World Matchplay: Michael van Gerwen could tumble down world rankings but Wessel Nijman is a serious title threat

Michael van Gerwen can erase concerns about his erratic form at the World Matchplay, while Wessel Nijman has emerged as a serious title threat in Blackpool.

The 2026 World Matchplay starts on Saturday at the Winter Gardens, live on Sky Sports, and here are five talking points ahead of the first round...

MVG under world ranking pressure

Van Gerwen, the three-time World Matchplay champion, heads to Blackpool under serious pressure for the first time in his career as he defends £100,000 of his world ranking, which he earned in his final defeat to Luke Humphries in 2024.

MVG could be facing a possible drop to seventh in the world rankings if he loses out to Andrew Gilding in round one on Sunday.

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The Green Machine has shown some signs of what once made him world No 1, winning titles on the World Series and a Players' Championship event in Leicester this year, but has also shown vulnerability when often averaging in the mid-80s on the ProTour and EuroTour.

If MVG is to limit the damage to his world ranking, he will need to rediscover the form he showed in Players Championship 15, when he dispatched Martin Schindler 7-0 in the semi-finals, with a staggering average of 122.34, en route to victory.

Gilding represents a tricky opponent in the first round. Goldfinger beat Van Gerwen 6-4 last month in Bratislava on the European Tour, missing just one dart at a double. Gilding also has his memorable UK Open victory over MVG in the final in 2023.

Cross to go deep in Blackpool

The PDC could be saving the best until last with the match between Danny Noppert and Rob Cross concluding the first round on Monday night, live on Sky Sports.

Off the back of a very positive 2025 for Noppert, the Dutchman was unlucky to miss out on the 2026 Premier League. The Freeze made the last eight of the Winmau World Masters and the UK Open and he was a semi-finalist in the Grand Slam, the World Grand Prix and the European Championships.

However, since the turn of the new year, the former UK Open champion has struggled for form and on the Euro Tour he has gone beyond the quarterfinals just twice.

Rob Cross on the other hand is on a different trajectory. 2025 was a tough year in which he won only one ranking event (Players Championship 1 back in February) and failed to pick up any nightly wins in the Premier League in 2025, missing out on the playoffs.

In recent months however, he has made up some ground and earned himself a spot in Blackpool this weekend through the ProTour order of merit. Coming off the back of the Players Championship 22 title, Voltage will be confident in his tie against an off-form Noppert.

The Dutch star also recently revealed that he was the recipient of hateful social media messages regarding his mother's death from cancer. Noppert, will look to put the offensive comments out of his mind and focus on his clash with the 2018 world champion.

If Cross gets past Noppert, he'll potentially face Gerwyn Price next before Luke Humphries. A tough run but one he will relish on current form and the chance to go deep at the Winter Gardens taking down some big names on the way.

In-form Nijman the man to beat?

Wessel Nijman has won so much money on the ProTour in 2026 that he qualified for this tournament as a top-16 seed through the world rankings.

The Dutchman has won an impressive six Players Championship titles in 2026 and also clinched two European Tour trophies in Gottingen and Bratislava.

The 26-year-old - the only player in the field without a nickname (because, he says, they are silly), is yet to have any notable deep runs in major tournaments, with his best to date reaching the last eight of the Players Championship Finals and The Grand Slam of Darts, but this should be the tournament that changes this.

In the six ProTour events he won, Nijman's running average didn't dip below 95 and he peaked at 102.78 in his Players Championship 2 success.

He will undoubtedly be looking to build on this form as well as his Matchplay debut success last year when he knocked out Nathan Aspinall in round one, winning 10-6.

Nijman's first-round opponent this year is Dave Chisnall, who scraped qualification with the last spot in the field following a good semi-final run in Players Championship 23.

Despite it only being his second appearance in Blackpool, the Dutchman is third favourite to take the title behind the world numbers one and two, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, but many will back him to go the whole way.

Zonneveld can beat The Bullet

Niels Zonneveld heads to Blackpool to make his World Matchplay debut. 'Triple Z' earned his spot through the ProTour order of merit and since regaining his tour card for a third time in 2023, he has finally come through to show his real ability.

This year on the European tour the 27-year-old has reached two semi-finals and, on the floor, has reached the last eight on four different occasions.

His standout moment this year came in the Belgian Darts Open when he became the first player to beat Littler in that particular tournament. He was a 6-5 winner with a 147 checkout in the decider and averaged in excess of a ton. In doing so, he also became the first player to beat Littler in a ranking event this year.

Zonneveld takes on Stephen Bunting in his round-one clash, and The Bullet hasn't had the strongest year so far. After controversially making the 2026 Premier League selection, he failed to reach the playoffs and hasn't won a single EuroTour or ProTour event this year. His only two successes have come as nightly wins in the Premier League in Belfast and Sheffield.

Zonneveld will be eyeing up an upset and with that a debut World Matchplay win against out-of-form Bunting.

Back to back at Blackpool for The Nuke?

Reigning world champion Littler is looking to join Phil Taylor and Van Gerwen as the only players to successfully defend their title at the Winter Gardens.

This will be the Nuke's third World Matchplay tournament. His first in 2024 ended in a 10-6 defeat at the hands of MVG in round one.

However, in 2025 the teenager went all the way with remarkable comebacks against Jermaine Wattimena and Josh Rock, a thrilling encounter with Gilding, and a professional final performance against James Wade.

Littler, who most recently lost a classic final to 'Cool Hand' Humphries at Madison Square Garden in New York in the world series, heads down to Blackpool brimming with confidence having already secured multiple major titles this year including the World Championship, UK Open and the Premier League.

The Nuke is undoubtedly the favourite going into his round one tie with Niko Springer. The German, known for his form on the EuroTour, has played Littler only once before in his professional career, with The Nuke edging an epic 6-5, at Players Championship 5 last year, with both averaging over 102.

They could serve up another classic in the first round but Littler is the odds-on favourite ahead of this weekend and the longer formats will allow him to settle in and let his devastating scoring ability get into full flow, making this an extremely difficult task for 'The Meenzer Bub'.

When is the World Matchplay live on Sky Sports?

The World Matchplay commences on Saturday July 18 and ends on Sunday July 26.

All nine days of the event will be shown live on Sky Sports, with coverage of the opening day commencing on Sky Sports+ at 7pm Not got Sky? Get instant access with NOW

(c) Sky Sports 2026: World Matchplay: Michael van Gerwen could tumble down world rankings but Wessel Nijman is a serious title threat