The PDC World Matchplay is one of the biggest tournaments in darts. Whilst the PDC doesn’t have any official ‘Majors’ it’s widely considered by many to be one and is right up alongside the likes of the World Championships and the UK Open as the more prestigious events.
The tournament has been famed for producing some highly exciting finishes over the years and with it is a crowd favourite. It is normally based at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, which is another massively popular spot for dart fans and is relatively accessible for spectators based around the UK. For 2020 it has been relocated to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes where it will take place without fans.
- In This Article:
- Tips
- About
- Prize Money
- Format
- Players
- Statistics
- History
Next Played: TBD
Next years event dates have not been scheduled yet. We'll update this page with more information as we have it.
Last Played: July 2020
- Winner: Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Runner Up: Gary Anderson
PDC World Matchplay Betting Tips
Note: The following tips are from 2020. Updated tips will be added shortly before the start date.
There is nothing else quite like the World Matchplay. The tournament is always one of the most entertaining on the PDC circuit as the best darts players in the world do battle in a straight knockout format with no sets, just matches decided by the player who wins the most legs.
In a normal year, the World Matchplay attracts thousands of fans to the Winter Gardens in Blackpool for arguably the best atmosphere in darts. Unfortunately, as we know all too well, this is nothing like a normal year. Matthew Porter, the Chief Executive of the PDC, described hosting the tournament in Blackpool as “a bridge too far” so for one year only it will be held without fans in attendance in the bio-secure setting of the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.
For fans watching on from home the PDC has tried to mitigate the absence of crowds by including videos of supporters in fancy dress enjoying the action remotely and by piping in crowd noise throughout the matches. Of course, it won’t be the same but what opportunities does this strangest of renewals present from a betting perspective and who might prosper without the baying, cheering hordes? We’ve gone in search of the value in our PDC 2020 World Matchplay betting preview and here are our thoughts.
Peter Wright - 7/1
As usual, you will get no prizes for guessing who sits at the top of the outright betting for the 2020 World Matchplay. Michael van Gerwen once again heads into a major tournament as the player to beat but is there really any value in backing him for the win at a general price of 6/4? Van Gerwen does not have the sort of dominant record at this tournament that you’d expect and his form Milton Keynes last week was hit and miss to say the least, so he should be avoided at such a short price. He’s the favourite, rightly so, but 6/4 represents a 40% chance of success and given he hasn’t even made the final since 2016 we think his real probability of winning is far lower.
Instead, the man who offers the most value to win the World Matchplay is Peter Wright, who is available to back at big odds of 7/1. Wright ended a solid showing in the Summer Series last week with victory in the 13th Players Championship event. As one of the sport’s great showmen, Wright feeds off the energy of the crowd but he reminded everybody last week that he is more than capable of playing world class darts even in a sterile environment.
The lack of fans also will not mean any sort of lack of motivation for Wright who is looking to add more major wins to his CV after finally getting his hands on the PDC World Championship in January. He’s a feisty competitor who will relish getting stuck into this format and can see off all comers to lift the Phil Taylor Trophy. Mighty Mike is a long way clear in the world rankings but a win for Wright here could see him mount a challenge to the Dutch ace in the months to come.
Nathan Aspinall - 16/1
Watching a tournament of the World Matchplay’s importance without fans will be strange for everybody who tunes in to the action. It will feel less strange to the competitors though as in a normal season they play events week in, week out without fans. The regular Players Championship events provide up and coming players with the chance to show that they can compete against the best in the world, giving them a welcome confidence boost when playing on a stage in front of thousands of fans.
Nathan Aspinall has used Players Championship events to sharpen his game against the best just as he developed as a darts player on the PDC Challenge Tour earlier in his career. His performances away from the cameras marked him out as one to watch among darts fans and nobody was surprised to see him win his first major title last year at the UK Open. ‘The Asp’ continues to go from strength to strength and at best current odds of 16/1, he is well priced to take advantage of the strange setting of this year’s World Matchplay. Take him each way (to make the final).
Daryl Gurney - 50/1
Daryl Gurney is another player who has had plenty of success away in the PDC Players Championship. In 2018 he followed up some excellent performances on the floor with darts of the highest calibre on the stage when he won the Players Championship Final. At 34, Gurney is no longer a young up and coming player but he should have his best days as a darts player ahead of him and is very backable for the 2020 World Matchplay at the huge price of 50/1.
Not only does Gurney have the darts to beat anybody else in the game, he has showed a real liking for this format, reaching the semi finals of the World Matchplay in both 2017 and 2019. The Northern Irishman played some good stuff last weekend without really reaching his peak and could well come on for that competitive action in Milton Keynes.
