Everything you need to know about the 2026 Players Championship Finals as Luke Littler bids to retain and make it consecutive wins, as he gears up for the World Championships.
A total of 64 players will toe the oche at Butlin's Minehead Resort in a bid to land a share of the increased bumper £600,000 prize fund.
After 2024 final misery, falling to 'Cool Hand' Luke Humphries. Luke Littler ticks off his first Players Championship in an 11-8 victory over Nathan Aspinall in the 2025 final. He heads into the 2026 event looking to retain yet another title.
Dates
The 2026 Players Championship Finals will get underway on Friday 27th November, with the event drawing to a climax a couple of days later on Sunday 29th November.
Prize Money
Winner (1): | £120,000 |
Runner-Up (1): | £60,000 |
Semi-Final Losers (2): | £30,000 |
Quarter-Final Losers (4): | £20,000 |
Third Round Losers (8): | £10,000 |
Second Round Losers (16): | £6,500 |
First Round Losers (32): | £3,500 |
The 2026 Players Championship Finals will feature a £500,000 prize pot which features a £120,000 cut for the tournament winner.
First round losers will pocked £3,500 with prize money increasing the deeper a player goes on in the tournament.
Venue & Location
The 2026 Players Championship Finals will be held at the Butlin's Resort in Minehead.
The holiday venue first staged the event in 2012 and it has been the home of the tournament since then, although the 2020 renewal (during the Covid-19 pandemic) was moved to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
The event had previously been held at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet and the Doncaster Dome, but it's at Butlin's, Minehead, that the Players Championship Finals has found its spiritual home.
Line-up & Qualifying
The 64 participants for the Players Championship Finals will be determined by the PDC Order of Merit, a ranking list that only includes the prize money won by each player in the Players Championship events.
This is usually confirmed close to the event starting.
Format & Rules
The Players Championship Finals is a straight knockout featuring 64 players.
Those 64 players will be those to have accumulated the most money in the 30 Players Championship events during the 2025 season.
The first two rounds of the competition will be contested over the best-of-11 legs; the third round and quarter-finals are best-of-19 legs, with the semi-finals and final contested over 21 legs.
- First Round: Best-of-11 legs
- Second Round: Best-of-11 legs
- Third Round: Best-of-19 legs
- Quarter-Finals: Best-of-19 legs
- Semi-Finals: Best-of-21 legs
- Final: Best-of-21 legs
History
The Players Championship Finals were first introduced into the PDC’s darting calendar in 2009 to serve as a culmination of the numerous Pro Tour events that are held across the season.
Phil Taylor lifted the inaugural crown and since then the tournament has continued to grow, forming a key part of the end-of-year build-up towards the prestigious World Darts Championship.
'The Power' reigned supreme in the event on three occasions, four less than the most decorated player in competition history, Michael van Gerwen (seven).
2023 and 2024 champion Luke Humphries is the only other player to have captured multiple Players Championship Finals titles, with the likes of Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and the colourful Paul Nicholson having all triumphed once.
Luke Littler looks to add his name to this prestigious list by retaining the 2026 instalment.
