{"id":157906,"date":"2026-09-02T16:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/157906\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T16:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:43:12","slug":"van-gerwen-to-open-world-series-finals-defence-against-ilagan-in-amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/157906\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Gerwen to Open World Series Finals Defence Against Ilagan in Amsterdam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MICHAEL van Gerwen will begin the defence of his World Series of Darts Finals title against Lourence Ilagan when the 32-player field gathers at AFAS Live in Amsterdam from 17-20 September. The three-time champion returns to the Dutch capital as top seed after claiming his sixth World Series Finals crown 12 months ago. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MVG faces two-time PDC Asian Champion Ilagan in the opening round, which is spread across two sessions on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 September.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elsewhere in a star-studded first-round draw, 2024 champion Luke Littler meets former UK Open winner Danny Noppert, while world number two Luke Humphries takes on Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena. <\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"677\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/260815NZDartsMasters_047-1024x677.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-50005\"  \/>Semi-final Gerwyn Price NZ Darts Masters 2026  Photo: Stephen Parker \/ www.photosport.nz<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gerwyn Price, chasing a third title in the event, opens against Australian Darts Masters runner-up Brody Klinge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dutch number one Gian van Veen is paired with former Masters champion Chris Dobey in another intriguing clash, and Stephen Bunting faces Josh Rock for a place in the last 16. 2021 winner Jonny Clayton meets Philippines World Cup star Alexis Toylo, with ten-time major winner James Wade beginning his campaign against Australian number one Damon Heta.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Home favourites Wessel Nijman and Kevin Doets face Simon Whitlock and Ross Smith respectively, while Rob Cross is drawn against World Championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle.Van Gerwen, Humphries and Van Veen headline Thursday\u2019s opening night session, with Littler, Price and Clayton among the big names in action on Friday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MORE ELITE DARTS COVERAGE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dartsworld.com\/pdc-land\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Check Out Our Devoted PDC Area<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The remaining 16 players will then contest two sessions on Saturday 19 September to decide the Finals Day line-up. The tournament reaches its climax on Sunday 20 September, with quarter-finals in the afternoon followed by the semi-finals and final in a bumper evening session.<\/p>\n<p>2026 World Series of Darts Finals<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AFAS Live, Amsterdam<br \/>September 17-20 2026<br \/>Draw Bracket<br \/>(1) Michael van Gerwen v Lourence Ilagan<br \/>Kevin Doets v Ross Smith<br \/>(8) Stephen Bunting v Josh Rock<br \/>Rob Cross v Ryan Searle<br \/>(4) Luke Humphries v Jermaine Wattimena<br \/>Viktor Tingstrom v Man Lok Leung<br \/>(5) Gian van Veen v Chris Dobey<br \/>Karel Sedlacek v Ben Robb<br \/>(2) Gerwyn Price v Brody Klinge<br \/>Adam Leek v Jim Long<br \/>(7) James Wade v Damon Heta<br \/>Wessel Nijman v Simon Whitlock<br \/>(3) Luke Littler v Danny Noppert<br \/>Nathan Aspinall v Raymond Smith<br \/>(6) Jonny Clayton v Alexis Toylo<br \/>Motomu Sakai v Callan Rydz<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schedule of Play<br \/>Thursday September 17 (1900 CEST)<br \/>Round One x8<br \/>Viktor Tingstrom v Man Lok Leung<br \/>Rob Cross v Ryan Searle<br \/>Karel Sedlacek v Ben Robb<br \/>Kevin Doets v Ross Smith<br \/>Stephen Bunting v Josh Rock<br \/>Luke Humphries v Jermaine Wattimena<br \/>Michael van Gerwen v Lourence Ilagan<br \/>Gian van Veen v Chris Dobey<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friday September 18 (1900 CEST)<br \/>Round One x8<br \/>Adam Leek v Jim Long<br \/>Motomu Sakai v Callan Rydz<br \/>Wessel Nijman v Simon Whitlock<br \/>Nathan Aspinall v Raymond Smith<br \/>James Wade v Damon Heta<br \/>Gerwyn Price v Brody Klinge<br \/>Luke Littler v Danny Noppert<br \/>Jonny Clayton v Alexis Toylo<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saturday September 19<br \/>Afternoon Session (1300 CEST)<br \/>Round Two x4<br \/>Van Gerwen\/Ilagan v Doets\/Ross Smith<br \/>Bunting\/Rock v Cross\/Searle<br \/>Humphries\/Wattimena v Tingstrom\/Leung<br \/>Van Veen\/Dobey v Sedlacek\/Robb<br \/>Order of play to be confirmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evening Session (1900 CEST)<br \/>Round Two x4<br \/>Price\/Klinge v Leek\/Long<br \/>Wade\/Heta v Nijman\/Whitlock<br \/>Littler\/Noppert v Aspinall\/Raymond Smith<br \/>Clayton\/Toylo v Sakai\/Rydz<br \/>Order of play to be confirmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sunday September 20<br \/>Afternoon Session (1300 CEST)<br \/>Quarter-Finals<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evening Session (1900 CEST)<br \/>Semi-Finals<br \/>Final<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sunday\u2019s matches to be played in Draw Bracket Order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schedule subject to change. Should a player be forced to withdraw, they would be replaced as per PDC Rule 3.7.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dartsworldstore.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">DARTS PLAYER MERCHANDISE AND COLLECTABLES AT OUR DARTSWORLD STORE!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Images: PDC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MICHAEL van Gerwen will begin the defence of his World Series of Darts Finals title against Lourence Ilagan&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[101],"tags":[199,28087,71869,332,26909,74063,26913,26914,74064,26915,200,26916,26917,26918],"class_list":["post-157906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-amsterdam","tag-amsterdam","tag-darts-news","tag-dartsworld-magazine","tag-featured","tag-gerwyn-price","tag-lourence-ilagan","tag-luke-humphries","tag-luke-littler","tag-modus","tag-mvg","tag-netherlands","tag-pdc","tag-red-dragon-darts","tag-winmau"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117202453188847773","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}