Max Hopp celebrates two victories at Players Championship 17, which are valuable in the close fight for a place at the Darts World Championship.
With two convincing victories at Players Championship 17, Max Hopp has underlined his ambitions for a starting place at the 2026 Darts World Championship (LIVE on SPORT1).
The Tour Card Holder, who also works as a SPORT1 expert, lost to Latvian Darius Labanauskas 4:6 in legs in the round of the last 32, but collected a valuable 1,500 pounds in prize money through his successes in the first two rounds of the tournament.
This puts Hopp currently in 16th place in the ProTour Order of Merit, when excluding the players who have already automatically qualified for the World Championship via the Top 40 of the world rankings.
Qualification for the Darts World Championship adapted
The 40 best players who have not yet qualified in any other way qualify via the ProTour Order of Merit. The PDC announced this on Tuesday morning. Hopp is currently in the midfield of the ranking and therefore has very good chances of participating in the World Championship. The cut-off date is November 23rd.
So far, only the first 32 of the respective ranking lists were automatically qualified for the World Championship. However, as 128 players will be at the start of the 2026 World Darts Championship for the first time, the increase was made.
Chris Dobey secured the tournament victory at Players Championship 17. The Englishman defeated Dirk van Duijvenbode from the Netherlands in an exciting final with 8:7.
Hopp shines with strong Average
Hopp was the only German participant to reach the round of the last 32. At the start, he convinced with a 6:2 victory against Ryan Searle, in which he played a strong three-dart average of 104.27 points.
In the second round, Hopp also clearly dominated the Portuguese José de Sousa with 6:1.