been very inconsistent.
Martin Schindler
Has been struggling for form for a while now and has lost seven of his last ten matches. Occasionally, he suddenly hits a massive average out of the blue, but mostly it is sub 90 averages, or even a sub 80.
Schindler has never won a match here from four previous visits and he faces Gerwyn Price in round one. Price is not bothered about the darts right now, but he should still be good enough to send Schindler home early again.
Ryan Joyce
This will be his fourth Matchplay and he is yet to win a match in Blackpool. He won’t enjoy the heat, especially in the longer format. Joyce has won six of his last ten matches, but he is not at his best. When he is, he is a dangerous opponent. He has lost two close matches with Bunting for the last two years, but he will face Gary Anderson in this year’s first round.
Dirk van Duijvenbode
Has lost five of his last ten matches and is far from his best. He has won his first-round match here for the last three years and he will face Chris Dobey this time, a player he beat 6-2 on the Euro Tour last weekend.
Cameron Menzies
Won PC23 last week and has won eight of his last ten matches. I had high hopes for him on the Euro Tour last weekend, but despite going 5-1 up in the first round, he lost it 5-6 to a local qualifier.
He has made great strides with his game, health and so on, but he remains fragile. He lost his first round match on debut last year and this year he faces Luke Humphries. Menzies is 2-7 vs. Humphries, but they have had a lot of close matches, including a 10-9 win for Humphries at last year’s European Championship.
Joe Cullen
This will be Cullen’s twelfth Matchplay. He was a quarter finalist in 2018 and a semi-finalist in 2023. His recent form sees five wins from ten, he is playing some nice stuff, just lacking a bit of consistency, but his game is improving.
Cullen will play Nathan Aspinall in round one, and he has lost his last seven matches against Aspinall. He lost the 2023 semi-final to The Asp 9-17.
Damon Heta
Has won seven of his last ten matches and reached the semi-final on the Euro Tour last weekend. He is playing OK, but there is nothing to suggest that he will go deep at the 2026 World Matchplay Darts. He has lost four first round matches from five previous visits. Jonny Clayton awaits this time.
Dave Chisnall
Scrambled over the qualifying line as Daryl Gurney crumbled. Chisnall has won seven of his last ten matches and it was his run to the semi-final of PC23 last week that got him here, and it was his best performance for some time, stringing six good performances together.
I doubt if it means he is ‘back’, but he will just be very relieved to have qualified for his 16th Matchplay. Chizzy has lost five of his last seven first round matches, and he will have his work cut out to beat Nijman this year.
2026 World Matchplay Darts: The Draw
History tells us to concentrate on the top seeds for both the winner and runner up. The Majors have been dominated by Luke Littler in recent times, closely followed by Luke Humphries. They are the two dominant players in world darts right now.
Gian Van Veen broke their duopoly, but he is not in the best of form. Wessel Nijman is improving fast but still hasn’t really shone on the big TV stages. Last year it was James Wade who made it to the final, losing to Littler. He is ranked three places higher this year and his preparation has been pretty decent.
First Quarter
It is very hard to see past Luke Littler in this quarter. He has very strong records against all the other players in it, except Niels Zonneveld who is 1-0 vs. Littler. They could meet in the quarter finals, but Littler would be the massive favourite.
Second Quarter
This quarter looks very open. MVG is the top seeded player, but he is beatable these days. Dobey and Van Duijvenbode are underachievers on TV. Gary Anderson is a fading force, but maybe if he has been practicing, he could have a run.
Jonny Clayton knows how to grind out wins and has good recent record vs. Anderson. He has also won four of his last five matches against MVG and the former finalist is as good a pick as any.
Third Quarter
Luke Humphries is the top seed here, but he is joined by a lot of very dangerous players. He has good H2H records against most in the quarter, except Price, who is just not interested in darts right now, and Rob Cross, who is on the comeback trail. It has to be Humphries for me, with Cross as the dark horse.
Fourth Quarter
Gian van Veen is not in great form. Nijman might still have a bit more learning to do on the big stage and I have to give last year’s finalist, James Wade, a decent shout of making the final four.
2026 World Matchplay Darts: Selections
It is a bit boring, but another Littler vs. Humphries final looks the most likely outcome. Humphries has won four of their last five matches and maybe in a long match, in a hot venue might just suit Humphries a bit better.
