The next instalment of the Luke Littler-Luke Humphries rivalry could take place in the final of the Players Championship Finals with the world’s top two on opposite sides of the draw.

Humphries, who has just been dethroned by Littler as world No 1 and lost to ‘The Nuke’ in the Grand Slam of Darts final, is the defending champion in Minehead.

‘Cool Hand’ beat Littler 11-7 in last year’s Players Championship showpiece to retain the title he had won by beating Michael van Gerwen in the final in 2023.

Humphries is seeded 58th this year with the seedings based on performances in the season-long Players Championship events as opposed to the PDC Order of Merit.

Humphries – who faces a tough opener against seventh seed Gian van Veen – is in the bottom half of the draw, with Littler, seeded 36th in the top half, and taking on Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round of an event that runs from Friday to Sunday.

Friday’s round-one winners in the 64-player tournament will advance to Saturday’s double session with round two in the afternoon and round three in the evening.

Sunday’s action will feature the quarter-finals in the afternoon and then the semi-finals and final in the evening, with the semis and final sandwiching the Winmau World Youth Championship final between Van Veen and women’s world No 1 Beau Greaves.

Players Championship Finals schedule

Friday November 21

Round one (from 1245 GMT)

• Rob Cross vs Sebastian Bialecki
• Dave Chisnall vs Ryan Joyce
• Mike De Decker vs Cam Crabtree
• Danny Noppert vs Ricky Evans
• James Wade vs Mickey Mansell
• Jonny Clayton vs James Hurrell
• Ross Smith vs Niko Springer
• Bradley Brooks vs Martin Lukeman
• Andrew Gilding vs Dom Taylor
• Scott Williams vs Ian White
• Niels Zonneveld vs Nick Kenny
• Kevin Doets vs Callan Rydz
• Cameron Menzies vs Adam Lipscombe
• Brendan Dolan vs Daryl Gurney
• Luke Woodhouse vs Alan Soutar
• William O’Connor vs Ricardo Pietreczko

Round one (from 1900 GMT)

• Martin Schindler vs Michael Smith
• Josh Rock vs Gabriel Clemens
• Gerwyn Price vs Max Hopp
• Stephen Bunting vs Ritchie Edhouse
• Jeffrey de Graaf vs Luke Littler
• Gian van Veen vs Luke Humphries
• Karel Sedlacek vs Nathan Aspinall
• Jermaine Wattimena vs Wesley Plaisier
• Ryan Searle vs Darren Beveridge
• Wessel Nijman vs Richard Veenstra
• Krzysztof Ratajski vs Raymond van Barneveld
• Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Razma
• Gary Anderson vs Mario Vandenbogaerde
• Joe Cullen vs Peter Wright
• Damon Heta vs Justin Hood
• Chris Dobey vs Keane Barry

Saturday November 22

• Round two (from 1245 GMT)
• Round three (from 1900 GMT)

Sunday November 23

• Quarter-finals (from 1245 GMT)
• Semi-finals, World Youth Championship final and Players Championship Finals final (from 1900 GMT)