2025 PDC World Darts Championship

2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
Tournament information
Dates	15 December 2024 – 3 January 2025
Venue	Alexandra Palace
Location	London, England
Organisation(s)	Professional Darts Corporation (PDC)
Format	Sets Final – first to 7 sets
«2024 2026»

The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship) is a professional darts event that will take place at Alexandra Palace in London, England, from 15 December 2024 to 3 January 2025. It will be the 32nd World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation.

Luke Humphries is the defending champion, having defeated Luke Littler 7–4 in the 2024 final. ^[1]

Defending champion Luke Humphries will be number one seed going into the 2025 tournament.

Luke Littler was runner-up at the 2024 event.

Overview

The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship is the 32nd World Darts Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, and the 18th to be held at Alexandra Palace, London. It will take place from 15 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 as the culminating event of the 2024 Professional Darts Corporation season. The championship will feature 96 players, with the top 32 highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit seeded through to the second round. The 32 qualifiers from the ProTour Order of Merit and the 32 other players from various qualifiers start in the first round.

Bookmaker Paddy Power will continue their sponsorship of the event, having agreed a three-year contract with the PDC ahead of the 2024 edition. ^[2]

Going into the event, the previous years' finalists are viewed by bookmakers as the tournament favourites with Luke Littler having won the Premier League, ^{[3] [4] [5]} the World Series Finals, ^[6] and the Grand Slam of Darts, ^{[7] [8]} and defending champion Luke Humphries having won the World Matchplay ^[9] and the Players Championship Finals.

Format

All matches will be played as straight in, double out, requiring the players to score 501 points to win a leg, finishing on a double. The matches were played in the set format, with a minimum of three sets required to win a match. The following rules were observed:

• All sets will be played to the best of five legs in the first round, and also in non-deciding sets of subsequent rounds.
• In the deciding set of all but the first round, the first player to win at least three legs and be leading by two or more wins the set and the match. If the set reaches a 5–5 tie without a winner, it will be decided by a sudden-death leg with no throw for the bull.

Round	Best of (sets)	First to (sets)
First & Second	5	3
Third & Fourth	7	4
Quarter-finals	9	5
Semi-finals	11	6
Final	13	7

Ranking

The rankings on the PDC Order of Merit are calculated on a two-year basis. Players who participated in the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship are defending their prize money from that event on their ranking. At the end of the tournament, the PDC Order of Merit prize money from that event will be deleted from their ranking. After the tournament, the top 64 in the PDC Order of Merit will receive a one-year extension on their tour card. Players in the final year of their tour card, or that do not hold a tour card for the 2024 season, who finish the tournament outside the top 64 lose their tour card, unless players inside the top 64 resign their tour card, which Steve Beaton is expected to do. ^[10]

Prize money

The total prize pool for the tournament is expected to remain at £2.5 million in total for the seventh year in a row.

Position (no. of players)		Prize money (Total: £2,500,000)
Winner	(1)	£500,000
Runner-up	(1)	£200,000
Semi-finalists	(2)	£100,000
Quarter-finalists	(4)	£50,000
Fourth round losers	(8)	£35,000
Third round losers	(16)	£25,000
Second round losers	(32)	£15,000
First round losers	(32)	£7,500

Qualification

Seeding and Pro Tour qualification

The top 32 of the Order of Merit will qualify, and will be seeded. They will be joined by the top 32 not yet qualified players of the Pro Tour Order of Merit. The Main Order of Merit and ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers are correct as of the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts. The cut-off date is 25 November 2024. ^{[11] [12]}

Seeds

The previous year's winner and 2024 World Matchplay champion Luke Humphries is top of the two-year PDC Order of Merit and number one seed going into the tournament. The 2023 world champion Michael Smith is the second seed. Michael van Gerwen, the three-time world champion from 2014, 2017 and 2019, is the third seed. Luke Littler, the runner-up at the previous World Championship and the winner of the 2024 Premier League, Grand Slam and World Series Finals is the fourth seed. Rob Cross, who was champion in 2018 is the fifth seed. As well as Humphries, Smith, van Gerwen and Cross, four other previous PDC world champions qualified as seeds: 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price is the 10th seed, 2015 and 2016 world champion Gary Anderson is seeded 14th, 2020 and 2022 world champion Peter Wright is the 17th seed, and 2007 world champion Raymond van Barneveld is seeded 32nd. 2014 BDO World Champion Stephen Bunting is qualified as 8th seed. He was one of two former BDO champions to qualify as seeds, alongside four-time BDO champion van Barneveld. ^[12]

The top seeds behind Humphries, Smith, van Gerwen, Littler and Cross are Dave Chisnall, Jonny Clayton, 2024 Masters champion Stephen Bunting, Damon Heta, Gerwyn Price and 2024 UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh. Other 2024 major event champions to qualify as seeds are 2024 World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker as 24th seed and 2024 European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse as 29th seed. Edhouse had previously led the non–seeded Pro Tour Order of Merit qualifiers prior to his major win. ^[13]

Pro Tour qualification

Cameron Menzies is the highest-ranked non-seed on the 2024 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit. 2024 ProTour event winners Wessel Nijman, Wesley Plaisier and Alan Soutar are also amongst the qualifiers.

