Michael van Gerwen will miss the Players Championship Finals after failing to qualify for the event.
The Dutchman missed a large portion of Pro Tour events this year while performing poorly in the ones he did play in, which has resulted in a first non-qualification in his illustrious career.
Michael van Gerwen Absent From Players Championship Finals For First Time
The penultimate PDC major prior to the World Darts Championship is here with the 2025 Players Championship Finals taking centre-stage at Butlins Resort in Minehead from November 21-23.
Unlike the majority of PDC majors, players cannot qualify through the world rankings Order of Merit. Instead, the Players Championship Finals line-up is made up of the top 64 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit instead.
This turned out to be a major issue for three-time world champion and current world no.3 Michael van Gerwen, who has failed to qualify for the Players Championship Finals for the first time.
While van Gerwen’s place in the 2026 Premier League Darts line-up is secured, he failed to make the last major before the World Darts Championship due to an abysmal season on the Pro Tour and floor events.
Across 34 Players Championship tournaments, van Gerwen was unable to secure enough points to earn his spot at Butlins, Minehead for the 17th consecutive year since the tournament was launched back in 2009.
Instead, the three-time world champion and former dominant darting star will be forced to watch the 2025 Players Championship Finals action from the comfort of his own home.
Why Is Michael van Gerwen Missing The 2025 Players Championship Finals?
There are a few different reasons as to why Michael van Gerwen failed to qualify for the 2025 Players Championship Finals and will consequently be missing from the line-up for the first time in history.
One reason could be that he has had private issues to deal with away from the oche, which certainly hasn’t helped with his performances on the dart board.Â
Van Gerwen vowed to quit darts after winning the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam in September, but that is yet to happen either.
The main reason why ‘MVG’ has failed to qualify for the event in Minehead this year is due to his lacklustre performances across the Players Championship floor events on the Pro Tour this year.
Of the 34 events across the year, van Gerwen only played in 15 of them. He chose to skip 19 events, which isn’t uncommon due to a packed schedule for the top stars. However, skipping floor tournaments certainly didn’t benefit the Dutchman this year.
Playing 15 Pro Tour events is normal for van Gerwen, who qualified comfortably for the last three Players Championship Finals after playing just 10, 15 and 16 events respectively across those three previous campaigns.
The main issue this year is that in the 15 events the 36-year-old did partake in, his performances were nowhere near good enough. Across the 15 Players Championships he played, van Gerwen was knocked out in Round 1 on eight occasions.
He reached the quarter-finals just once, which is a simply staggering return for a man who boasts the most Pro Tour titles in darts history. Add to that the fact that nobody in history has won the Players Championship Finals more times than the ‘Green Machine’, who has reigned supreme in Minehead on a record seven occasions.
