The race to qualify for the 2024 Betfred World Matchplay concludes this week, as the PDC ProTour season continues in Milton Keynes.
Players Championships 13-14 will take place at the Marshall Arena on July 2-3, with a 128-player field competing for the £15,000 top prize across each event.
This week’s double-header represents the final opportunity for players to secure their place at the Betfred World Matchplay, with the 32-player field set to be confirmed following the conclusion of Players Championship 14 on Wednesday.
The top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit will be seeded for July’s showpiece event in Blackpool, and they will be joined by 16 qualifiers from the 12-month ProTour Order of Merit.
Reigning champion Nathan Aspinall will be aiming to retain the coveted Phil Taylor Trophy, with world number one Luke Humphries and three-time champion Michael van Gerwen also set to headline the £800,000 event.
Former winners Rob Cross, Peter Wright and Dimitri Van den Bergh will also be among the 16 seeds at the Winter Gardens, alongside newly crowned World Cup champion Michael Smith and 2022 World Matchplay runner-up Gerwyn Price.
2018 World Matchplay champion Gary Anderson will head up the 16 qualifiers from the one-year ProTour Order of Merit, as Premier League champion Luke Littler makes his highly-anticipated Blackpool bow.
Josh Rock, Ryan Searle, Martin Schindler will also feature, while European Championship semi-finalist Gian van Veen and Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko prepare to make their debuts alongside Ritchie Edhouse and Luke Woodhouse.
Five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld is also poised to make his Winter Gardens return next month, with his Dutch compatriot Kevin Doets currently occupying the last provisional qualification spot.
Former champion James Wade – an ever-present in Blackpool since 2006 – is £500 adrift of Doets with two events left to play, while Dirk van Duijvenbode, Callan Rydz and Mike De Decker also remain in contention.
The tables below show the latest standings in the race to the Betfred World Matchplay, which will take place at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens from July 13-21, televised on Sky Sports and through the PDC’s global broadcast partners.
N.B. Players competing in Players Championships 13-14 who are not listed below can still qualify via the ProTour Order of Merit.
The ProTour Order of Merit table used for Betfred World Matchplay qualification runs from 2023 Players Championship 15 to 2024 Players Championship 14.
The tournament will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
Source link: 2024 Betfred World Matchplay race ahead of PC13-14