LITTLER TARGETS FINAL MISSING MAJOR IN POLAND

PLPOLE20 – By Phil Lanning

LUKE LITTLER’S quest to complete the set of PDC majors starts in Krakow this weekend.

The Nuke has won everything the sport has to offer in just 26 months – apart from the European Championship.

His bid to deliver that one final trophy, a target he’s made clear he wants to achieve, all begins at the Poland Darts Open on Saturday evening.

But he potentially faces old foe Mike De Decker in round two. De Decker would need to get past Marvin Kraft first on Friday night. Littler has had two classics with the Belgian in the 2024 Grand Slam and survived a match dart more recently in his World Masters opener in Milton Keynes.

Luke Humphries could face a tricky opener against home star Krzysztof Ratajski if the Pole beats Mickey Mansell.

If he recovers from illness, Michael van Gerwen will be going for a record-extending 39th Euro tour win against Luke Woodhouse or Carl Sneyd.

It is the first of 15 European Tour events on the 2026 PDC ProTour and the first-ever Euro tour held in Poland, following on from successful World Series events held in Gliwice.

World Champion Littler can almost book himself a place in the Euro Finals in Dortmund in late October with a victory this weekend and the £35,000 top prize.

It will feature a field of 48 players led by Littler, Humphries, Van Gerwen, Gian van Veen, Gary Anderson, Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall.

With a busy schedule ahead in which many could skip a lot of tournaments, it could be the only time to see all the top names in one place on the European Tour.

2026 SUPERBET Poland Darts Open

Watch on PDC.TV: https://www.pdc.tv/videos

Friday February 20

Round One

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)

Cameron Menzies v Ritchie Edhouse

William O’Connor v Andreas Harrysson

Ryan Joyce v Boris Krcmar

Luke Woodhouse v Carl Sneyd

Niels Zonneveld v Host Nation Qualifier 4

Andrew Gilding v Jeffrey De Graaf

Jermaine Wattimena v Host Nation Qualifier 1

Dave Chisnall v Darryl Pilgrim

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)

Wessel Nijman v Thomas Lovely

Daryl Gurney v Host Nation Qualifier 3

Damon Heta v Connor Scutt

Krzysztof Ratajski v Mickey Mansell

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Adam Gawlas

Niko Springer v Cristo Reyes

Joe Cullen v Host Nation Qualifier 2

Mike De Decker v Marvin Kraft

Saturday February 21

Round Two

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)

Martin Schindler v Joyce/Krcmar

Chris Dobey v Heta/Scutt

Nathan Aspinall v Chisnall/Pilgrim

Danny Noppert v Wattimena/Host Nation Qualifier 1

Gary Anderson v Nijman/Lovely

James Wade v Menzies/Edhouse

Ross Smith v Gurney/Host Nation Qualifier 3

Ryan Searle v Springer/Reyes

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)

Josh Rock v O’Connor/Harrysson

Jonny Clayton v Van Duijvenbode/Gawlas

Gerwyn Price v Cullen/Host Nation Qualifier 2

Luke Littler v De Decker/Kraft

Michael van Gerwen v Woodhouse/Sneyd

Luke Humphries v Ratajski/Mansell

Stephen Bunting v Zonneveld/Host Nation Qualifier 4

Gian van Veen v Gilding/De Graaf

Sunday February 22

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)

Round Three

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final

In 2026, the prize money for European Tour events was significantly increased. A total of £230,000 will be distributed as follows:

Winner:

£ 35,000 Runner-up

£ 15,000 Semi-finalists

£ 10,000 Quarter-finalists

£ 8,000 Round of 16

£ 5,000 Second round

£ 3,500 First round

£ 2,000

The prize money counts towards the PDC Order of Merit, the ProTour Order of Merit and the European Tour Order of Merit (qualification for the European Championship).

Image by Taylor Lanning.