Plenty Hopeful Of 2025 World Matchplay Glory

The second biggest ranking event in PDC Darts is upon us as the darts world descends on Blackpool for the World Matchplay. This event has been held annually in 1994 and with the exception of 2020 has been held in the same venue, the Winter Gardens. The winner takes home £200,000 and the Phil Taylor Trophy.

Luke Humphries with the Phil Taylor Trophy after winning the 2024 World Matchplay

World No. 1 Luke Humphries returns to Blackpool as the defending champion having won the World Matchplay last year beating Michael van Gerwen in the final 18-15. Only three men, Rod Harrington, Taylor and van Gerwen have won this tournament in consecutive years. However, on the opening night of the tournament he is set to face Gian van Veen, the reigning World Youth Champion, who looks a serious threat whenever he plays.

Fellow young Dutchman Wessel Nijman, will follow van Veen when he plays Nathan Aspinall. This is an important when for Aspinall as he won this tournament two years ago meaning the prizemoney he won will come off from that event will come off his two-year ranking. A first-round loss will seem him drop to World No. 23 in the best case scenario. Being outside of the top 16 would make him a non-seed for the World Grand Prix in October. Those matches will be proceeded by UK Open finalist from March James Wade meeting Joe Cullen in the first match of the event and then Danny Noppert taking on Cameron Menzies.

Damon Heta playing in the Winter Gardens during last year's World Matchplay

The Australian hope lies with Damon Heta. At about 10:10 PM AEST on 20th July he will play former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding in the first round. Heta has had a strong first half of the year. He has won two titles at Players Championship 13 and 20. He also made a final at the European Darts Open. He will kick off the afternoon session on day two. He is in the same quarter of the bracket as Littler and is the favourite from his part of the draw and could well meet the reigning world champion later in the week. Two former World Matchplay winners will follow, with 2019 champion Rob Cross playing Dirk van Duijvenbode and 2021 champion Peter Wright playing Jermaine Wattimena. Finally, Dave Chisnall will meet 2024 World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker.

The bumper evening session will see the World Number 2 and 4 highlight the evening's play. But first Gary Anderson off the back of making the final at Baltic Sea Darts Open will play Luke Woodhouse. Then Jonny Clayton meets Martin Schindler. Clayton has had a great start of the year making finals at the World Masters and World Cup as well as the semi-final at the UK Open. But the main attention will be on Luke Littler, who has not won a tournament since winning the UK Open in March when he takes on Ryan Searle. Littler lost first-round last year after he was drawn to play and lost to van Gerwen. Winning a game on the iconic Blackpool stage is one thing he hasn't done in his sport changing career thus far.

Luke Littler (right) lost in the first round last year to Michael van Gerwen (left)

World No. 4 Stephen Bunting will follow. The 2024 Masters champion has won four PDC titles this year. Two wins on the World Series in Bahrain and Denmark, along with the International Darts Open and Players Championship 18. He takes on Ryan Joyce, the man he played and beat in the World Matchplay last year, The final lot of first round matches sees a number of interesting match-ups. Gerwyn Price might be the 11th seed but he one of the most in-form players in the sport. He won on the World Series in Poland and on the Euro Tour in Germany. He will play Daryl Gurney. Before he plays, Chris Dobey will take on Ricardo Pietreczko.

Both van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld have been below their best lately but the list of classic matches between the two still make an exciting contest. The final match of the first round sees Ross Smith take on Josh Rock. Rock was the star at June's World Cup of Darts, as he and Gurney won the tournament for Northern Ireland and is a genuine dark horse for the tournament.

The easy prediction is for the two Luke's to make the final and build on their rivalry. That may happen but the true is it's not a done deal. Both players are going to have to playing stunning darts against quality opposition to get there. Most notably, the likes of Bunting, Clayton, Heta, Aspinall, Cross and Anderson can give the Luke's a real test. As for the non-seeds, Rock, van Veen, Nijman, Searle, De Decker and van Duijvenbode can all cause chaos. It promises to be some week by the seaside.

For the full World Matchplay preview and predictions, listen to Episode 25 of the 9-Dart Podcast on the Extra Time YouTube channel.