Players Championship darts: James Wade makes winning start to PDC ProTour season after missing out on Premier League pick

James Wade made a winning start to his Players Championship campaign after beating Nathan Aspinall 8-6 in Monday's Players Championship 1 final in Hildesheim. 

Wade produced a series of dominant displays to secure his first title of 2026 in the year's opening Players Championship event, coming through four deciding-leg matches before dispatching Aspinall in the final.

Victory is his 12th Players Championship title and first since missing out on a Premier League wild-card pick, with Wade remaining disappointed to not be included in the eight-player line-up but proud of his performance in Germany.

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"It [winning] is irrelevant to the Premier League," Wade said after victory. "I built on it and I did enough last year [to get a Premier League pick], but this is kindergarten compared to the Premier League.

"They're the big boys, they're playing in front of the big crowds where the big pressure is imploding on players.

"Someone said to me last week 'should you have been in it'? Of course I should have been in it, but the PDC and Sky have picked players who represent the game in the best way, shape or form. What a team they've put forwards. I'd have been better than some of them, but it is what it is.

"It made me feel a little bit sad, despondent and a little bit rejected as a person, but there's probably 10 people who feel exactly the same. Do I deserve to be in it? Yes. Was I in it? No."

Following back-to-back deciding-leg victories against Karel Sedlacek and Alexander Merkx respectively earlier in the day, Wade raced past Jeffrey De Graaf - beating the Swede 6-1 - before overcoming Austrian No 1 Mensur Suljovic 6-3.

Wade then denied Joe Cullen in a last-leg shoot-out to book his place in the semi-finals, where he overturned a 6-5 deficit against Michael van Gerwen - winner of Thursday's Premier League opening night - to reach a first ProTour final since June.

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The 42-year-old took out finishes of 104, 127, 130 and 137 against Van Gerwen and then came back from 5-3 down against Aspinall, taking just 41 darts to rattle through the next four legs, before closing out a clinical victory with a 16-darter.

"I'm happy aren't I!" Wade added. "I probably should have beaten him [Aspinall] a lot easier than I did, but then again it's Nathan; for four legs he absolutely pummelled me! I had nothing to give. I was as flat as a pancake, but yeah, I dug deep, and I'm quite happy."

Aspinall dumped out Arno Merk, Madars Razma and Joe Hunt in quick succession earlier in the day, before beating Beau Greaves in her first Players Championship campaign as an official Tour Card Holder.

The Stockport-born star then punished a below-par performance from Gabriel Clemens in the quarter-finals, before sealing his spot in the final with victory over former UK Open semi-finalist Adam Gawlas.

Justin Hood produced the performance of the day in Hildesheim, averaging 108.47 in his round two thrashing of European Champion Gian van Veen.

Hood's brace of ton-plus averages at Halle 39 weren't enough to get further than round three, as he lost 6-4 to Mensur Suljovic, despite averaging nine points more than the Austrian number one.

Cam Crabtree and Wesley Plaisier averaged almost 108 in their round one and round two victories against Luke Woodhouse and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez respectively, while Mickey Mansell also stole the show in Hildesheim, pinning the perfect leg in his 6-4 success against Carl Sneyd in round two.

What's next?

The 2026 PDC ProTour season continues with Players Championship Two on Tuesday, before Van Gerwen returns to Premier League action on Thursday as it heads to Antwerp for the first time.

Night Two is headlined by Littler playing Humphries in a repeat of last year's Premier League final, with Van Gerwen or Josh Rock awaiting the winner. The other half of the draw sees Jonny Clayton play Stephen Bunting and Gerwyn Price go up against Van Veen.

Who will win this year's Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday from February until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.