2021 Darts World Matchplay field and seeds announced

The field for the 2021 World Matchplay has been confirmed ahead of the tournament’s return to the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Listed below are the 32 players who will compete in the historic tournament from 17^th to 25^th, July. There will be £700,000 in prize money and the Phil Taylor Trophy for the winner.

The top 16 players from the PDC Order of Merit will be seeded for the event and will be joined by 16 qualifiers from the one-year ProTour Order of Merit.

World Champion Gerwyn Price heads to Blackpool as the top seed. Reigning champion, Dimitri Van den Bergh will come into the Winter Gardens stage for the first time as the eighth seed.

The 2016 champion Michael van Gerwen is the number three seed, with 2017 runner-up Peter Wright seeded second.

Three other former champions also feature in the field, with James Wade, Rob Cross and Gary Anderson seeded fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively.

🚨 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘-𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥! 🚨

Dimitri Van den Bergh strikes PERFECTION in his Last 16 tie with Jonny Clayton, pinning D18 for the nine! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/jqVczTxCIu

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) July 7, 2021

South Africa’s Devon Petersen will be among seven players in line for debuts in the tournament, along with Damon Heta, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Ross Smith, Luke Humphries, Ryan Searle, and Callan Rydz.

Tuesday’s Players Championship 18 winner Chris Dobey took the final ProTour Order of Merit qualifying place ahead of Jermaine Wattimena.

The draw for the first round of the 2021 World Matchplay will be broadcast today on Friday 9^th July across Betfred’s social media channels from 12:00.

The tournament will be shown live on Sky Sports and PDCTV.

🐍 Another new set of darts for @snakebitewright and another final day success on the Pro Tour

⌚️ @MvG180 wait for a 2021 title goes on

🗼 And the 32-player field for the @Betfred World Matchplay is set – draw tomorrow!

— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) July 8, 2021

2021 Betfred World Matchplay Field

PDC Order of Merit Qualifiers

1 Gerwyn Price

2 Peter Wright

3 Michael van Gerwen

4 James Wade

5 Rob Cross

6 Gary Anderson

7 Michael Smith

8 Dimitri Van den Bergh

9 Dave Chisnall

10 Jose de Sousa

11 Nathan Aspinall

12 Glen Durrant

13 Krzysztof Ratajski

14 Daryl Gurney

15 Joe Cullen

16 Jonny Clayton

ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers

Brendan Dolan

Devon Petersen

Damon Heta

Danny Noppert

Dirk van Duijvenbode

Ross Smith

Mensur Suljovic

Stephen Bunting

Mervyn King

Luke Humphries

Gabriel Clemens

Vincent van der Voort

Ryan Searle

Ian White

Callan Rydz

Chris Dobey