Winning the World Matchplay is one of the most coveted achievements in professional darts.
This is clearly down to the level of prestige the competition has continued to gain throughout its more than thirty years of existence. Much of that is thanks to the great players who tend to make up the event.
The 2026 edition was no different.
Although Luke Littler won the title once again, top players like Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Luke Humphries also featured among the top favourites with bookmakers in UK offering darts betting.
In today's article, we are going to talk about some of the great players who were there.
Luke Littler
Luke Littler, at just nineteen years of age, already is among the great names in the history of recent darts. After winning the World Matchplay in 2025, he went on to win it again in 2026.
This meant that Luke became the fourth player ever to win the competition for two years in succession. It was also his fifth title of the year.
Taking into account all the tournaments won in the PDC tour, Luke already has twenty-nine titles, fourteen of which have been major singles titles. Everything suggests an even brighter future lies ahead.
Michael van Gerwen
Regardless of the sport or the competition, a three-time winner will always deserve recognition. This is especially true given the fact that we're speaking of the second most successful competitor in the history of the World Matchplay.
Even though he was defeated in the second round by Dirk van Duijvenbode at the 2026 World Matchplay, Michael van Gerwen has enjoyed a remarkable career and will definitely remain one of the greatest names of the tournament.
The player has won more than 150 professional titles including 48 PDC singles majors.
Gary Anderson
Some players show what they're capable of right away. Others take their time proving it, match after match, year after year. Gary Anderson falls into the second group, and at 55 he's still doing it.
His opening match at this year's World Matchplay said it all. Ryan Joyce never really got going, and Anderson closed it out 10-2, averaging 109.96 along the way. The eighth-best average the tournament has ever seen.
He's not new to winning, either. More than 80 professional titles sit on his résumé, twelve of them majors. And yet, for all that success, Blackpool has only handed him the trophy once, back in 2018.
Luke Humphries
Thirty-one years old and already a piece of darts history. That's Luke Humphries in a nutshell. He beat Luke Littler for the world title in 2024, back when Littler was still a teenager working out how good he could be. The same year, Humphries picked up his only World Matchplay trophy too.
Another very important aspect about the achievements of the player is that in the approximately 30 titles won by the player till date, 8 are considered major championships under the PDC.
Unbelievably in the World Matchplay 2026, Luke was defeated in the first round itself by Cameron Menzies from Scotland, 10-7.
Gerwyn Price
You've probably heard stories of athletes who, even after retiring, can't quite let go of their sport. Gerwyn Price is a great example of that. However, he went a fair bit further than simply keeping up a good exercise routine or playing for fun.
Before becoming a professional darts player, Price had a successful career in rugby. While playing on the pitch, he had some stints with teams like South Wales Scorpions and Cross Keys. In 2014, he committed himself to darts full-time.
It was really a good move. In 2021, Price became the world champion by winning against Gary Anderson 7-3. So far, the player has won around fifty professional titles, and seven of which have been majors.
Although Price has reached the World Matchplay final twice, there is something that is missing in his résumé.
James Wade
James Wade belongs to the sport's old guard. Now 43 years old, he began his career at the age of 14 in 1997. Ten years later, he won his only World Matchplay title in the 2007 edition.
A remarkable statistic
Six runner-up finishes. That's the number that stands out most when you look at his history in this tournament. One of them came just last year, a defeat still fresh in memory. This time around, Gian van Veen ended his run in the quarter-finals.
It's not just the World Matchplay where he's fallen agonisingly short so often. The same pattern shows up across his career, again and again, almost as if the final step is the one that keeps slipping away from him.
From the UK Open, the Grand Slam to others, that would be 18 runner-up appearances in total. On the other hand, his 11 major titles certainly show the player's ability and the impressive career he has built.
