Overview
- Top seed and titleholder Luke Littler opens against Darius Labanauskas, with No. 2 Luke Humphries placed in the opposite half to ensure a possible meeting only in the final.
- The Top‑32 seedings were locked after Littler’s Players Championship Finals win, fixing the bracket structure and clarifying potential third‑round pairings for seeded players.
- Germany’s eight qualifiers learned their openers: Martin Schindler vs Stephen Burton, Ricardo Pietreczko vs José de Sousa, Gabriel Clemens vs Alex Spellman, Max Hopp vs Martin Lukeman, Niko Springer vs Joe Comito, Lukas Wenig vs Wesley Plaisier, Dominik Grüllich vs No. 19 Jermaine Wattimena, and Arno Merk vs Kim Huybrechts.
- Assessments point to largely manageable assignments for the Germans, with Grüllich drawing the toughest task as the only one facing a seeded opponent in round one.
- Florian Hempel failed in the final qualifier and will lose his PDC Tour Card, leaving Germany at eight entrants as the event runs December 11 to January 3 at Alexandra Palace.