Other players qualifying via the Pro Tour include Jermaine Wattimena, Ricardo Pietreczko, Luke Woodhouse, Ryan Joyce, Niels Zonneveld, Madars Razma, Callan Rydz, Martin Lukeman, Kevin Doets, Richard Veenstra, 2024 semi-finalist Scott Williams, Kim Huybrechts and Mickey Mansell as well as Connor Scutt, the Challenge Tour Order of Merit winner. ^[12] Scutt and Plaisier also qualified for the 2024 WDF World Championship but withdrew in order to play at the Alexandra Palace. ^[14]

Noa-Lynn van Leuven is set to be the first transgender player in the history of the PDC World Championship.

International qualifiers

Niko Springer and Keane Barry qualified via the PDC Development Tour. Fallon Sherrock, the only woman to have previously won a match at the PDC World Darts Championship, and Noa-Lynn van Leuven qualified via the PDC Women's Series, with Van Leuven set to be the first transgender competitor in PDC history. As with the previous edition, no player will be eligible to compete in the 2025 PDC World Championship had they played at the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship which will conclude a week earlier. Beau Greaves, the winner of the 2024 Women's World Matchplay, has qualified but has indicated her intention to opt for the WDF. The final places will be awarded by a qualifier for non-qualified PDC Tour Card holders. ^[15] Rashad Sweeting will become the first player from the Bahamas to play at the PDC World Championship after sealing his qualification through the Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean Order of Merit, while Stefan Bellmont will become the first Swiss player to play at the PDC World Championship. ^[16]

List of qualifiers

Order of Merit Second round (seeded) 0 1.     Luke Humphries 0 2.     Michael Smith 0 3.     Michael van Gerwen 0 4.     Luke Littler 0 5.     Rob Cross 0 6.     Dave Chisnall 0 7.     Jonny Clayton 0 8.     Stephen Bunting 0 9.     Damon Heta 10.     Gerwyn Price 11.     Dimitri Van den Bergh 12.     Nathan Aspinall 13.     Danny Noppert 14.     Gary Anderson 15.     Chris Dobey 16.     James Wade 17.     Peter Wright 18.     Josh Rock 19.     Ross Smith 20.     Ryan Searle 21.     Andrew Gilding 22.     Martin Schindler 23.     Joe Cullen 24.     Mike De Decker 25.     Dirk van Duijvenbode 26.     Daryl Gurney 27.     Gabriel Clemens 28.     Gian van Veen 29.     Ritchie Edhouse 30.     Brendan Dolan 31.     Krzysztof Ratajski 32.     Raymond van Barneveld

Pro Tour Order of Merit First round   Cameron Menzies   Wessel Nijman   Jermaine Wattimena   Ricardo Pietreczko   Luke Woodhouse   Ryan Joyce   Niels Zonneveld   Alan Soutar   Madars Razma   Callan Rydz   Wesley Plaisier   Martin Lukeman   Kevin Doets   Richard Veenstra   Scott Williams   Kim Huybrechts   William O'Connor   Karel Sedláček   Stephen Burton   Thibault Tricole   Connor Scutt   Mensur Suljović   Ian White   Jim Williams   Florian Hempel   Ryan Meikle   Chris Landman   Nick Kenny   James Hurrell   Mickey Mansell   Ricky Evans   Robert Owen [a]

