Luke Littler has withdrawn from Players Championship 29 & 30 following the 2026 World Series of Darts Finals loss. He now looks set to miss the 2026 Players Championship Finals with a Major title clean sweep no longer a possibility.
Luke Littler headed into the 2026 World Series of Darts Finals with hopes of keeping an historic Major title clean sweep alive.
Littler had won every Major title so far in 2026 and was on course to do what no darts player has ever done before by winning every PDC Major title in the same year.
Despite being faced with whistling/booing from the Amsterdam crowd, Littler progressed through his early round matches against Danny Noppert (6-4) and Nathan Aspinall (10-9).
CLAYTON KNOCKS OUT LITTLER 😱
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) September 20, 2026
The clean sweep is OVER ❌
Jonny Clayton sweeps aside Luke Littler 10-4 to seal his place in the semi-finals and complete the last four line-up!
📺 https://t.co/Xmxpvc1Nh5#WSODFinals | QF pic.twitter.com/Pid6cRrCCY
The Nuke eventually saw his Major tournament win streak come to an end though in the quarter-finals. After making just 4/21 attempts at the double, Littler suffered a heavy 10-4 defeat to Jonny Clayton.
With the historic clean sweep no longer an option, Littler looks set to minimise his tournament involvement for the remainder of the year and it looks like a Major tournament will even be sacrificed in the process…
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Luke Littler Withdraws From Players Championship 29 & 30 Events
Following the conclusion of the World Series of Darts Finals, an updated list of withdrawal and player replacements were announced for the Players Championship 29-30 events held in Den Bosch, Netherlands.
Many of darts elite players are on the withdrawals list including Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, James Wade and 2026 WSoD Finals runner-up Gerwyn Price.
The most notable name, however, would be world number one Luke Littler.
🚨 Players Championship 29-30 | Updated Withdrawals
— Tom Nankivell (@dartingupdates) September 21, 2026
⬅️ Out:
🏴 Luke Littler 🆕
🏴 Luke Humphries
🏴 Jonny Clayton
🏴Gerwyn Price 🆕
🏴 Stephen Bunting
🏴 Gary Anderson
🏴 Ryan Searle
🏴 Ross Smith 🆕
🏴 Joe Cullen 🆕
🇩🇪 Niko Springer
🇦🇹 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
🇩🇪 Pasal Rupprecht 🆕…
Littler has only played in TWO Players Championship events so far in 2026. He initially said he wouldn’t play in any this year to better manage his playing schedule.
Once it became clear that a clean sweep was a possibility though, Littler entered Players Championship 27-28, making the quarter-final and semi-final of these competitions.
Even with these finishes, Littler was far away from a qualifying position in the Players Championship Finals Order of Merit.
He is currently sitting in 125th position on the Players Championship Finals ranking with £10,500 in ranking prize money. This is £16,750 behind Shane McGuirk who holds the final qualifying position (64th) with £27,250 earned.
These withdrawals leave just three remaining Players Championship events that he could enter to try and secure qualification.
One of these events is held in Den Bosch and if he is choosing to boycott Dutch events (more below) that would leave just two remaining events that he could enter to secure a place at the 2026 Players Championship Finals.
With the prize money format for Players Championship events, Littler would have to at least win one event or finish runner-up in both events to qualify.
| Stage (no. of players) | Prize money(Total: £150,000) | |
| Winner | (1) | £15,000 |
| Runner-up | (1) | £10,000 |
| Semi-finalists | (2) | £6,500 |
| Quarter-finalists | (4) | £4,000 |
| Last 16 (fourth round) | (8) | £3,000 |
| Last 32 (third round) | (16) | £2,000 |
| Last 64 (second round) | (32) | £1,250 |
Could Withdrawals From Den Bosch Also Be the Beginning of Littler Boycotting Dutch Events?
Following booing and whistling from the Amsterdam crowd over the weekend, Luke Littler would state in a post-game interview that he would “100% boycott” darts events in Holland as a result.
Speaking to Online Darts following his match against Nathan Aspinall where the referee had to warn to crowd for whistling, Littler was asked if he would boycott Dutch darts events the same way he did to Germany and he responded:
“100%. I don’t know with the German’s, I’ve not been for a very long time but we’ll have to see in Dortmund if it changes, if it stays the same, but if the Dutch stay like this then I’m not going to do any Euro Tours over there.
“There’s just no point in me travelling and wasting my time whilst I’m getting booed. I just want to play my darts, obviously sign autographs and stuff because the past two nights I’ve done nothing. I’ve just walked off stage, not thanked anyone… There’s no point in thanking everyone when they’re booing me.”
His withdrawal from Player Championship 29-30 is likely the result of the clean sweep no longer being an option and the timing of the events being in Den Bosch could just be purely coincidental.
Darts fans won’t know for sure if he is boycotting Dutch events though unless he specifically says so as any withdrawals in the near future could just be calendar management while he focuses on Major tournaments only.
See his full interview with Online Darts below:
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