128 players. Straight knockout. £126,000 prize fund. One champion.
The ADC Global Championship gets underway today at the MODUS Live Lounge in Portsmouth, with eight days of televised darts ahead of us.
And this year there's a major change.
Gone are the group stages. All 128 players go straight into a knockout competition, meaning one defeat and you're out.
Every match will be shown live and free on Pluto TV, with £20,000 awaiting the eventual champion.
I've been looking through the Q4QS Database to see who might be worth following, and there are some fascinating contenders.
Who are the leading contenders?
One name that immediately stands out is Ryan Hogarth.
Ranked 33rd in the Q4QS Database, Hogarth has an overall average of 88.68 and has won his last ten recorded matches.
He recently won an event at the Welsh Open, Masters & Classic, winning nine matches with an 89.16 tournament average. That run included a 95.10 average in a 6–3 victory over Ross Montgomery.
That sort of consistency could be extremely valuable over a long knockout tournament.
Daniel Ayres is another serious contender.
Ranked 34th, Ayres has an overall average of 89.89 and has been competing against some very strong opposition.
His recent victories include Cameron Menzies, Niels Zonneveld and Ritchie Edhouse. He averaged 94.92 when beating Menzies 6–4.
Steve Lennon brings plenty of experience and an overall Q4QS average of 90.21, one of the strongest among the players in my export.
He recently reached the semi-finals of a PDC World Championship qualifier, averaging 90.20 across the event.
If Lennon produces that sort of scoring consistently, he will take some stopping.
Some exceptional recent form
There are a few players whose recent tournament results are particularly impressive.
Lewis Cook won the ADC UK & Ireland Classic, averaging a remarkable 98.94 across his five victories.
That included beating Archie Self 5–4 with a 100.08 average and Chas Barstow 5–1.
Archie Self is another player I find particularly interesting.
He has won nine of his last ten recorded matches, captured two England Masters & Classic titles and also won a Vault event at Newbury.
His tournament averages of 92.49 and 91.50 in those England Masters victories show just how dangerous he can be.
And don't overlook Jack Tweddell.
Tweddell recently reached a PDC Challenge Tour final, averaging 91.11, before winning the Halloween competition at Wiltshire Darts House with ten victories from ten matches.
The international challenge
The Global Championship is becoming a genuinely international event, and this year's expanded field reflects that.
Boris Krcmar has the experience and scoring ability to challenge anybody. His Q4QS average stands at 87.92, and he has recorded a 100.49 match average in a victory over Dalibor Smolik.
Belgium's Brian Raman recently reached a WDF World Masters final, averaging 88.37 during that run.
Dutch and Belgian players also feature prominently throughout the draw.
Jamai van den Herik has reached two recent PDC Development Tour semi-finals and a quarter-final, while Nunjo Dewaele won Development Tour Event 21.
With players from Africa, Australia and Canada also involved, there should be plenty of interesting stories beyond the familiar British names.
The danger of straight knockout darts
I think the format change makes this championship much harder to predict.
The first two rounds are best of nine legs.
That means a player only needs five legs to win, and there's very little time to recover from a slow start.
A competitor averaging in the mid-80s can certainly beat someone averaging 90-plus over that distance, particularly if they take their chances on the doubles.
Players such as Chas Barstow, Robbie Martin, Michael Wiles and Carl Wilson are all worth watching.
Barstow recently won an England Masters & Classic event with a 93.94 average, while Martin and Wiles have both been recording tournament victories.
And there are plenty more capable of upsetting the favourites.
Some first-round matches worth watching
The published draw has already produced some interesting encounters:
Michael Wiles v Jeff Smith – Two players with strong recent records, and neither will fancy this opening assignment.
Ashley Coleman v Daniel Ayres – An intriguing all-English contest between two highly rated players.
Jack Drayton v Ben Townley – Both have extensive competitive experience and strong recent performances.
Lewis Cook v Ricardo Ham – Can Cook reproduce his outstanding UK & Ireland Classic form?
Archie Self v Patrick Ocheng – A chance to see one of the most in-form players in the Q4QS Database against a Ugandan qualifier.
There will undoubtedly be some shocks before we reach the last 64.
Q4QS SIX TO FOLLOW
Ryan Hogarth – Q4QS rank 33, average 88.68, and ten consecutive recorded victories.
Steve Lennon – One of the strongest overall averages in the field and plenty of high-level experience.
Daniel Ayres – Q4QS rank 34, with proven victories against PDC opposition.
Lewis Cook – His 98.94 winning average at the UK & Ireland Classic makes him impossible to ignore.
Archie Self – Multiple recent titles and nine wins from his last ten matches.
Jack Tweddell – Dark Horse – A Challenge Tour finalist who arrives on the back of another tournament victory.
My verdict
I find this a particularly difficult tournament to call.
If I were choosing purely on overall performance, Ryan Hogarth, Daniel Ayres and Steve Lennon would be very high on my list.
But Lewis Cook's recent title-winning performance was exceptional, and Archie Self is showing the sort of consistency that could take him a long way.
The biggest question is whether those players can reproduce their best darts on a televised stage, knowing that one poor match could end their championship.
That's what makes this new format so interesting.
Over the next eight days, we'll find out who can handle that pressure.
Who do you think will become the 2026 ADC Global Champion?
The tournament runs from 1–8 November, with every match available live and free on Pluto TV.
Official tournament website:
https://dartscircuit.com/events/adc-global-championship/
Q4QS analysis is based on recorded performances in the Q4QS Database. The supplied export contains 112 player records, and rankings and averages reflect the data available at the time of analysis.
