World Matchplay Darts 2026 | Day One Preview and Order of Play

The 2026 Betfred World Matchplay gets under way in Blackpool on Saturday as Luke Littler launches his title defence at the Winter Gardens.

The sport’s summer showpiece returns for a 33rd staging at the iconic Winter Gardens as the world’s top 16 ranked stars are joined by the top 16 players from the ProTour rankings to compete for a record £1 million prize fund.

Luke Littler is bidding to become only the fourth player in the history of the competition to successfully retain the title, and the defending champion starts out on opening night at the Empress Ballroom.

Littler is also out to continue his clean sweep of major titles this season, having won the World Championship, World Masters, UK Open, Premier League and World Cup of Darts.

The teenage sensation became the youngest player (18) ever to lift the Phil Taylor trophy when he triumphed here last year with victory over James Wade in the final, following on from his nine-dart heroics in an epic semi-final against Josh Rock.

Littler has won the last five major ranking titles, with his last defeat in a ranked major coming against Wade in last October’s European Championship.

He starts out with a showdown against Germany’s Niko Springer – one of four debutants in this year’s Betfred World Matchplay.

Springer claimed his first European Tour title at the Hungarian Darts Trophy last year, having also finished runner-up at the 2025 Dutch Darts Championship.

Semi-finalist on the ProTour this season, the 26-year-old is one of only two Germans in this year’s World Matchplay and is provisionally ranked inside the world’s top 40 for the first time.

Meanwhile, last year’s semi-finalist Josh Rock raises the curtain on the tournament with a tie against in-form Luke Woodhouse.

Rock’s memorable run to the Last Four 12 months ago saw him defeat Ross Smith, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price before eventually losing out to Littler 17-14 in a thrilling contest which saw him average 104.

The Northern Irishman, who made his debut in this year’s Premier League and picked up his second European Tour title at the Austrian Open, returns as the number eight seed for what will be his fourth World Matchplay campaign.

Woodhouse is vying to record his first win on the Winter Gardens stage at the third time of asking, having suffered successive first round exits to Nathan Aspinall and Gary Anderson.

However, he returns in the best spell of form of his career after landing a maiden European Tour title at the Baltic Sea Darts Open and a Players Championship title back in May.

Former World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall faces a stand-out tie against Joe Cullen in a repeat of their semi-final here in 2023.

Aspinall prevailed 17-9 on that occasion before going on to famously clinch the title for his second major success.

Runner-up in last year’s Players Championship Finals, Aspinall added to his European Tour title tally by winning the German Darts Grand Prix in April, though ProTour appearances have proved few and far between.

Cullen is making his 12th World Matchplay appearance, having also been involved in an epic quarter-final against Gary Anderson back in 2018.

The former Masters champion finished runner-up in a Players Championship event in March but has ominously lost each of his last seven meetings with Aspinall stretching back to 2021.

World number nine Stephen Bunting opens up with a clash against Dutch debutant Niels Zonneveld.

Bunting reached the quarter-finals here for the second time in 2025 but has also suffered seven first round exits in 11 previous appearances.

The former Lakeside champion secured a fifth place finish in the Premier League in May but has otherwise struggled for results on both the European Tour and ProTour so far this season.

Zonneveld, in contrast, has reached two European Tour semi-finals this season, notably ending Littler’s reign at the Belgian Darts Open with a memorable 6-5 success in the third round.

The action gets under way from 7pm BST, with first round matches to be contested over the best of 19 legs.

Matches will be extended if necessary for a maximum of six extra legs before a sudden death leg is required. For example, in a first to ten first round match, if the score reaches 12-12 then the 25th leg will be the sudden death decider.

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World Matchplay 2026 Day One Schedule

Saturday July 18

First Round

7pm-11pm
Josh Rock v Luke Woodhouse
Stephen Bunting v Niels Zonneveld
Luke Littler v Niko Springer
Nathan Aspinall v Joe Cullen