World number one and defending World Grand Prix champion Luke Littler will start his quest for back-to-back titles against Luke Woodhouse. The Nuke, who has won every televised PDC title so far in 2026, captured his first event win at this tournament last year, defeating Luke Humphries 6-1 in a high-quality final. He will take on one of the best players on the floor this year in Woody, who has won both a Pro Tour and European Tour in 2026.
The unique event, where players must start and finish on double, takes place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester for the sixth straight year from Monday 28 September – Sunday 4 October. Elsewhere, 2023 champion and world number two Luke Humphries will look for his second World Grand Prix title, and his first ranking title since the 2025 World Masters. He faces former finalist Dave Chisnall in round one.
Other standout ties include: (1) Luke Littler v Luke Woodhouse, (16) Nathan Aspinall v Kevin Doets, (8) Danny Noppert v Niko Springer, (9) Michael van Gerwen v Ryan Joyce, (4) Gerwyn Price v Sebastian Bialecki, (13) Ross Smith v Cameron Menzies, (5) Jonny Clayton v Krzysztof Ratajski, (12) Wessel Nijman v Rob Cross, (2) Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall, (15) Chris Dobey v Jermaine Wattimena, (7) Josh Rock v Niels Zonneveld, (10) Gary Anderson v Damon Heta, (3) Gian van Veen v Dirk van Duijvenbode, (14) Ryan Searle v William O’Connor, (6) James Wade v Joe Cullen, (11) Stephen Bunting v Andrew Gilding.
The first round takes place across Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 September, with eight ties across each day. The full schedule will be released by the PDC in due course. The draw for the 2026 World Grand Prix sees the top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit qualify automatically. They make up the 16 seeds for the event. The top 16 players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit, who are not already on the main Order of Merit, also qualify for round one. They are unseeded, meaning they can play any seed in the first round.
Whoever wins their round one game moves onto round two, where 16 players remain. If all the seeds qualify, then it would be 1 v 16, 2 v 15, and so on. If a non-seeded player beats a seeded player in round one, they effectively take their seed for the remainder of the draw. After this, two players will remain in each section of the draw. They will play each other in the quarter-finals. The semi-finals will be the winner of section one v winner of section two. The winners of sections three and four will play in the other semi-final. The two semi-final winners will play in the final, with the victor being crowned the 2026 World Grand Prix Champion.
Monday 28 September (19.00 BST) – First round x8
Tuesday 29 September (18.00 BST) – First round x8
Wednesday 30 September (19.00 BST) – Second round x4
Thursday 1 October (19.00 BST) – Second round x4
Friday 2 October (19.00 BST) – Quarter-finals x4
Saturday 3 October (20.00 BST) – Semi-finals x2
Sunday 4 October (20.00 BST) – Final
Round One – First to 2 sets
Round Two – First to 3 sets
Quarter-Finals – First to 3 sets
Semi-Finals – First to 5 sets
Final – First to 6 sets
There is £750,000 in prize money available for the 2026 World Grand Prix Matchplay, an increase of £150,000 from 12 months ago. It’s broken down like this: Winner – £150,000; Runner-Up – £80,000; Semi-Finals – £50,000; Quarter-Finals – £35,000; Second Round – £20,000; First Round – £7,500.
