Josh Rock and Mike De Decker will make their World Series of Darts debuts at the Australian and New Zealand Darts Masters in August, alongside world No 1 Luke Humphries and reigning world champion Luke Littler.
Former world youth champion Rock – fresh from steering Northern Ireland to a historic World Cup of Darts victory in June – has earned his first World Series call-up following a superb 2025 so far, which included reaching his first televised ranking semi-final at the UK Open in March.
World Grand Prix champion De Decker will also make his World Series of Darts bow, having recently usurped Dimitri Van den Bergh to become the Belgian No 1.
New Belgian No 1 Mike de Decker will make his World Series of Darts bow Down Under
Rock and De Decker will compete in Australia and New Zealand alongside Littler, last year’s NZ Darts Masters winner Humphries, Australian defending champion Gerwyn Price, as well as Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey and Australian No 1 Damon Heta.
Price claimed last year’s title in Wollongong, defeating Littler 8-1 in the final, before Humphries became NZ Darts Masters champion with an 8-2 win over Heta.
The PDC’s annual trip Down Under will begin with the Australian Darts Masters in Wollongong on August 8-9, before the New Zealand Darts Masters returns to Auckland a week later.
Each event will see a 16-player field competing over two days of action, with the eight PDC superstars going head-to-head with eight Oceanic representatives.
The Oceanic representatives are headlined by Australian icon Simon Whitlock, with New Zealand’s No 1 Haupai Puha and Jonny Tata also starring in both events.
World Matchplay Darts: All you need to know
The 2025 Betfred World Matchplay takes place from July 19-27 at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool, with the men’s and women’s tournaments live on Sky Sports.
The first round of the sport’s summer showpiece sees the world’s top 16 seeded men’s players pitted against the top 16 qualifiers from the one-year ProTour Rankings.
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Check out the best action from the 2024 World Matchplay from the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
Humphries lifted the Phil Taylor Trophy for the first time 12 months ago and will begin his defence against Gian van Veen, the World Youth Champion, on Saturday.
Teenage superstar and reigning world champion Littler will step up to the oche on Sunday to take on Ryan Searle, a 2023 Matchplay quarter-finalist.
Dutch icons will go head-to-head when Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld meet in Blackpool on Monday.
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Beau Greaves successfully retained her Women’s World Matchplay title in 2024 with a 6-3 victory over Fallon Sherrock.
The women’s World Matchplay takes place in the afternoon of Sunday July 27, with eight of the top women’s players in the world battling it out to be crowned champion in what is the fourth edition of the women’s event.
Two-time reigning champion Beau Greaves returns to Blackpool, joined by Fallon Sherrock, Kirski Viinikainen, Lisa Ashton, Robyn Byrne, Noa-Lynn van Leuven, Lorrain Winstanley, and Gemma Hayter.
Watch the World Matchplay live on Sky Sports from July 19-27 or stream without a contract.
