Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion by beating Adrian Lewis 11–6 in the previous year's final,[1] and van Gerwen would retain his Players Championship title, beating Dave Chisnall 11–3 in the final.

Alan Norris hit a nine-dart finish in his first-round match against Michael Smith, which was the first time it had ever happened in the tournament's history.

The 2016 Players Championship Finals will have a total prize fund of £400,000, a £100,000 increase since the previous staging of the tournament.

These are the qualifiers after the 20 events:[3] On 21 November, it was announced that the #23 seed Kyle Anderson was forced to withdraw, owing to problems with his visa, so all the players below him moved up one ranking place, with Andy Hamilton moving into the #64 slot.

There was no draw held, but all players were put in a fixed bracket by their seeding positions.