World number one and defending World Grand Prix champion Luke Littler will start his quest for back to back titles against Luke Woodhouse.

The Nuke, who has won every televised PDC title so far in 2026, captured his first event win at this tournament last year, defeating Luke Humphries 6-1 in a high quality final. He will take on one of the best players on the floor this year in Woody, who has won both a Pro Tour and European Tour in 2026.

The unique event, where players must start and finish on double, takes place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester for the sixth straight year from Monday 28 September – Sunday 4 October.

Elsewhere, 2023 champion and world number two Luke Humphries will look for his second World Grand Prix title, and his first ranking title since the 2025 World Masters. He faces former finalist in Dave Chisnall in round one.

Other stand out ties include:

• 12th seed Wessel Nijman taking on Rob Cross, in a rematch of their meeting at this stage 12 months ago
• Michael van Gerwen, a six time champion at this event, facing Ryan Joyce. Van Gerwen is in the same quarter of the draw as Littler, which could set up a blockbuster quarter final
• Gerwyn Price playing Sebastian Bialecki
• World Championship runner up Gian van Veen playing fellow Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode, in their first meeting on TV

The first round takes place across Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 September, with eight ties across each day. The full schedule will be released by the PDC in due course

2026 World Grand Prix Draw

Section One

(1) Luke Littler v Luke Woodhouse

(16) Nathan Aspinall v Kevin Doets

(8) Danny Noppert v Niko Springer

(9) Michael van Gerwen v Ryan Joyce

Section Two

(4) Gerwyn Price v Sebastian Bialecki

(13) Ross Smith v Cameron Menzies

(5) Jonny Clayton v Krzysztof Ratajski

(12) Wessel Nijman v Rob Cross

Section Three

(2) Luke Humphries v Dave Chisnall

(15) Chris Dobey v Jermaine Wattimena

(7) Josh Rock v Niels Zonneveld

(10) Gary Anderson v Damon Heta

Section Four

(3) Gian van Veen v Dirk van Duijvenbode

(14) Ryan Searle v William O’Connor

(6) James Wade v Joe Cullen

(11) Stephen Bunting v Andrew Gilding

How does the draw work?

The draw for the 2026 World Grand Prix sees the top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit qualify automatically. They make up the 16 seeds for the event.

The top 16 players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit, who are not already on the main Order of Merit, also qualify for round one. They are unseeded, meaning they can play any seed in the first round.

Whoever wins their round one game moves onto round two, where 16 players remain. If all the seeds qualify, then it would be 1 v 16, 2 v 15, and so on. If a non-seeded player beats a seeded player in round one, they effectively take their seed for the remainder of the draw.

After this, two players will remain in each section of the draw. They will play each other in the quarter finals.

The semi finals will be the winner of section one v winner of section two. The winners of sections three and four will play in the other semi final.

The two semi final winners will play in the final, with the victor being crowned the 2026 World Grand Prix Champion.

2026 World Grand Prix Schedule

Monday 28 September (19.00 BST)

First round x8

Tuesday 29 September (18.00 BST)

First round x8

Wednesday 30 September (19.00 BST)

Second round x4

Thursday 1 October (19.00 BST)

Second round x4

Friday 2 October (19.00 BST)

Quarter finals x4

Saturday 3 October (20.00 BST)

Semi finals x2

Sunday 4 October (20.00 BST)

Final

Format

Round One – First to 2 sets

Round Two – First to 3 sets

Quarter Finals – First to 3 sets

Semi Finals – First to 5 sets

Final – First to 6 sets

Prize Money

There is £750,000 in prize money available for the 2026 World Grand Prix Matchplay, an increase of £150,000 from 12 months ago. It’s broken down like this:

Winner – £150,000

Runner Up – £80,000

Semi Finals – £50,000

Quarter Finals – £35,000

Second Round – £20,000

First Round – £7,500