The World Matchplay is one of the biggest tournaments of the year outside of the World Championship, and is now under a month away.
There are very few opportunities left for players to adjust their seeding, as well as players still trying to maintain their seeding/move up in the seeding.
What does the current race for the 2025 World Matchplay look like?
The World Matchplay qualifying is broken down into two groups of 16 players.
The first 16 qualifiers are simply the top 16 players on the main order of merit, which is based on the money players have made in the last two calendar years.
The second group of 16 players to qualify is based on the ProTour order of merit, which is based on a rolling 12-month period from Players Championship and European Tour events.
Here's the current main order of merit:
*Seeding/data via Darts Rankings
| Rk | Name | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Humphries | 1843.75 |
| 2 | Luke Littler | 1300.5 |
| 3 | Michael van Gerwen | 734.75 |
| 4 | Stephen Bunting | 592.5 |
| 5 | Jonny Clayton | 557.75 |
| 6 | Chris Dobey | 525.5 |
| 7 | Nathan Aspinall | 520 |
| 8 | James Wade | 513.75 |
| 9 | Damon Heta | 502.75 |
| 10 | Rob Cross | 501.5 |
| 11 | Dave Chisnall | 473 |
| 12 | Gerwyn Price | 473 |
| 13 | Gary Anderson | 464 |
| 14 | Ross Smith | 447.75 |
| 15 | Peter Wright | 447 |
| 16 | Danny Noppert | 439.75 |
---------------------------------------------------------(Cut off)
*Please note that the players just missing out on the Main ooM seeding still have an opportunity to qualify through the ProTour ooM
| 17 | Josh Rock | 432.75 |
| 18 | Martin Schindler | 412.75 |
| 19 | Ryan Searle | 407.25 |
| 20 | Mike De Decker | 389.5 |
| 21 | Michael Smith | 383.5 |
| 22 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | 378.25 |
| 23 | Gian van Veen | 375 |
| 24 | Joe Cullen | 357 |
| 25 | Daryl Gurney | 333.5 |
| 26 | Ryan Joyce | 323.5 |
| 27 | Ritchie Edhouse | 317.25 |
| 28 | Andrew Gilding | 303.5 |
| 29 | Ricardo Pietreczko | 301.75 |
| 30 | Jermaine Wattimena | 285.75 |
| 31 | Luke Woodhouse | 283.25 |
| 32 | Dirk van Duijvenbode | 277.75 |
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Here's the current ProTour order of merit:
| Rk | Name | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Schindler | 160.5 |
| 2 | Josh Rock | 138 |
| 3 | Gian van Veen | 127.5 |
| 4 | Cameron Menzies | 127.25 |
| 5 | Wessel Nijman | 125 |
| 6 | Ryan Searle | 120 |
| 7 | Mike De Decker | 112 |
| 8 | Dirk van Duijvenbode | 97.5 |
| 9 | Jermaine Wattimena | 84 |
| 10 | Andrew Gilding | 82.5 |
| 11 | Daryl Gurney | 79.5 |
| 12 | Ricardo Pietreczko | 75.5 |
| 13 | Joe Cullen | 74.75 |
| 14 | Luke Woodhouse | 73.5 |
| 15 | Raymond van Barneveld | 72.5 |
| 16 | Ryan Joyce | 71.75 |
--------------------------------------------------------(Cut off)
| 17 | Michael Smith | 67.5 |
| 18 | Krzysztof Ratajski | 65 |
| 19 | Ritchie Edhouse | 64 |
| 20 | Niels Zonneveld | 63 |
| 21 | Martin Lukeman | 61.75 |
| 22 | William O'Connor | 59 |
| 23 | Kevin Doets | 55.75 |
| 24 | Scott Williams | 53.5 |
| 25 | Gabriel Clemens | 50.25 |
| 26 | Callan Rydz | 48 |
| 27 | Madars Razma | 45.25 |
| 28 | Alan Soutar | 43.25 |
| 29 | Ian White | 42.25 |
| 30 | Mickey Mansell | 41.75 |
Players can move around in the seeding before the cut-off date of July 10th.
This means that the last chance players have to move around in the seeding is during Players Championship events 20 & 21 (July 8th & 9th).
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Takeaways from current Matchplay seeding
As it stands, Michael Smith wouldn't make the World Matchplay this year.
After losing early in the 2025 PDC WC, he lost a ton of money in the ooM and is at risk of not competing in the World Matchplay for the first time since 2013.
The world number 22, Dimitri Van den Bergh, will likely not play this year for the first time since 2019 (the year before he won the tournament on debut).
This is partly because he has played poorly in Players Championship events, but he also didn't participate in many European Tour events after taking a break from the tour.
2024 European champion, Ritchie Edhouse, is 27th on the order of merit, but sits £7,750 out of the last ProTour ooM spot.
Raymond van Barneveld surprisingly sits in the second-to-last qualifying spot on the ProTour ooM, but his Players Championship performances have helped him get into the World Matchplay for now, in what would be his 15th career appearance.
Wessel Nijman has been phenomenal over the past 12+ months, ever since playing in more tour events.
He's the current world number 42, but is comfortably sitting 5th on the ProTour ooM, which will help him qualify for his first career World Matchplay.
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Joe Cullen is 13th on the ProTour ooM in what's been a fairly disappointing year for him.
He did win a Players Championship event and made a final, which accounts for £25,000 on his ProTour ooM.
If it weren't for that, he'd miss out on his first Matchplay since 2015.
Cullen had a rough week in Players Championship events 17-19, so he is in danger of dropping out of the seeding on the ProTour ooM if things go south in the final two events before the Matchplay cut-off date.
The 2025 World Matchplay will take place from Jul. 19 - Jul. 27.
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