Ranking The 2026 Darts World Championship Chances of the Top 5 Players In The World

With the recent World Championship draw and the quarters decided for this year’s edition it’s time to start theorising on who can write their name into the 2026 history books.

After the Players Championships the order of merit is locked in but is it a serious representation of a player’s chances to take home the big one? Probably not. From form on the stage to likely opponents following the draw, who has the best chance of taking home the title from the worlds top 5 players.

5. Jonny Clayton

Coming in first is ‘The Ferret’ and Wales’ number 1 Jonny Clayton. Despite taking part in all majors this year Clayton has generally failed to make it to the very late stages with the exception of the World Darts Masters where he fell to Luke Humphries in the final. Jonny faces a tough challenge in his opener against newcomer Adam Lipscombe who will looking to recover from some double trouble against Daryl Gurney in the Players Championships finals and although facing his first match at the famous Ally Pally, Lipscombe is a more than formidable foe. Clayton will remain favourite in that matchup but with odds stating future matchups could be on the cards against players such as Ross Smith or Ricardo Pietrecko and Stephen Bunting it wouldn’t be unfair to question if Jonny could just run out of  steam as his quarter progresses.

4. Stephen Bunting

‘The Bullet’ reached the semi-finals of last years edition falling victim to the eventual winner in Luke Littler but the impressive campaign earned him a spot in the upcoming Premier League. However the Premier League campaign was truly one to forget for Stephen who spent a large majority of it on the losing end. Stephen overall though had a promising start to the year winning the Bahrain Masters and continued last year’s good form on the floor events. His first half of the year winning Euro Tour event and Masters didn’t last however as Stephen proved he isn’t as bulletproof as his walkout suggests with Stephen’s later form dropping off severely. Stephen’s status as world number 4 is looking safe still going into the world’s but his odds of winning are far from a safest as he has exited all of the recent majors at the very early stages falling to shock upsets to the likes of Alexis Toylo. If Bunting performs he is more than capable of getting the job done but with potential matchups of Schindler and Duijvenbode one off game from Bunting could spell the end of his path at Ally Pally.

3. Michael Van Gerwen 

Michael is a player who it is impossible to rule out for these kind of events. Although his game hasn’t been at the level it was known to be in recent years he is still a very formidable darts player and lets not forget, last year’s runner-up. Michael could be seen to have the easiest quarter of the draw ahead of him however his only big win came in the World Series finals getting revenge over Littler for that World Final loss last year. Michael’s form towards the latter half of the year has been below par for him and he failed to qualify for the Players Championship Finals for the first time since its 2009 launch. Michael could definitely make it through his opening few games but the threat of games with the in-form Danny Noppert and Josh Rock on the horizon should he get through it would be a tall task for an MVG who simply isn’t at his best. But it’s no secret Michael loves the big stage and if he is up for it there is no reason he can’t prove to everyone that Mike is in fact still ‘Mighty’.

2. Luke Humphries

Now let the battle of the Lukes commence. Humphries may not be the defending champion but he is defending his winning prize money from his big victory 2 years ago. Ultimately there is nobody who Humphries wouldn’t be the favourite against on his day as he consistently makes it to the final stages of majors. This year’s Premier League winner will be looking to get his second world title and had has claimed openly after the Grand Slam final loss he is coming for the world championship. but who could stop him from living up to his word? the biggest threats to Humphries’ campaign on paper are probably the man who beat him in a recent major in European Champion Gian Van Veen along with world number 15 Nathan Aspinall, if either of these men turn up on their day it will be a serious spectacle and likely one of the games of the tournament. Humphries will be determined to better  last years quarter final defeat to Peter wright and earn his way to the title but should his opponent be Luke Littler the pressure will be on as Littler has recently had husband number in major finals taking the win in both the Grand Slam and Grand Prix finals just months ago at Humphries’ expense which could either foreshadow a big win for Littler or be the extra motivation Humphries needs to reclaim his recently taken world number 1 spot and of course the prized World Championship trophy.

1. Luke Littler

Now is there really much to talk in terms of whether Littler can win the World Championship? Of course he can! Littler has a favourable draw to begin with facing Darius Labanauskas in round 1 and is simply favoured to make it all the way to the final for the third consecutive year. Littler has won the last 3 major tournaments on the spin and is the bookies favourite to complete the quadruple. Littler’s main challenge in his quarter comes in the form of a player who has often been a thorn in Littler’s side over his years on the tour in the ‘Iceman’ Gerwyn Price. The world number would face Luke late into the quarter but is also going into the tournament in fine form reaching many late stages of majors however, he has struggled to get over the line and win a big tournament in recent years with his last major coming in 2022 but the former world champion will be eyeing a return to glory. Littler’s pressure will be upped coming in as world number 1 and defending champion but he has shown no problem with that in prior tournaments successfully defending his Grand Slam title just a few months back. If Littler plays his best he is unlikely to be stopped on route to glory and with the extra motivation of the new £1,000,000 prize money its fair to assume the Nuke will once again be experiencing Ally Pally euphoria come January 3rd.

So although the 128 player field is stacked full of elite darting talent the tale reads the same as it has for some time now with the world number 1 and 2 the favourites to revisit their 2024 World final, only this time the chances fall in favour of the 18 year old mega star Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler.