The World Grand Prix kicks off on Monday, 28 September at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, with defending champion Luke Littler set to headline the evening session against Luke Woodhouse at approximately 9:10pm. The tournament runs until Sunday, 4 October and features 32 players: the top 16 in the PDC Order of Merit and the top 16 from the one-year PDC ProTour rankings who had not yet qualified.
Littler, who leads the field, won the 2025 final by defeating Luke Humphries 6-1. However, he lost last year’s final 11-7 to Michael van Gerwen. The top 16 also includes Gian van Veen, Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade and Gary Anderson. The ProTour contingent is led by Luke Woodhouse and Kevin Doets, alongside Cameron Menzies, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Dave Chisnall, Joe Cullen and Rob Cross, among others.
Monday’s first-round schedule begins at 18:10 with Danny Noppert facing Niko Springer, followed by Ross Smith against Cameron Menzies at 18:40. Nathan Aspinall takes on Kevin Doets at 19:10, then Jonny Clayton meets Krzysztof Ratajski at 19:40. Gerwyn Price faces Sebastian Bialecki at 20:10, and Michael van Gerwen plays Ryan Joyce at 20:40. After Littler vs Woodhouse at 21:10, the evening concludes with Wessel Nijman versus Rob Cross at 21:40. Ross Smith is noted as the only player to break the dominance so far, having won the World Series of Darts Finals.
The first round continues on Tuesday, 29 September, with both sessions starting at 6pm. The second round takes place on Wednesday 30 September and Thursday 1 October, with sessions at 7pm. The quarter-finals are on Friday 2 October from 7pm, while the semi-finals on Saturday 3 October and the final on Sunday 4 October both start at 8pm. The tournament uses the Double In, Double Out format, meaning players must start and finish on a double. It was formerly held at the Citywest in Dublin but moved to Leicester during the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained there since.
Coverage will be shown throughout on Sky Sports. Internationally, it will be available on Viaplay in the Netherlands and DAZN in Germany. For those without coverage, it will be shown on PDCTV as part of the monthly subscription package or annual for around £50 a year, which also gives fans the chance to buy tickets.