PDC World Matchplay Recent Winners
| Year | Winner (Seeding) | Runner-Up (Seeding) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dimitri Van den Bergh (-) | Gary Anderson (8) | 18-10 |
| 2019 | Rob Cross (2) | Michael Smith (5) | 18-13 |
| 2018 | Gary Anderson (4) | Mensur Suljovic (6) | 21-19 |
| 2017 | Phil Taylor (8) | Peter Wright (3) | 18-8 |
| 2016 | Michael van Gerwen (1) | Phil Taylor (3) | 18-10 |
| 2015 | Michael van Gerwen (1) | James Wade (6) | 18-12 |
| 2014 | Phil Taylor (2) | Michael van Gerwen (1) | 18-9 |
| 2013 | Phil Taylor (1) | Adrian Lewis (3) | 18-13 |
| 2012 | Phil Taylor (1) | James Wade (3) | 18-15 |
| 2011 | Phil Taylor (1) | James Wade (3) | 18-8 |
About the World Matchplay
The World Matchplay has traditionally been held at the Winter Gardens and has been played here since 1994. It’s one the longest running venues for a single tournament on the PDC and whilst there have been calls to move to a bigger venue to accommodate more fans, it is regarded as a bit of an institution now, with the Empress Ballroom doing a fantastic job of providing a grand backdrop for the matches. In fact, the tournament is often sold out for all days and it did so in 2017 in record time, selling all tickets for all sessions within just 3 days of going on sale.
The tournament is held in July, which is towards the back end of the season. It’s often a tournament that the players target to take advantage of the large prize money that’s on offer, whilst also offering large number of world ranking points that could vital in order to keep their card for the following season.
Blackpool’s Winter Gardens
The venue is based in Blackpool, a town that has a huge link to darts with tournaments being played there for many years. It’s also one of the most competitive country and national circuits on the amateur tour, which is a great reflection as to how popular the sport is on the whole.
Winer Gardens has been constructed since 1875 and with it provides a prime location just off the sea front in Blackpool. In 2010, £40million was spent on the renovations to the plot and with it transformed what was arguably a fairly ageing building into one of the best sports for the spectators on tour.
The Empress ballroom, which is where the main stage is located, holds 3,000 which makes it one the bigger venues on tour. It’s also been home to many pop bands over the years, including the likes of Pet Shop Boys, The Beatles, Queen, Oasis, Radiohead, Slash and The White stripes, to name just a few.
Relocation to Milton Keynes for 2020
For the 2020 tournament which will take place behind closed doors, organisers decided to switch play to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. This venue has already hosted snooker’s Championship League and Tour Championship successfully with procedures already in place to keep all involved safe.
Prize Money
The Matchplay has seen a consistent increase in prizemoney over the years and the current total sits at that of £700,000. The winner picks up a cheque worth £150,000, with the runner up being awarded £70,000. In fact, only the Premier League (£825,000) and the World Championships (£2.5million from 2018/19) offer a large prize pool than that of the Matchplay.
Matchplay Format
The games on offer at the World Matchplay run a little differently compared to most PDC events. For one, the games are best of a certain number legs, not sets. The second is that each game must be won by 2 clear legs. So, in a first to 10 match, if the scores are 9-9 then the game will continue until one player is leading by 2 legs. But, sudden death will come in if the scores are still tied depending on how many legs have been played and in what round.
Below is a breakdown of the format of each round of matches.
World Matchplay Darts – Legs Played Each Round
| Round | Matches Played | Number of Legs to Win | Sudden Death Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Round | 16 | First to 10 (Best of 19) | 12–12 |
| Second Round | 8 | First to 11 (Best of 21) | 13–13 |
| Quarter Finals | 4 | First to 16 (Best of 31) | 18–18 |
| Semi Finals | 2 | First to 17 (Best of 33) | 19–19 |
| Final | 1 | First to 18 (Best of 35) | 20–20 |
Qualifying Players
The tournament includes 32 players in total, which is fairly small considering the calibre of the event. The players are picked on the basis of tehri PDC Order of Merit ranking (top 16) and the PDC ProTour Order of Merit (top 16). The ProTour players will not be seeded for the event whereas the PDC Order of Merit players will be seeded, which affects the draw.
2020 PDC World Matchplay Participants
| Seeded Players – Order of Merit Top 16 | Unseeded ProTour Qualifiers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen | 17 | Joe Cullen |
| 2 | Peter Wright | 18 | Brendan Dolan |
| 3 | Gerwyn Price | 19 | Jose de Sousa |
| 4 | Rob Cross | 20 | Danny Noppert |
| 5 | Michael Smith | 21 | Jermaine Wattimena |
| 6 | Nathan Aspinall | 22 | Gabriel Clemens |
| 7 | Daryl Gurney | 23 | Jonny Clayton |
| 8 | Gary Anderson | 24 | Jamie Hughes |
| 9 | James Wade | 25 | Jeffrey de Zwaan |
| 10 | Dave Chisnall | 26 | Ryan Joyce |
| 11 | Ian White | 27 | Dimitri Van den Bergh |
| 12 | Mensur Suljovic | 28 | Justin Pipe |
| 13 | Krzysztof Ratajski | 29 | Vincent van der Voort |
| 14 | Adrian Lewis | 30 | Keegan Brown |
| 15 | Glen Durrant | 31 | Steve Beaton |
| 16 | Simon Whitlock | 32 | Ricky Evans |
Statistics
This tournament has, in the past, been dominated by Phil Taylor. Between 2000 and 2014 The Power won 13 of the 15 titles on offer, the other two going to Colin Lloyd in 2005 and James Wade in 2007. Since 2015 the competition has been much more open with Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Rob Cross all being crowned the champion. Taylor won again in 2017, his last Matchplay appearance before retiring.
