Full Gas as World Series of Darts Finals Starts Busy Period
Author:
Roy Brindley
Reigning champion Michael van Gerwen, world number one Luke Humphries and teenage sensation Luke Littler will headline the field for the 2024 Jack’s World Series of Darts Finals. The valuable ITV broadcast competition will take place in Holland in mid-September. It begins a busy period for darts, with six major competitions taking place before Christmas.
Michael van Gerwen hopes to retain his World Series of Darts Finals title by taking the event for a record-extending sixth time. ?KellyDeckers/PDC
The World Series of Darts Finals is a three-day invitational event featuring an expanded 32-player field. The tournament will be played at the AFAS Live, an Amsterdam venue with a capacity of 4,000 seated spectators. With additional live viewers from Viaplay and DAZN networks, the event will attract plenty of bets.
Much to Like About MVG and the Two Lukes
Dutch icon Michael van Gerwen will be eyeing a record-extending sixth World Series Finals title. He is the defending champion and landed the Dutch Darts Masters in January 2024. However, without a major trophy on his mantlepiece this year, sports betting sites will probably rank the 35-year-old third or fourth in the betting.
World Champion Luke Humphries – a winner at last weekend’s New Zealand Darts Masters – and top-seed Luke Littler, who has claimed titles in Bahrain and Poland in his debut year on the World Series circuit, will vie for favouritism. Drawn in the same half of the draw, only one can make the final.
VAN GERWEN DOES IT AGAIN ??
He just loves this tournament… It’s a fifth World Series of Darts Final title for Michael van Gerwen as he beats Nathan Aspinall 11-4!
Nine-Darter and three scintillating performances!
?? https://t.co/GiC4g8Ylpo | #WSFinals pic.twitter.com/dVMCsOG2N8
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) September 17, 2023
Gerwyn Price lifted the World Series Finals title in 2022, and the Welshman is the number two seed on his return to the Dutch capital. His seeding comes courtesy of 2024 wins at the Nordic Darts Masters and Australian Darts Masters. However, the Welshman is on a long losing streak in the European Tour, Players Championships and PDC televised events.
Big Names Don’t Get Much Bigger
Other big names in the World Series of Darts Finals include 2024 US Darts Masters champion Rob Cross, world number two Michael Smith, two-time World Champion Peter Wright and UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Damon Heta, Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting – all of whom have featured as PDC representatives on the World Series stage in 2024 – will also compete alongside an additional nine players from the World Series of Darts Order of Merit.
The home defence is numerically strong and includes five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld. Countrymen Gian van Veen, Kevin Doets and Danny Noppert – a World Series of Darts Finals runner-up in 2019 – are also in the field. Lesser-known players include New Zealand’s Haupai Puha, Croatia’s Boris Krcmar and Sweden’s Johan Engstrom.
The World Series of Darts Schedule
The World Series of Darts Finals first round will be held across the evening of Friday, September 13, and the afternoon of Saturday, September 14. The second round takes place on Saturday evening, and the competition will climax on Sunday, September 15, following quarter-final and semi-final action during the day.
| Event | Venue | Dates | Broadcaster |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Series of Darts Finals | Amsterdam | September 13-15 | ITV Sport |
| World Grand Prix | Leicester | October 7-13 | Sky Sport |
| European Championship | Dortmund | October 24-27 | ITV Sport |
| Grand Slam of Darts | Wolverhampton | November 9-17 | Sky Sports |
| Players Championship Finals | Minehead | November 22-24 | ITV Sport |
| World Championships | London | December 15-January 3 | Sky Sports |
The World Series of Darts Final represents the point in time when players plant their seeds of hope for the World Championship. The clock is counting down on the most coveted prize of all. Resultingly, the sport’s big names will hope to make their mark and see potential in their game in order to peak at the right time.
Dave Chisnall, Jonny Clayton, Ross Smith, and Chris Dobey are other notable 2024 World Series of Darts Finals contenders. They are included in the field as the top four players from the PDC Order of Merit who did not qualify for the contest as a top eight player from this season’s seven World Series events.
On their day, all four are top-drawer players – currently, world-ranked between seven and thirteen – but they have won just two major televised ranking events between them. Nevertheless, it would be no major surprise if one of the quartet take the forthcoming World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, or the big one, the World Championship.
