Michael van Gerwen will begin his bid for back-to-back World Series of Darts titles against India’s Nitin Kumar as the Riyadh Season Saudi Arabia Darts Masters begins on Monday.
The inaugural staging of the Riyadh Season Saudi Arabia Darts Masters will take place on January 19-20 at the Global Theater, as darts visits the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Van Gerwen kicked off the 2026 World Series season with victory at the Bahrain Darts Masters last week, and the Dutch superstar will now set his sights on another triumph in the Middle East.
The three-time World Champion will open his challenge against Indian trailblazer Kumar, as eight PDC superstars take on eight Asian Tour representatives in Monday’s opening round.
World Champion Luke Littler will play Singapore’s darting icon Paul Lim for the second World Series event in succession, while world number two Luke Humphries faces Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto for a place in the quarter-finals.
Bahrain Darts Masters runner-up Gian van Veen will meet Japanese star Motomu Sakai, while former World Champion Gerwyn Price takes on PDC Asian Tour winner Alexis Toylo.
Nathan Aspinall and Lourence Ilagan renew their rivalry in a repeat of their clash in Bahrain, while Stephen Bunting locks horns with two-time World Championship qualifier Tomoya Goto.
Elsewhere, Dutch number three Danny Noppert will play Hong Kong’s World Cup quarter-finalist Man Lok Leung, with Aspinall or Ilagan awaiting the winner in the quarter-finals.
Following the conclusion of round one, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will take place on a bumper evening session on Tuesday, as the remaining eight players compete for silverware in Saudi Arabia.
There will also be a bumper $100,000 prize on offer to any player who lands a nine-darter throughout the event - and this bonus could be doubled following the introduction of the Riyadh Season Bullseye.
If a nine-darter is hit during the event, the player will be given one dart at the bullseye to double their prize to $200,000, which would constitute the biggest prize pot for a nine-darter in PDC history.
2026 Riyadh Season Saudi Arabia Darts Masters
January 19-20, Global Theater, Riyadh
Draw Bracket
(1) Michael van Gerwen v Nitin Kumar
Stephen Bunting v Tomoya Goto
(4) Nathan Aspinall v Lourence Ilagan
Danny Noppert v Man Lok Leung
(2) Gian van Veen v Motomu Sakai
Luke Littler v Paul Lim
(3) Gerwyn Price v Alexis Toylo
Luke Humphries v Ryusei Azemoto
Schedule of Play
Monday January 19 (1900 AST, 1600 GMT)
Round One
Danny Noppert v Man Lok Leung
Stephen Bunting v Tomoya Goto
Nathan Aspinall v Lourence Ilagan
Michael van Gerwen v Nitin Kumar
Luke Littler v Paul Lim
Gerwyn Price v Alexis Toylo
Luke Humphries v Ryusei Azemoto
Gian van Veen v Motomu Sakai
Best of 11 legs
Tuesday January 20 (1900 AST, 1600 GMT)
Quarter-Finals
Van Gerwen/Kumar v Bunting/Goto
Aspinall/Ilagan v Noppert/Leung
Van Veen/Sakai v Littler/Lim
Price/Toylo v Humphries/Azemoto
Best of 11 legs
Semi-Finals
Best of 13 legs
Final
Best of 15 legs
All Tuesday's matches to be played in Draw Bracket order.