After seven events in exotic locations including Copenhagen and New York, the darts' travelling circus is heading to Amsterdam for the World Series Finals.
World No. 1 Luke Littler is bidding to regain his crown after losing it to Michael van Gerwen in last year's showpiece. The Dutchman has fallen short in his title defence, though, losing 6-5 to Daryl Gurney in the first round.
Despite his general downturn in form recently, Van Gerwen had enjoyed a positive World Series campaign in the events which served as qualifying tournaments for this year's Finals, but his exit has smoothed the way for some of the PDC's other big hitters such as Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen, Jonny Clayton and James Wade.
Littler, though, is the heavy favourite to triumph once again and if he does so, his bid to win a clean sweep of titles in 2027.
- What must Littler overcome to complete astonishing 2026 darts clean sweep?
World Series of Darts Finals 2026 schedule
The tournament runs from Sept. 17-20.
Round One (best of 11 legs)
Thursday Sept. 17 (From 7 p.m. BST)
Viktor Tingstrom 4-6 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Rob Cross 2-6 Ryan Searle
Karel Sedlacek 6-4 Ben Robb
Kevin Doets 3-6 Ross Smith
Stephen Bunting 5-6 Josh Rock
Luke Humphries 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Daryl Gurney
Gian van Veen 6-2 Chris Dobey
Friday Sept. 18 (From 7 p.m. BST)
Adam Leek 5-6 Jim Long
Motomu Sakai 6-5 Callan Rydz
Wessel Nijman 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Raymond Smith
James Wade 6-5 Damon Heta
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Brody Klinge
Luke Littler 6-4 Danny Noppert
Jonny Clayton 6-3 Maik Kuivenhoven
Round Two (best of 11 legs)
Saturday Sept. 19 (From 1 p.m. BST)
Daryl Gurney vs. Ross Smith
Josh Rock vs. Ryan Searle
Luke Humphries vs. Dirk Van Duijvenbode
Gian Van Veen vs. Karel Sedlacek
Order of play to be confirmed.
Saturday Sept. 19 (From 7 p.m. BST)
Gerwyn Price vs. Jim Long
James Wade vs. Wessel Nijman
Luke Littler vs. Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton vs. Motomu Sakai
Order of play to be confirmed.
Quarterfinals (best of 19 legs)
Sunday Sept. 20 (From 1 p.m. BST)
TBC
Semifinals (best of 21 legs) and Final (best of 21 legs)
Sunday Sept. 20 (From 7 p.m. BST)
TBC -- Sunday's matches to be played in draw bracket order.
What is the prize money?
The World Series of Darts' prize money has been increased to a total of £450,000, but it is still dwarfed by some of the other events on the PDC calendar such as the World Championship's £5 million fund.
Round-by-round breakdown:
Winner: £100,000
Runner-up: £60,000
Semifinalists: £30,000
Quarterfinalists: £17,500
Second round: £10,000
First round: £5,000
Total: £450,000
How to watch
The World Series of Darts Finals is shown live on ITV4, ITV X and PDC TV in the UK.
Who has won this year's World Series events?
Bahrain Masters (Jan. 15-16): Michael van Gerwen
Saudi Arabia Masters (Jan. 19-20): Luke Littler
Nordic Masters (June 5-6): Michael van Gerwen
US Masters (June 25-26): Luke Humphries
New Zealand Masters (Aug. 14-15): Jonny Clayton
Australian Masters (Aug. 21-22): James Wade
What is the World Series format?
The World Series of Darts Finals is the culmination of nine month's worth of events that have taken place at various locations across the globe. Each event is its own standalone tournament with results contributing to a player's ranking in the World Series Order of Merit.
The qualifying tournaments feature some of the best players on tour as well as local qualifiers and wildcards. The top eight players on the World Series Order of Merit qualify for the Finals in Amsterdam as seeds. They are joined by another 14 qualifiers from the World Series rankings.
Matches at the World Series Finals are decided by a race to a target number of legs, the number of which depends on the round of the tournament being played. As with most PDC tournaments, the games are played in the 501 format, where players look to reduce their score from 501 to zero as efficiently as possible, finishing with a double.
The highest-score available in a single visit is 180 (three darts in the triple 20), while the fastest way to finish a leg is with a nine darts. Each successful checkout counts as one leg.
The number of legs required to win varies by round. In the first and second rounds, matches are played in a best-of-11 legs format. In the quarterfinals it is a best-of-19 legs match, while the semifinals and final are best of 21, matches are played to the best of seven sets.
Who are the previous winners?
2013: Michael van Gerwen (Dubai Masters), Phil Taylor (Sydney Masters)
2014: Michael van Gerwen (Dubai Masters), Michael van Gerwen (Singapore Masters), Phil Taylor (Perth Masters), Phil Taylor (Sydney Masters)
2015 Finals: Michael van Gerwen
2016 Finals: Michael van Gerwen
2017 Finals: Michael van Gerwen
2018 Finals: James Wade
2019 Finals: Michael van Gerwen
2020 Finals: Gerwyn Price
2021 Finals: Jonny Clayton
2022 Finals: Gerwyn Price
2023 Finals: Michael van Gerwen
2024 Finals: Luke Littler
2025 Finals: Michael van Gerwen