2019 World Matchplay: Winner Rob Cross
There was a record £700,000 prize fund on offer in 2019, an increase of £200,000 on the previous year’s tournament. The number 1 seed was Dutchman Michael van Gerwen but his poor run of form in this competition continued as he was beaten in the second round by Glen Durrant, the three-time BDO World Champion who made the switch to the PDC this year.
The winner was number 2 seed Rob Cross who defeated fifth seed Michael Smith in the final despite a lower three dart average than his opponent. Cross jointly have the highest checkout of the tournament hitting 170 against Stephen Bunting in the quarter-finals. The other maximum checkout was from Peter Wright who secured a 170 finish in his second round win over Simon Whitlock.
Daryl Gurney scored the most 180s in 2019 with 36, two more than winner Rob Cross and three more than runner-up Michael Smith. Incredibly, Dave Chisnall hit ten 180s in his first round match but was still knocked out by German Max Hopp.
2018 World Matchplay: Winner Gary Anderson
The 2018 World Matchplay was the 25th edition of the tournament and the first to not feature Phil Taylor following her retirement. Top seed was Michael van Gerwen however he was defeated in the first round by fellow Dutchman Jeffrey de Zwaan.
Fourth seed Gary Anderson was the eventual winner, taking his first title by beating Austrian Mensur Suljovic 21-19 in the final. Anderson also recorded only the 7th 9 dart finish in the competition’s history, doing so in the quarter-finals against Joe Cullen. Two players scored the maximum 170 checkout, Peter Wright and Joe Cullen.
Despite exiting in the second round, Adrian Lewis scored the highest three dart average in 2018 at just under 104. Champion Gary Anderson was second with 100.88.
2017 World Matchplay: Winner Phil Taylor
2017 was one of the most competitive World Matchplay to date and was wide open with the bookies beforehand. It was Dutchman, Michael van Gerwen, who went into the event as top seed, with Gary Anderson 2nd, Peter Wright 3rd and Adrian Lewis 4th. The eventual winner, Phil Taylor, was ranked 8th, which is one of the lowest rankings he’s had for the match play in his illustrious career. Taylor beat Peter Wright 18 – 8, averaging 104.24 on his way to victory.
History
The World Matchplay has been running since 1994 and is now widely recognised as one of the biggest darting events in the PDC, second only to that of the World Championship. The first tournament was won by the American, Larry butler, who upset the odds by beating Dennis Priestley in the final, 16-12. The tournament has been unique in that it’s always been played as a best ‘s’ legs, rather than sets.
Phil Taylor
The success of the event has largely been down to one man, who has dominated over the last 20+ years. Phil Taylor has won a staggering 16 Matchplay events, which makes the tournament his most successful in his career. What’s almost as impressive as his 16 wins is that he’s done it from just 17 finals, losing just once in 2016 to Michael van Gerwen.
Phil Taylor’s World Matchplay Record: 1994 to 2017
| Titles | Finals | 9-Dart Finishes | Highest 3-Dart Average | Total Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 17 | 2 | 114.99 | £1,004,225 |
His 2017 victory will likely be one of his sweetest though as he completed victory in what was his final Matchplay event before he retired. In respect to the success that he has seen, from 2018 the trophy will be named after Taylor.
Other Winners & Records
Interestingly, there have only ever been 7 other winners than Taylor at the Matchplay, which include Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen, Rod Harrington, James Wade, Larry Butler, Peter Evison and Colin Lloyd. To put some perspective on Taylor’s dominance in his 16 wins, the next best is that of van Gerwen and Harrington, who have 2 wins each.
James Wade’s victory in 2007 was easily one of the highlights of his career. He eventually beat Terry Jenkins in the final, 18-7 at a time when it could be argued that Taylor was at his most dominant. Wade has been able to make 5 other Matchplay finals in total, unfortunately losing them all. 4 of those were to Taylor and the other was to van Gerwen in 2015.
The Matchplay has created a number of 9 dart finishes, with 7 in total. Phil Taylor hit the first one in 2002, which was also the first to be shown live on UK TV. The others are Raymond van Barneveld in 2010, John Part in 2011, Michael van Gerwen in 2012, Wes Newton in 2012, Phil Taylor again in 2014 and Gary Anderson in 2018.
As you can imagine, it’s Taylor who makes all the headline again when it comes to the highest averages. His highest and the tournaments highest came in 2010 in a Last 32 game between Barrie Bates, scoring a 114.99 average winning the match 10-6. Taylor was also the only person to average over 100 in all in his games en route to victory in 2010, which he repeated in 2011 and again in 2013.