PREVIEW: 2024 Players Championship Finals: who claims the title in Minehead? (2024)

Straight off the back of an epic nine daysof darts action at the Grand Slam of Darts, we’ve got the Players ChampionshipFinals coming up for you this weekend. Luke Littler is coming in fresh offwinning his first ranking major title on Sunday after he demolished Martin Lukeman andhad an all-time great match with Gary Anderson in Wolverhampton. Incredibly,the Nuke has moved up to fifth in the world rankings within the first year ofhis professional career, and he’ll be looking to claim another title this weekend.

The Players Championship Finals will seethe top 64 ranked players in the Players Championship Order of Merit face off for the conclusionof the Players Championships season. The event will kick off on Friday November22nd, and will conclude on Sunday November 24th. Yep,it’s going to be another action packed weekend of darts, as we build up towardsthe World Championships next month.

All the action is coming from Butlin’sMinehead, and there’s a total prize fund of £600,000 up for grabs, with£120,000 going to the winner. Fans willbe delighted that the can catch all the action on free TV, with ITV4 having therights to the Players Championship Finals.

Let’s take a look at who the big favouritesare, and how the tournament works.

Who’s in the draw?

The number 1 seed is Chris Dobey, as he’searnt the most prize money throughout the Players Championships events in 2024,and he’ll face off with the number 64 ranking Nathan Aspinall in the round of64. Dobey’s best win so far was the Masters in 2023, when he beat Rob Cross inthe final. “Hollywood” will be hoping to make a strong run this weekend, but hedoes not have a good record against Aspinall. Aspinall hasn’t quite been at theform that saw him win the World Matchplay last year, but he’s beaten Dobey on 4of the last five occasions they’ve faced off. The man from Stockport will behoping to keep that run going this weekend.

But the best match of the first round issurely when newly crowned Grand Slam champion Luke Littler takes on Rob Cross,in the match up between number 8 and number 57 seeds. Littler was simplystunning in Wolverhampton, and winning 15 legs in a row in the final showedjust how much talent he has. But, Rob Cross has caused him some problemsrecently, most notably at last months World Grand Prix where Cross knocked outLittler in the first round, with a bullseye to finish. Cross, who was PC Finalsrunner up in 2022, might be one of the most underrated players out there, evenif he has a world title to his name, and he is more than capable of beatingLittler if he’s on his game.

Michael van Gerwen has the most PC Finalswins to his name with 7, a massive 4 ahead of Phil Taylor who is the only otherperson to have won this competition multiple times. Whilst Van Gerwen hasdefinitely had a difficult season, you cannot count him out. He’s the number 17seed, and he’ll take Ian White in the round of 64. White beat Van Gerwen thelast time the duo met back in April, and MvG was not near his best at the GrandSlam of Darts, but the Dutchman has proved time and time again how good he is, andhe’ll be looking to recapture the title he last won in 2022 when he beat RobCross.

Last year’s winner Luke Humphries had adifficult time in Wolverhampton, but he’s the world number 1 for a reason.Whilst Littler is the player that gets all the attention, and rightfully sogiven his age and incredible scoring, Humphries is still the man to beat in2024. His German rival Gabriel Clemens made it to the semi finals this timelast year, and should provide a tough opener for Cool Hand. Clemens beatHumphries when they last met in September, but Humphries will certainly be thefavourite heading in to this won. He’ll be hoping to use the PlayersChampionship Finals to get back to his best, before heading to London for theWorld Championships next month.

Newly crowned European champion, Ritchie Edhouse faces LukeWoodhouse in a repeat of Dortmund, Josh Rock takes on Ricky Evans, while RossSmith faces Dimitri van den Bergh. Daryl Gurney also will pit his wits againstPeter Wright. As Dave Chisnall faces Joe Cullen also.

What happened last year?

This time last year, Humphries won histhird major title in the space of seven weeks, as he defeated Michael vanGerwen in a brilliant battle. Michael van Gerwen, aiming for his eighth title, lookedset for victory after he raced into a 9-5 lead. But Luke Humphries refused toquit, and mounted an incredible comeback as he stamped his authority on thefinal.

Starting with a crucial 130 on the bull,Humphries steadily chipped away at MVG’s advantage, holding his nerve as MVGbegan to realise just how good his new rival was. Van Gerwen’s missed chances,including a bullseye for a 170 checkout, allowed Humphries to stay incontention, and an eight title began to slip away. Humphries broke back with adouble 10 to narrow the gap and then capitalised on MVG’s errors to level thematch and take the lead. In a fantastic final, after multiple missed darts fromboth players, Humphries clinched the victory 11-9 with a double one.

The win completed a remarkable period forHumphries, including hat-trick of wins as he added to the World Grand Prix andGrand Slam of Darts titles that he’d already won. Humphries, of course, then wenton to claim the World Championship in London, and he’ll be hoping he can usethe PC Finals as a springboard once again.

How does the tournament work?

Winners from the first round on Friday willmove forward to Saturday's double session, which features the second round inthe afternoon and the third round in the evening. The tournament will then cometo an end on Sunday, November 24, starting with the quarter-finals in theafternoon. This will be followed by the semi-finals and the final in anaction-packed evening session.

Between the semi-finals and the final onSunday night, the Winmau World Youth Championship final will take place, withan all-Dutch clash between Van Veen and Jurjen van der Velde.

As we begin the run in to the WorldChampionships over Christmas, the Players Championship Finals is the lastchance for the world’s best to fine tune their form before going for the bigone. So will Humphries retain his title, or will Littler prove unstoppableagain? Or will we have a different winner? We don’t have to wait too long, asanother action packed weekend of darts begins on Friday.