Max Hopp's World Championship record, Scholten's reckoning with the PDC expansion & Gurney's glasses comeback
Darts news from 17.09.2026: Max Hopp breaks the German World Championship record, Roland Scholten criticises the PDC expansion and Daryl Gurney plays with glasses again.
The most important news of the day
Thursday was a day of quiet headlines – and the biggest of them came from Germany of all places. Max Hopp has secured his tenth ticket for the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace, setting a German record that nobody before him held. On top of that, Roland Scholten hit out at the PDC's global expansion policy, Co Stompé picked apart the field at the World Series Finals, Michael van Gerwen played down his favourite status ahead of his home event in Amsterdam while questioning Luke Littler's hunger. And Daryl Gurney explained why he is back at the Oche with glasses after 21 years.
Darts in Germany: Max Hopp makes history
It is the German darts story of the day, and it comes with a healthy dose of comeback romance. Max Hopp will stand at the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace for the tenth time this winter. No German player has managed that before him. The 30-year-old secured his place via the ProTour Order of Merit, the ranking earned week after week at the Players Championships. Not a lucky run at a qualifier, but the result of a consistent season.
“It means an incredible amount to me,” Hopp said. “Last year I already sketched out the dream of playing my tenth World Championship at 30. I can hardly put into words that it has actually worked out.” And he knows exactly what the record is worth: “No German has ever played ten World Championships. I'm not saying that to promote myself, but because it is a fact. And it is a fact I am incredibly proud of.”
The road there was anything but straight. After losing his Tour Card, the former teenage star spent years on the Development and the Challenge Tour, far from the spotlight he had once stood in. He won his professional status back through Q-School, and last winter he stood on the World Championship stage again for the first time in five years. This season he has earned more than 50,000 pounds in prize money, by his own account the strongest campaign of his career. His best World Championship result remains the third round, and that is exactly where he wants to pick up: “I'm going into the winter very positively and I just want to go full throttle at the World Championship.”
Why there is no German in Amsterdam
Fittingly, today also brought an explanation for why not a single German is in the field at the World Series of Darts Finals. The answer lies in the qualifying system: 24 of the 32 places are awarded via the World Series Order of Merit, and no German player has contested even one World Series event this season. Four more spots went to the highest-ranked pros on the Order of Merit, four to a Tour Card Qualifier. 14 Germans entered there, and nobody got further than the last 32. Niko Springer and Dominik Grüllich were the best of them, Martin Schindler lost to Madars Razma.
A look at the history shows it was not always this way: from 2017 to 2019 the German Darts Masters was part of the World Series. 20,201 spectators came to Schalke, still a huge figure today. In Cologne, Germany then delivered on the board: Schindler knocked van Gerwen out of the tournament, Gabriel Clemens reached the final. Since the German event disappeared, the ticket into this tournament series has simply been missing.
Story of the day: “For the love of money”
Roland Scholten today said out loud what many in the sport are thinking. Asked why the PDC keeps spreading its World Series further around the globe, from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to Australia, New Zealand and the USA, the former world-class pro answered: “That is not done for the love of the sport, but for the love of money.” What is remarkable is that Scholten does not turn it into a scandal. He added: “Nobody is worse off because of it.” More events mean more prize money, more stages, more reach.
The PDC counters with the argument of patience. Chief Executive Matthew Porter defends locations that so far generate little crowd response by pointing out that it is understood as building sustainable interest. Bahrain is seen as an example of how that can take years. From the players' side, Gian van Veen spoke up: in Australia he played in front of a sold-out hall of 5,000 spectators, at other locations he is distinctly more sceptical. The travel load grows with every new continent on the calendar.
Co Stompé struck the same note, though with an eye on the current field in Amsterdam. For many of the international qualifiers the trip is a losing proposition both sportingly and financially; they are effectively outsiders without a real chance while paying heavily for flights and hotels. “In the end the quality has to be right too,” Stompé said. Even so, there is still plenty of class in the field, and the atmosphere will be right anyway once the hall is full. Two voices, one theme: the globalisation of darts is long past being a sure thing, it is a sum with plenty of unknowns.
