Who Luke Littler plays in Players Championship 1 as ProTour season starts today
LUKE ‘The Nuke’ Littler is back in action today as the 2025 Professional Darts Corporation ProTour kicks into gear.
The Warrington sensation is among the 128-strong field competing in Players Championship 1 and 2 in Wigan today and tomorrow.
There are 34 Players Championship events across the year, also ending at Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan on October 30 and from there the entries will be determined for the Players Championship Finals in Minehead from November 21-23.
The only ‘big’ name missing from the opening two events in Wigan is Dutch legend Michael van Gerwen, so competition is expected to be tough.
There are 128 tour-card holders and these events feature newest additions to the professional circuit competing alongside the sport's established stars.
In today’s first round, 18-year-old Littler faces one of the newcomers to the tour - Canadian 56-year-old Jim Long.
The 2023 Canadian Open winner is competing on the PDC ProTour for the first time, having won his card at the 2025 qualifying school (Q-School) on the final day.
Long played on the CDC ProTour last year and did compete in the PDC World Championships at Alexandra Palace at the end of 2024 but was defeated 3-0 by James Hurrell in the first round.
Play starts at 1pm, with coverage from four boards in each event streamed on PDCTV and across bookmakers' websites worldwide.
For information, PDCTV subscription options include Event Pass and Day Pass packages, as well as Annual and Monthly Subscriptions.
PDC Darts ProTour Players Championship 1 draw, first round (last 128):
Dave Chisnall v Carl Sneyd
Jules van Dongen v William Borland
Brendan Dolan v Madars Razma
Justin Hood v Niels Zonneveld
Rob Cross v Rob Owen
Owen Bates v Beau Greaves
Raymond van Barneveld v Kevin Burness
James Hurrell v Florian Hempel
Martin Schindler v Marvin van Velzen
Callan Rydz v Berry van Peer
Jermaine Wattimena v Joshua Richardson
Nick Kenny v Jose De Sousa
Ross Smith v Brett Claydon
William O'Connor v Radek Szaganski
James Wade v Cor Dekker
Mickey Mansell v Wesley Plaisier
Stephen Bunting v Bradley Brooks
Leon Weber v Dennie Olde Kalter
Andrew Gilding - v Tom Bissell
Sebastian Bialecki v Kim Huybrechts
Jonny Clayton v Evetts
Stephen Burton v Stefaan Henderyck
Michael Smith v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Andy Baetens v Cam Crabtree
Ryan Searle v Michele Turetta
Dylan Slevin v Tommy Lishman
Luke Woodhouse v Robert Grundy
Christian Kist v Viktor Tingstrom
Gary Anderson v Ricky Evans
Adam Warner v Kevin Doets
Wessel Nijman v Nathan Rafferty
Maik Kuivenhoven v Ryan Meikle
Luke Littler v Jim Long
Chris Landman v Martin Lukeman
Joe Cullen v Greg Ritchie
Lukas Wenig v Scott Williams
Gian van Veen v Oskar Lukasiak
Andy Boulton v Adam Lipscombe
Peter Wright v Adam Hunt
Tavis Dudeney v Jelle Klaasen
Chris Dobey v George Killington
Richard Veenst v Pero Ljubic
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Ian White
Nathan Aspinall v Keane Barry
Danny Noppert v Thibault Tricole
Karel Sedlacek v Max Hopp
Ritchie Edhouse v Dominik Gruellich
Steve Lennon v Krzysztof Ratajski
Luke Humphries v Tytus Kanik
Maximilian Czerwinski v Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Ryan Joyce v Mensur Suljovic
Martijn Dragt v Haupai Puha
Daryl Gurney v Mario Vandenbogaerde
Darius Labanauskas v Adam Paxton
Mike De Decker v Stefan Bellmont
Matt Campbell v Dom Taylor
Josh Rock v Connor Scutt
Darryl Pilgrim v Darren Beveridge
Ricardo Pietreczko v Alan Soutar
Niko Springer v Thomas Lovely
Damon Heta v Gabriel Clemens
Kai Gotthardt v Rhys Griffin
Gerwyn Price v Danny Lauby
Jitse Van der Wal v Patrick Geeraets
