Every July, the sheer mention of the word ‘Blackpool’ leaves darts fans around the globe salivating about the upcoming World Matchplay.
From a distance, the famous Tower is an instantly recognisable part of the Lancashire skyline. The sheer sight of the iconic structure has always evoked excitement, reviving special childhood memories of family trips to the seaside.
During the summer, thousands of fans from around the world descend in mass upon the popular English seaside town on their annual pilgrimage to the greatest summer darts festival on Earth.
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Since it’s inception in 1994, the historic Winter Gardens has hosted the Matchplay as it developed into one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the darting calendar.
A certain Stoke thrower all but made the World Matchplay his own. Before his retirement from the game, The Power ruled under the shadow of the famous tower in a show of dominance unlikely to ever be replicated.
The great man made his Winder Gardens debut in its inaugural year, defeating Irishman Tom Kirby before losing his next match to the legendary Bob Anderson. However, it wasn’t long before he got his hands on the trophy which now bears his name.
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Upon Taylor’s return to Blackpool twelve months later, he overcame the great Dennis Priestley in the final to claim his maiden Matchplay title. What followed was an era of supremacy seeing the crown remain on the head of the Stoke ace for the majority of the next two decades.
From the turn of the century, even by his astonishing standards, the Power went on a staggering winning streak. In a fifteen year period ranging from 2000 to 2014, only John Part and Terry Jenkins managed to get the better of Taylor on the Winter Gardens stage.
Upon his farewell tournament appearance in 2017, Taylor won the sixteenth and final World Matchplay title of his illustrious career defeating Peter Wright in the final.
With a magnificent seventeen finals to his name including just one loss, it’s fair to say Blackpool holds a special place in the heart of Philip Douglas Taylor. The town’s curtain will forever be raised to the greatest ever dart player on the Blackpool oche.
Remember Larry Butler? Well in 1994, he became the very first World Matchplay Champion, defeating Dennis Priestley in the final. To this day, he remains the only American to win a PDC major, picking up £10,000 for his efforts.
In 1996, Priestley must have thought he was jinxed at Blackpool. Adding to his runner-up medals against Butler (1994) and Taylor (1995), The Menace once again fell short in the final. This time suffering defeat at the hands of fellow Englishman, Peter Evison.
For Rod Harrington, the World Matchplay remains the only PDC major tournament he has won, claiming the prize back to back in 1997 and 1998. Ironically, both with a 19-17 scoreline against Ronnie Baxter and Peter Manley respectively.
It was on the hallowed Winter Gardens stage in 2007 that a young James Wade burst onto the scene, picking up the first of his many television titles. Aged just 24, Wade stunned perennial runner-up, Terry Jenkins in cruising to an 18-7 victory.
Clearly perturbed by losing his crown, Taylor then went on a blistering run of dominance. From 2008 to 2014, The Power didn’t lose a single match at the Winter Gardens, lifting the trophy on eight consecutive occasions.
Taylor’s grip was finally loosened in 2015 when a certain Michael van Gerwen broke the spell, winning the first of his two World Matchplay crowns. With five defeats to his name, no one has lost more Blackpool finals than James Wade and he was the Dutchman’s victim on that occasion.
Colin Lloyd, Rob Cross, Gary Anderson have also seen their name etched onto the magnificent trophy. Then, Dimitri Van den Bergh became the tenth player to win the World Matchplay and the first from Belgium to lift a PDC major. For Van den Bergh, it was his very first appearance in the tournament and the DreamMaker completed a fairytale debut by claiming victory.
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2021 saw Dimitri put up a valiant defence in an attempt to remove the Covid * that inevitably, though not officially, is attached to crowdless wins form that era. But in the end it was Peter Wright who triumphed to add another of our game’s biggest titles to his career’s remarkable Indian summer.
Following the trend of single winners it was MVG who reclaimed the crown six years after the second of his previous two (back-to-back) wins.
It will come as a surprise to almost no-one that the last two years have been shared by the Lukes. Luke Humphries added the Matchplay crown to a remarkable collection that he’d only began amassing about 18 months before. Not to be out done Mister Littler completed his set of the biggest ranking titles in the most recent Blackpool jamboree in 2025.
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World number two Humphries’ form seems to be back on an upswing, while Littler has so far swept every major event of the 2026/27 season! Will The Nuke defend the Phil Taylor trophy and join the tiny club of three to have done so, or could another name crash the Luke’s major dominance this time.
With a full house expected and the biggest names on planet darts all in attendance, who will be crowned the 2026 World Matchplay Champion?
Images: L Lustig / PDC
Graphic / Page: DartsWorld Ltd.
Originally published in DartsWorld 575 (Summer 2021) – Updates Summer 2026
Original Words: Paul Woodage. Updates: Editorial Team
