The Players Championship Finals will be without a host of big names this year. Luke Littler, Josh Rock, Nathan Aspinall, Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld are among those missing from the event in Minehead at the end of November. Notably, three players from the world’s top 11 have failed to qualify for the tournament.

The Players Championship Finals will be held in Minehead, England, from 27 to 29 November. Only the top 64 players on the Players Championship Order of Merit are eligible to compete.

The ranking is based solely on prize money earned across this season’s 34 Players Championship events. All 128 Tour Card holders are invited to compete in those tournaments. If players withdraw, invitations go to the highest-ranked players on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.

Luke Littler is by far the most notable absentee. The Englishman tops the world rankings but has failed to qualify for the year’s final floor event. The main reason for his absence is that Littler played almost no Players Championship events in 2026.

“The Nuke” skipped all of the year’s first 26 floor events before playing two tournaments in Leicester. He reached the quarter-finals and the semi-finals there. After the Englishman was no longer on course to play every televised event in a single year, Littler also skipped the remaining six tournaments.

Josh Rock, ranked eighth in the world, and Nathan Aspinall, who sits 11th, are also missing from the entry list. They, too, skipped most of the floor events. Rock missed 15 Players Championship tournaments, while Aspinall sat out 21.

Luke Littler will not defend his title at the Players Championship Finals

Van Barneveld and Wright also absent

Raymond van Barneveld will also miss out on a place at the Players Championship Finals. The five-time world champion, currently ranked 47th in the world, did not earn enough prize money on the floor this season to finish inside the top 64.

The same is true of two-time world champion Peter Wright, who is ranked 35th in the world. Ricardo Pietreczko (36), Martin Lukeman (43) and Ryan Joyce (25) will also be absent from Minehead.

Several other familiar names have also failed to qualify. Madars Razma, Ricky Evans and Ian White will all miss the tournament.

Belgium will also be without a familiar name. Dimitri Van den Bergh, ranked 60th in the world, is missing from the entry list for the second year running. Lukas Wenig and Nick Kenny are also absent from the top 64 of the PDC Order of Merit.