EXCLUSIVE: Russ Bray predicts Michael van Gerwen to win 2026 PDC World Championship

Legendary darts referee Russ Bray has backed three-time champion Michael van Gerwen to shock the world and lift the 2026 PDC World Championship.

The biggest tournament in darts commences on Thursday December 11th, with reigning champion Luke Littler an odds-on favourite with several leading bookmakers to retain his crown having romped to victory at Alexandra Palace 12 months ago.

But Bray, who took a step back from refereeing after the 2024 World Championship final but still keeps busy as an ambassador for the PDC, says he is leaning towards 22/1 chance Van Gerwen to upset the new order and roll back the years after impressing him with a recent exhibition performance.

Bray told Odds Now, "I've just came back from six nights away in Belgium, Germany and Finland doing the darts galas with Modus and I've got to say, Michael van Gerwen at the moment – he is on fire.

"It's been well documented the problems that he's had in recent times, but I think he's now clear of that. His mind is now clear.

"He played the other night and beat Luke Littler in one of the finals in Finland, 8-6. I had a little chat with him after it and honestly, if he plays like that...he wins it. Simple.

"People forget that Michael still has all that wonderful talent that Littler has. I'm not belittling Littler in saying that because the kid is just magnificent, and he's proved it over two years.

"But he's at the top now. He's got to stay there. He's not had to defend anything and now he's got two years of amazing achievements to try and defend.

"Getting to the top is hard, staying there is even harder. Michael has shown he can do that, as has Phil Taylor. But let's see what happens there."

Littler repeating Taylor dominance 'will not happen'

Russ Bray believes Phil Taylor's era of darts dominance will never be bettered (Credit: PDC Darts)

Bray has been up close to see all of the game's greats toe the oche during an iconic refereeing career, leaving him perfectly positioned to compare generational talents.

And while the 68-year-old is in awe of Littler's sublime ascent to the top of the sport, he holds strong reservations as to whether he can ever match the records set by 16-time world champion Taylor.

"Nobody will emulate what Taylor did," Bray explained. "Nobody will get 16 world titles, in my opinion.

"Back when the PDC was starting out, there only 14 or 16 players. Of those, only two could really compete for titles and that was Taylor and Dennis Priestley.

"So Phil had that magnificent run of eight straight titles before he got turned over by Party [John Part] in 2003. It's just impossible to do something like that now with the amount of quality players.

"For Littler, there's an awful of quality breathing down his neck. If he makes one little slip-up, there's a load of players ready to jump on it. MVG, Luke Humphries, Josh Rock, Gian van Veen.

"Don't get me wrong, Luke can be the top man. He can win many, many tournaments. But dominate like Taylor did? Not for me."

Bray in favour of extended World Championship field

This year, the PDC World Championship field will feature 128 players for the first time in a move that some detractors have suggested will water down the quality of darts' marquee event.

However, as someone who has worked hugely on the global growth of darts, Bray is a passionate supporter of the extended field, believing the depth of talent in the modern game means is it a necessity.

Bray said: "There's talent out there who haven't even made it to the World Championship. We used to only have 64 players competing not so long ago, then 96 and now 128.

"It's definitely needed. Perhaps we'll have some not so clever games compared to the top guys early doors. But how else are you going to get players pushing forward if they can't get the experience to develop?

"I do the Asian Tour and let me assure you, there are loads of fantastic up-and-coming darts players there – one or two of which you're going to see at the Worlds – who get the chance to show people what they really can do.

"And let's not forget, there's a few of the more established players who get up on that big stage and can't perform properly because of the situation.

"We've always said that you have stage players and you have floor players. Who's to say some of these qualifiers aren't going to prove to be great big stage players?

"So yes, I'm a huge fan of extending it and letting these new faces shine."

You can catch the full interview with Russ Bray over on the Darts Now YouTube channel in the coming days.