James Wade made a winning start to his Players Championship campaign by defeating Nathan Aspinall 8-6 ​​in the final of the Players Championship in Hildesheim on Monday.

Wade won his first title of 2026 with a series of dominant performances at this year’s inaugural Players Championship, where he fought through four tiebreakers before knocking out Aspinall in the final.

The win was his 12th Players Championship title and first since missing out on a Premier League wildcard pick, with Wade disappointed not to make the eight-man squad but proud of his performance in Germany.

“This (win) has nothing to do with the Premier League,” Wade said after the win. “I build on that and I did enough last year (to get Premier League picks) but compared to the Premier League it’s kindergarten.

“They are big boys, they play in front of a big crowd and the players are under a lot of pressure.

“Someone said to me last week ‘should you play’? Of course I should, but the PDC and Sky picked players who could represent the game in the best way, form or form. What a team they put out. I could have been better than some of them but that’s what it is.

“It makes me feel a little sad, depressed and a little rejected as a human being, but there are probably 10 people who feel the same way. Should I be involved? Yes. Am I involved? No.”

Following wins over Karel Sedlacek and Alexander Merckx in the deciders earlier in the day, Wade beat Swede Jeffrey de Graaf 6-1 and then beat Austrian No. 1 Mensur Suljovic 6-3.

Wade then blocked Joe Cullen in the final penalty shootout to seal a place in the semi-finals and overturned Thursday’s Premier League opener Michael van Gerwen from 6-5 down to reach the ProTour final for the first time since June.

The 42-year-old scored scores of 104, 127, 130 and 137 against Van Gerwen before coming back from 5-3 down against Aspinall to complete the next four legs with just 41 darts before claiming a clinical victory with 16 darts.

“I’m happy, aren’t I?” Wade added. “I probably should have beaten him (Aspinall) easier than I did, but then again, it was Nathan; he absolutely beat me on all four legs! I had nothing to give. I was as flat as a pancake but, yeah, I dug deep and I’m happy with it.”

Aspinall knocked out Arnold Merck, Madas Razma and Joe Hunter earlier in the day before defeating Beau Greaves in her first Players Championship as an official Tour card holder.

The Stockport-born star then punished Gabriel Clemens for a sub-par performance in the quarter-finals before beating former British Open semi-finalist Adam Gawlas to seal a place in the final.

Justin Hood was in fine form at Hildesheim, averaging 108.47 points to defeat European champion Gian van Veen in the second round.

Hood’s two-game scoring average on the Harley 39 was not enough to advance past the third round, and he lost 6-4 to Mensur Sujovic, the No. 1 player in Austria, despite averaging nine points more per game than Austria’s top-ranked Mensur Sujovic.

Cam Crabtree and Wesley Plaisier averaged nearly 108 as they defeated Luke Woodhouse and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez in the first and second rounds respectively, while Mickey Mansell also stole the show in Hildesheim, defeating Carl Sneed 6-4 in the second round. Sneyd, he had a perfect game.

What to do next?

The 2026 PDC ProTour season continues with the second round of the Players Championship on Tuesday, with Van Gerwen making his first trip to Antwerp on Thursday as he returns to the Premier League.

The headliner on night two is Littler vs Humphreys in a repeat of last year’s Premier League final, with either Van Gerwen or Josh Lock awaiting the winner. The other half of the draw pits Jonny Clayton against Stephen Bunting and Gwen Price against Van Veen.

Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts League? Luke Humphries will defend his title and you can watch the action every Thursday from February to May on Sky Sports. Live stream darts and more top sports with NOW.