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Outside of the World Championship, the World Matchplay is one of the most entertaining majors on the darts calendar each year.
It never fails to entertain, and we often see the best players in the world clash in intense, long-format matches.
32 players will head to Blackpool looking to make it all the way to Sunday evening, but only one will come away from that night with a trophy and £225,000 to their name.
What to know about the 2026 World Matchplay of Darts
Let's take a look at some of the specifics of the tournament.
MORE: 2026 World Matchplay Darts qualifiers
2026 World Matchplay draw/bracket
*This section will be updated once the draw and schedule are released on Thursday
Here is the bracket for the tournament.
First round
| (1) Luke Littler vs. Niko Springer |
| (16) Nathan Aspinall vs. Joe Cullen |
| (8) Josh Rock vs. Luke Woodhouse |
| (9) Stephen Bunting vs. Niels Zonneveld |
| (4) Michael van Gerwen vs. Andrew Gilding |
| (13) Chris Dobey vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode |
| (5) Jonny Clayton vs. Damon Heta |
| (12) Gary Anderson vs. Ryan Joyce |
| (2) Luke Humphries vs. Cameron Menzies |
| (15) Ross Smith vs. Kevin Doets |
| (7) Gerwyn Price vs. Martin Schindler |
| (10) Danny Noppert vs. Rob Cross |
| (3) Gian van Veen vs. Krzysztof Ratajski |
| (14) Wessel Nijman vs. Dave Chisnall |
| (6) James Wade vs. Jermaine Wattimena |
| (11) Ryan Searle vs. William O'Connor |
Second round
| Luke Littler vs. Nathan Aspinall |
| Josh Rock vs. Stephen Bunting |
| Michael van Gerwen vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode |
| Jonny Clayton vs. Gary Anderson |
| Cameron Menzies vs. Ross Smith |
| Gerwyn Price vs. Rob Cross |
| Gian van Veen vs. Wessel Nijman |
| James Wade vs. Ryan Searle |
Quarterfinals
| Luke Littler vs. Josh Rock |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Gary Anderson |
| Cameron Menzies/Ross Smith vs. Gerwyn Price/Rob Cross |
| Gian van Veen/Wessel Nijman vs. James Wade/Ryan Searle |
MORE: Big names set to miss the 2026 World Matchplay of Darts
2026 World Matchplay schedule
*This section will be updated once the draw and schedule are released on Thursday
First round (Day 1 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Josh Rock vs. Luke Woodhouse | Sat., Jul. 18 | 7:15 p.m. |
| Stephen Bunting vs. Niels Zonneveld | Sat., Jul. 18 | 8:15 p.m. |
| Luke Littler vs. Niko Springer | Sat., Jul. 18 | 9:15 p.m. |
| Nathan Aspinall vs. Joe Cullen | Sat., Jul. 18 | 10:15 p.m. |
First round (Day 2 afternoon session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Chris Dobey vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode | Sun., Jul. 19 | 1:15 p.m. |
| Gary Anderson vs. Ryan Joyce | Sun., Jul. 19 | 2:15 p.m. |
| Michael van Gerwen vs. Andrew Gilding | Sun., Jul. 19 | 3:15 p.m. |
| Jonny Clayton vs. Damon Heta | Sun., Jul. 19 | 4:15 p.m. |
First round (Day 2 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Ryan Searle vs. William O'Connor | Sun., Jul. 19 | 7:15 p.m. |
| James Wade vs. Jermaine Wattimena | Sun., Jul. 19 | 8:15 p.m. |
| Gian van Veen vs. Krzysztof Ratajski | Sun., Jul. 19 | 9:15 p.m. |
| Wessel Nijman vs. Dave Chisnall | Sun., Jul. 19 | 10:15 p.m. |
First round (Day 3 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Ross Smith vs. Kevin Doets | Mon., Jul. 20 | 7:15 p.m. |
| Gerwyn Price vs. Martin Schindler | Mon., Jul. 20 | 8:15 p.m. |
| Luke Humphries vs. Cameron Menzies | Mon., Jul. 20 | 9:15 p.m. |
| Danny Noppert vs. Rob Cross | Mon., Jul. 20 | 10:15 p.m. |
Second round (Day 4 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Jonny Clayton vs. Gary Anderson | Tue., Jul. 21 | 7:15 p.m. |
| Michael van Gerwen vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode | Tue., Jul. 21 | 8:15 p.m. |
| Luke Littler vs. Nathan Aspinall | Tue., Jul. 21 | 9:15 p.m. |
| Josh Rock vs. Stephen Bunting | Tue., Jul. 21 | 10:15 p.m. |
Second round (Day 5 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Cameron Menzies vs. Ross Smith | Wed., Jul. 22 | 7:15 p.m. |
| Gian van Veen vs. Wessel Nijman | Wed., Jul. 22 | 8:15 p.m. |
| Gerwyn Price vs. Rob Cross | Wed., Jul. 22 | 9:15 p.m. |
| James Wade vs. Ryan Searle | Wed., Jul. 22 | 10:15 p.m. |
Quarterfinals (Day 6 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| Gary Anderson vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode | Thurs., Jul. 23 | 8:15 p.m. |
| Luke Littler vs. Josh Rock | Thurs., Jul. 23 | 9:30 p.m. |
Quarterfinals (Day 7 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| TBD | Fri., Jul. 24 | 8:15 p.m. |
| TBD | Fri., Jul. 24 | 9:30 p.m. |
Semifinals (Day 8 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| TBD | Sat., Jul. 25 | 8:15 p.m. |
| TBD | Sat., Jul. 25 | 9:40 p.m. |
Semifinals (Day 9 evening session)
| Match | Date | Time (local) |
| TBD | Sun., Jul. 26 | 8:15 p.m. |
Prize Money
*Data via Wikipedia
| Winner | (1) | £225,000 |
| Runner-up | (1) | £125,000 |
| Semi-finalists | (2) | £65,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | (4) | £35,000 |
| Second round | (8) | £22,500 |
| First round | (16) | £12,500 |
MORE: Watch: Luke Littler hits nine-darter in one of the greatest legs of all time against Josh Rock
Format
16 players qualified for the tournament through the Main OoM and 16 qualified through the ProTour OoM.
The Main OoM players were all seeded and matched up with a ProTour qualifier for the round of 32 (first round).
First-round games are played best-of-19 legs, with the games getting longer as the tournament progresses.
In the round of 16 (second round), games are played best-of-21 legs.
It jumps up quite a bit once the quarterfinals arrive, as the format increases to best-of-31 legs.
Lastly, the semifinal round is best-of-33 legs and the final is best-of-35 legs.
It's important to note that "All matches have to be won by two clear legs; if the scores are tied after the full distance and six extra legs, the match will be decided by a sudden death leg"(Wikipedia).
This has gone into effect before, including in the 2018 final when Gary Anderson defeated Mensur Suljovic 21-19.
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