No fewer than 128 of the world’s best darts players will congregate in Milton Keynes this week, as the race to qualify for the 2026 Players Championship Finals begins to heat up.
Only the 64 highest-ranked competitors in the Players Championship Order of Merit will advance to the tournament’s showpiece event, which takes place a fortnight after the conclusion of this season’s Grand Slam of Darts.
The field consists mainly of PDC Tour Card holders, but seven PDPA associate members will fill in for those who have declared themselves unavailable to compete in this event.
Reigning champion Luke Littler is yet to make a single appearance in this year’s Players Championship, leaving him well outside the qualification places.
Following his Premier League triumph in Liverpool on Thursday night, the talented teenager will not attend either of this week’s Players Championship events. Littler almost failed to make the cut last term, but a crucial success at Wigan’s Robin Park Tennis Centre late on in the campaign was enough for him to secure safe passage through to the finals.
Having already claimed three Players Championship titles this season, Wessel Nijman is currently at the summit of the PC Order of Merit table. The 25-year-old Dutchman has earned a staggering £64.25k to press, almost £8k more than second-placed Chris Dobey.
Viewers can watch events at the MK Arena unfold on streaming platform PDCTV, with play scheduled to commence at 13:00 (BST).
Players Championship 12 – Key information
Date: Tuesday, 28th April
Start time: 13:00 (BST)
Venue: Arena MK
TV Channels/Live stream: PDCTV
Format and Prize Money
The Players Championship series adopts a ‘best of’ format, with each match contested over a maximum number of legs. The outcome is determined when the size of a player’s lead exceeds the number of legs remaining.
For example, a player leading 4-0 in a ‘best of nine legs’ match would just need to win one more leg to clinch victory. The maximum number of legs in each match is set at 11 from round one until the quarter-final stage, before increasing to 13 for the semi-finals. The two finalists then compete in a ‘best of 15 legs’ tie.
The total prize pot for each Players Championship event sits at £150k, which is a £25k uplift on the previous year’s equivalent kitty.
Organisers decided to allocate this additional £25k between those eliminated from the last 64 stage to the semi-finals, leaving the two finalists to be issued the same pay cheque they would have received for winning or finishing runner-up at a 2025 event.
Here’s a full breakdown of the 2026 prize fund (2025 figure in brackets):
Winner: £15,000 (£15,000)
Runner-up: £10,000 (£10,00)
Semi-finalists: £6,500 (£5,000)
Quarter-finalists: £4,000 (£3,500)
Last 16/fourth round: £3,000 (£2,500)
Last 32/third round: £2,000 (£1,500)
Last 64/fourth round: £1,250 (£1,000)
Players Championships 2026 – Winners
Here’s a full list of each final that has taken place in this year’s Players Championship series. Winners are highlighted in bold.
February
Players Championship 1 (Halle 39, Hildesheim): James Wade 8-6 Nathan Aspinall
Players Championship 2 (Halle 39, Hildesheim): Wessel Nijman 8-7 Gerwyn Price
Players Championship 3 (Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan): Chris Dobey 8-1 Stephen Bunting
Players Championship 4 (Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan): Luke Humphries 8-6 Wessel Nijman
Players Championship 5 (Leicester Arena, Leicester): Ross Smith 8-2 Chris Dobey
Players Championship 6 (Leicester Arena, Leicester): Gerwyn Price 8-1 Andrew Gilding
March
Players Championship 7 (Leicester Arena, Leicester): Ryan Searle 8-3 Alan Soutar
Players Championship 8 (Leicester Arena, Leicester): Wessel Nijman 8-4 Joe Cullen
April
Players Championship 9 (Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan): Chris Dobey 8-4 Justin Hood
Players Championship 10 (Robin Park Tennis Centre, Wigan): Wessel Nijman 8-2 Scott Waites
Players Championship 11 and 12 are due to be played on Monday 27th April and Tuesday 28th April, respectively.
Players Championships 2026 – Key Stats
As is always the case in this competition, fans have witnessed a series of exceptional performances. This is evidenced in the stats, which show that there have been six players who have produced a 100+ three-dart average and a total of seven nine-dart finishes.
Gerwyn Price is the only participant to register a tonne average in two separate matches, both of which came during his run to the Players Championship 2 final in Hildesheim. Having concluded his second-round meeting with Luke Woodhouse on 111.14, the Welshman once again surpassed a century in his resounding quarter-final victory over Michael van Gerwen. Beau Greaves became the first female in history to land a nine-darter on the PDC ProTour when she defeated Austrian archer Mensur Suljović at Players Championship 6.
