Beau Greaves Handed Tough World Championship Draw As Littler, Humphries and Price Learn Opponents
Reigning World Champion Luke Littler will begin the defence of his PDC World Darts Championship crown against Darius Labanauskas, as the full draw for the 2026 tournament at Alexandra Palace has been confirmed.
This year’s event begins on December 11 and concludes with the final on January 3, featuring a record 128-player field all chasing the prestigious Sid Waddell Trophy—currently held by Littler following his historic title win.
The PDC also announced a major boost: total prize money has risen to £5 million, with the champion earning a remarkable £1 million.
The draw was finalised after the Players Championship Finals, where Littler continued his incredible rise by defeating Nathan Aspinall 11-8 to win the title.
As usual, the top 32 players on the Order of Merit are seeded and cannot face any other top-64 opponents in round one.
Notable unseeded names in the draw include Raymond van Barneveld, Gabriel Clemens, Matt Campbell, Beau Greaves, Fallon Sherrock, and Simon Whitlock, all of whom could present difficult early challenges for seeded players.
Elsewhere, former world champion Luke Humphries meets Ted Evetts, while Michael van Gerwen has been paired with Japanese newcomer Mitsohiko Tatsunami.
World Youth Champion Gian van Veen will face Spain’s Cristo Reyes, and Gerwyn Price, the 2021 champion, opens his campaign against Czech talent Adam Gawlas.
One of the standout ties of the opening round features Beau Greaves, who has been drawn against 22nd seed Daryl Gurney, in what is expected to be one of the most talked-about matches of the opening stages.
Fellow women’s star Fallon Sherrock takes on Dave Chisnall, while Michael Smith opens against Lisa Ashton.
Five-time world champion Van Barneveld begins his campaign against Stefan Bellmont, and 2018 champion Rob Cross meets Dutch qualifier Cor Dekker.
Below is the full draw for the 2026 World Darts Championship (seeds in bold):
Luke Littler vs Darius Labanauskas
Raymond van Barneveld vs Stefan Bellmont
Rob Cross vs Cor Dekker
Ian White vs Mervyn King
Chris Dobey vs Xiaochen Zong
Andrew Gilding vs Cam Crabtree
Luke Woodhouse vs Boris Krcmar
Martin Lukeman vs Max Hopp
Gerwyn Price vs Adam Gawlas
Lukas Wenig vs Wesley Plaisier
Ryan Joyce vs Owen Bates
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Alexis Toylo
Stephen Bunting vs Sebastian Bialecki
Richard Veenstra vs Nitin Kumar
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Andy Baetens
James Hurrell vs Stowe Buntz
Martin Schindler vs Stephen Burton
Keane Barry vs Tim Pusey
Ryan Searle vs Chris Landman
Brendan Dolan vs Tavis Dudeney
Jonny Clayton vs Adam Lipscombe
Dom Taylor vs Oskar Lukasiak
Michael Smith vs Lisa Ashton
Niels Zonneveld vs Haupai Puja
Ross Smith vs Andreas Harryson
Thibault Tricole vs Motomu Sakai
Dave Chisnall vs Fallon Sherrock
Ricardo Pietreczko vs Jose De Sousa
Luke Humphries vs Ted Evetts
Jeffrey de Graaf vs Paul Lim
Wessel Nijman vs Karel Sedlacek
Gabriel Clemens vs Alex Spellman
Nathan Aspinall vs Lourence Ilagan
Mickey Mansell vs Leonards Gates
Mike De Decker vs David Munyua
Kevin Doets vs Matthew Denannt
James Wade vs Ryusei Azemoto
Ricky Evans vs Man Lok Leung
Cameron Menzies vs Charlie Manby
Matt Campbell vs Adam Sevada
Gian van Veen vs Cristo Reyes
Alan Soutar vs Tewemu Horju
Dimitri van den Bergh vs Darren Beveridge
Madars Razma vs Jamai van den Herik
Michael van Gerwen vs Mitsohiko Tatsunami
William O’Connor vs Krzyzstof Kciuk
Peter Wright vs Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Kim Huybrechts vs Arno Merk
Gary Anderson vs Adam Hunt
Connor Scutt vs Simon Whitlock
Jermaine Wattimena vs Dominik Gruellich
Scott Williams vs Paolo Nebrida
Danny Noppert vs Jurjen van de Velde
Nick Kenny vs Justin Hood
Ritchie Edhouse vs Jonny Tata
Ryan Meikle vs Jesus Salate
Josh Rock vs Gemma Hayter
Niko Springer vs Joe Comito
Daryl Gurney vs Beau Greaves
Callan Rydz vs Patrik Kovacs
