Luke Littler’s World Matchplay title defence will have its final field confirmed after Players Championship 24, with the PDC ProTour returning on July 6-7.
The next pair of floor events now carries obvious Blackpool weight. Players Championship 23-24 will be staged before the 2026 Betfred World Matchplay, where the remaining ranking movement can decide who joins the 32-player field at the Winter Gardens.
The key dates were set out in Sky Sports’ Slovak Darts Open round-up, which noted that the ProTour resumes across July 6-7 and that the World Matchplay field will be finalised after Event 24.
Blackpool Places Now Become The ProTour Prize
That makes the next two Players Championship events more than routine ranking business. For those hovering around the qualification line, every run in the floor field can now alter a summer schedule, a TV payday and a major-stage opportunity.
Littler is already the headline act as defending champion, but the final shape of the draw still matters around him. The last qualifiers can change the balance of the first round and sharpen the pressure on players chasing a late route into one of darts’ biggest weeks.
For the chasers, July 6-7 is now the hard deadline. For the seeded names, it is the moment the Blackpool picture finally stops moving.