Full list of nine-dart finishes (opponent/round in brackets):
Players Championship 1: Mickey Mansell (vs. Carl Sneyd, Round 1)
Players Championship 2: James Hurrell (vs. Maik Kuivenhoven, Round 1) and Gabriel Clemens (vs. Madars Razma, Round 2)
Players Championship 5: Chris Dobey (vs. Ricky Evans, Round 2)
Players Championship 6: Beau Greaves (vs. Mensur Suljović, Round 2) and Max Hopp (vs. Thibault Tricole, Round 3)
Players Championship 7: Thomas Lovely (vs. Luke Woodhouse, Round 3)
Participants
The following 128 players will participate in this week’s Players Championship 12:
Gary Anderson, Keane Barry, Owen Bates, Stefan Bellmont, Filip Bereza, Sebastian Białecki, Tom Bissell, Andy Boulton,
Bradley Brooks, Stephen Bunting, Stephen Burton, Dave Chisnall, Gabriel Clemens, Derek Coulson, Cam Crabtree, Rob Cross,
Joe Cullen, Niall Culleton, Maximilian Czerwinski, Mike De Decker, Jeffrey de Graaf, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Cor Dekker, Chris
Dobey, Kevin Doets, Brendan Dolan, Martijn Dragt, Tavis Dudeney, Ritchie Edhouse, Matthias Ehlers, Ricky Evans, Adam
Gawlas, Andrew Gilding, Kai Gotthardt, Beau Greaves, Rhys Griffin, Dominik Grüllich, Daryl Gurney, Stefaan Henderyck,
Damon Heta, Yorick Hofkens, Justin Hood, Max Hopp, Luke Humphries, Joe Hunt, James Hurrell, Kim Huybrechts, Ryan
Joyce, Tytus Kanik, Nick Kenny, Mervyn King, Aden Kirk, Christian Kist, Marvin Kraft, Maik Kuivenhoven, Darius Labanauskas,
Chris Landman, Sietse Lap, Adam Leek, Adam Lipscombe, Tommy Lishman, Jim Long, Thomas Lovely, Oskar Lukasiak, Martin
Lukeman, Charlie Manby, Mickey Mansell, Shane McGuirk, Ryan Meikle, Cameron Menzies, Arno Merk, Alexander Merkx,
Wessel Nijman, Danny Noppert, William O'Connor, Dennie Olde Kalter, Rob Owen, Adam Paxton, Ricardo Pietreczko, Darryl
Pilgrim, Wesley Plaisier, Nathan Potter, Benjamin Pratnemer, Samuel Price, Krzysztof Ratajski, Madars Razma, Cristo
Reyes, Greg Ritchie, Josh Rock, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Stephen Rosney, Callan Rydz, Martin Schindler, Connor Scutt, Ryan
Searle, Karel Sedláček, David Sharp, Michael Smith, Ross Smith, Carl Sneyd, Alan Soutar, Jeffrey Sparidaans, Niko Springer,
Mensur Suljović, Tom Sykes, Tyler Thorpe, Viktor Tingström, Thibault Tricole, Jack Tweddell, Raymond van Barneveld, Dimitri
Van den Bergh, Jurjen van der Velde, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Jimmy van Schie, Gian van Veen, Marvin van Velzen, Mario
Vandenbogaerde, Richard Veenstra, James Wade, Adam Warner, Jermaine Wattimena, Leon Weber, Lukas Wenig, Ian
White, Scott Williams, Luke Woodhouse, Peter Wright, Niels Zonneveld
As alluded to earlier, there will be seven absentees in Milton Keynes on Tuesday (the same seven players also won’t be competing at Players Championship 11 a day earlier).
There are four Premier League stars missing from the line-up, with Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton, and defending champion Luke Littler all opting to withdraw.
Joining this quartet on the sidelines are 2023 World Matchplay winner Nathan Aspinall, former WDF member Pero Ljubić, and German youngster Pascal Rupprecht.
The following seven non-Tour Card holders are poised to take their place: Joe Hunt, Derek Coulson, Tommy Lishman, Aden Kirk, Martijn Dragt, Jack Tweddell, and Nathan Potter.
Where to watch on TV or live stream?
Players Championship 12 will be shown live on PDCTV, the official streaming platform of darts’ leading regulatory organisation. Darts fans can subscribe to PDCTV for as little as £5.99 per month, or pay an annual cost of £59.99 to receive a year-round pass.
Please note that annual plan subscribers also gain early access to tickets for premier PDC events, such as the World Championships, Premier League of Darts, and the World Grand Prix.
PDCTV provides live coverage of most non-televised events, while also enabling members to re-watch classic encounters from the past and enjoy a range of behind-the-scenes content.
However, as Sky Sports holds exclusive UK broadcasting rights for all of darts’ most high-profile competitions (including the ones listed above), PDCTV is a little limited in its scope.
Players Championship 12: FAQ’s
When and where will Players Championship 12 be staged?
The tournament takes place at the Arena MK in Milton Keynes on Tuesday, 28th April.
Who will be competing at Players Championship 12?
A total of 128 players will be attending the tournament. Seven PDC Tour Card holders have withdrawn, but these will be replaced by a group of PDPA associate members.
How many Players Championship events are there throughout the year?
There are 34 PC events in 2026, ahead of the Players Championship Finals in November.
How many competitors qualify for the Players Championship finals?
The 64 players who have earned the most from the initial 34 Players Championship events will progress to the finals. The Players Championship Order of Merit provides a live ranking of all 128 participants.