Van Gerwen: outsider in his own living room
Michael van Gerwen struck a tone today that you rarely hear from him. “I'm not the favourite for this tournament, and that also puts me in an outsider role,” said the 37-year-old. He is seeded number one, plays on home soil and has slipped further down the world rankings than at any time since 2013. In this World Series season he played only three tournaments, winning two of them, in Bahrain and Copenhagen, and losing the final in Saudi Arabia to Littler. Van Gerwen also talked about his changed lifestyle: healthier food, more exercise. His game has not suffered, quite the opposite, he feels better for it.
At the same time he weighed in on the never-ending Littler topic. “When I was younger, I played everything,” van Gerwen said. In his first years on the Pro Tour he took on every tournament within reach, while Littler deliberately skips events. So he sees the biggest difference between himself and the world number one not in ability, but in hunger. He explicitly does not question the world champion's performances.
In passing, van Gerwen also touched on the Netflix format “Beat Luke Littler”, in which amateurs are meant to win a Leg against the world number one for a six-figure prize. His comment was dry: he would simply send Vincent van der Voort over for the half a million, then they would split the money. On a more serious note: winning even a single Leg against Littler demands a top performance and a slice of luck.
After 21 years: Gurney reaches for the glasses
The nicest side note of the day comes from Daryl Gurney. The Northern Irishman is back at the Oche with glasses for the first time in 21 years. Back then his glasses went missing at a tournament, stolen while he was in the toilet during the closing stages of a match. Since then: no visual aid. Lately he had been seeing certain areas of the board only as a blur, now he can see them clearly again. He has been practising with the new glasses for around three weeks, the adjustment is still ongoing, the first impressions are positive. Anyone who sees Gurney step up to the board in Amsterdam now knows why there is suddenly a frame on his face.
Industry: Winmau opens pre-orders for Autodarts X
Away from the stage, things got technical today. Winmau opened pre-orders for the auto-scoring system Autodarts X at 12 noon BST, recommended retail price 449 pounds. Four HD cameras, the in-house PinPoint detection and integrated 360-degree lighting are meant to bring tournament accuracy to any standard board. It is clamped on without drilling and, according to the manufacturer, is ready to play in under two minutes. For leagues and home players that is more than a gimmick: automatic scoring lowers the barrier to entry and delivers statistics that used to exist only on stage.
In brief: MODUS Super Series and the start in Amsterdam
At the MODUS Super Series there was a flawless winner of the day: S. Spivey won all five group matches and conceded only six Legs. Behind him it was tight, because in the end a single Leg separated the two chasers.
- S. Spivey – 5 wins, Legs 20:6 (4:0 Leung, 4:1 Chrysospathis, 4:1 McClelland, 4:3 van de Pas, 4:1 Hughes)
- P. Hughes – 3 wins, Legs 16:11, including 4:0 against McClelland and 4:3 against Chrysospathis
- Benito van de Pas – 3 wins, Legs 16:12, won the head-to-head against Hughes 4:3
- P. Chrysospathis – 2 wins; K. F. Leung and B. McClelland 1 win each
In parallel, the World Series of Darts Finals have started in Amsterdam with the first round, played in a best of 11 Legs format. The opening match between V. Tingström and Dirk van Duijvenbode was still running at the time of writing. We are covering both tournaments in separate detailed tournament articles.
Coming up tomorrow
On Friday the first round in Amsterdam is completed with the bottom half of the draw, starting at 7 pm German time. The schedule includes Luke Littler against Danny Noppert, Gerwyn Price against Brody Klinge, James Wade against Damon Heta and Jonny Clayton against Maik Kuivenhoven. In parallel, the MODUS Super Series continues with the next group day.