International Qualifiers First round  Ryusei Azemoto – PDC Asian Tour [18]   Keane Barry – PDC Development Tour [19]   Stefan Bellmont – West Europe Qualifier [16]   Stowe Buntz – CDC Pro Tour [20]   Cameron Carolissen – African Qualifier [21]  Joe Comito – DPA Pro Tour [22]   Leonard Gates – CDC Pro Tour [20]  Tomoya Goto – PDJ Japan Tour [23]  Kai Gotthardt – PDC Europe Super League   Jeffrey de Graaf – PDC Nordic & Baltic [b] [24] Romeo Grbavac – East Europe Qualifier   Beau Greaves – Women's World Matchplay [c] (withdrew)   Lourence Ilagan – PDC Asian Tour [18]   Christian Kist – PDC Challenge Tour   Nitin Kumar – India Qualifier   Darius Labanauskas – PDC Nordic & Baltic [24]  Lok Yin Lee – PDC Asian Championship Qualifier [27]   Jim Long – CDC Pro Tour [20]   Gordon Mathers – Oceanic Masters [28]   Alexander Merkx – PDC Challenge Tour  Paolo Nebrida – PDC Asian Tour [18]   Ben Robb – DPNZ Qualifier [29]   Fallon Sherrock – PDC Women's Series [30] [31] Sandro Eric Sosing – Asian Championship [32]   Niko Springer – PDC Development Tour [19] Rashad Sweeting – CDLC Tour [33]  Alexis Toylo – PDC Asian Tour [18]   Noa-Lynn van Leuven – PDC Women's Series [34] [35] [36]   Zong Xiao Chen – PDC China Championship [37] PDC TCH Qualifier (25 November) PDC TCH Qualifier (25 November) PDC TCH Qualifier (25 November) PDC TCH Qualifier (25 November)

1. Dom Taylor, who was originally 17th on the Pro Tour list, was suspended by the PDC, following the failure of a drugs test. ^[17] Robert Owen was his replacement as the highest ranked Pro Tour player not yet qualified. He will be treated as an International qualifier in the draw due to Jeffrey de Graaf's Pro Tour ranking.
2. De Graaf was ranked in the top 32 on the Pro Tour list, so will be treated as a ProTour qualifier in the draw.
3. Greaves chose to play the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship ^[25] following a ruling by the PDC which did not allow players to compete in both World Championships in the same year. ^[26]

Schedule

Sunday, 15 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
01	1
02
03
04	2	Luke Humphries

Monday, 16 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
05	1
06
07
08	2
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
09	1
10
11
12	2

Tuesday, 17 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
13	1
14
15
16	2
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
17	1
18
19
20	2

Wednesday, 18 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
21	1
22
23
24	2

Thursday, 19 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
25	1
26
27
28	2
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
29	1
30
31
32	2

Friday, 20 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
33	1
34
35
36	2
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
37	1
38
39
40	2

Saturday, 21 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
41	1
42
43	2
44
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
45	2
46
47
48

Sunday, 22 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
49	2
50
51
52
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
53	2
54
55
56

Monday, 23 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
57	2
58
59
60
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
61	2
62
63
64

Friday, 27 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
65	3
66
67
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
68	3
69
70

Saturday, 28 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
71	3
72
73
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
74	3
75
76

Sunday, 29 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
77	3
78
79
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
80	3
81	4
82

Monday, 30 December

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
83	4
84
85
Evening session (19:30 GMT)
86	4
87
88

Wednesday, 1 January

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7	Set 8	Set 9
Afternoon session (12:30 GMT)
89	QF
90
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
91	QF
92

Thursday, 2 January

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7	Set 8	Set 9	Set 10	Set 11
Evening session (19:30 GMT)
93	SF
94

Friday, 3 January

Match no.	Round	Player 1	Score	Player 2	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Set 6	Set 7	Set 8	Set 9	Set 10	Set 11	Set 12	Set 13
Evening session (20:00 GMT)
95	F

Draw

The draw will take place on 25 November 2024, live on Sky Sports News, and will be conducted by Sky Sports presenter, Emma Paton, and former darts player Wayne Mardle.

Top half

Section 1

First round (best of 5 sets) December

Second round (best of 5 sets) December

Third round (best of 7 sets) December

Fourth round (best of 7 sets) December

Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) January

1

Luke Humphries

Q

32

Raymond van Barneveld

Q

16

James Wade

Q

17

Peter Wright

Q

8

Stephen Bunting

Q

25

Dirk van Duijvenbode

Q

9

Damon Heta

Q

24

Mike De Decker

Q

Section 2

First round (best of 5 sets) December

Second round (best of 5 sets) December

Third round (best of 7 sets) December

Fourth round (best of 7 sets) December

Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) January

4

Luke Littler

Q

29

Ritchie Edhouse

Q

13

Danny Noppert

Q

20

Ryan Searle

Q

5

Rob Cross

Q

28

Gian van Veen

Q

12

Nathan Aspinall

Q

21

Andrew Gilding

Q

Bottom half

Section 3

First round (best of 5 sets) December

Second round (best of 5 sets) December

Third round (best of 7 sets) December

Fourth round (best of 7 sets) December

Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) January

2

Michael Smith

Q

31

Krzysztof Ratajski

Q

15

Chris Dobey

Q

18

Josh Rock

Q

7

Jonny Clayton

Q

26

Daryl Gurney

Q

10

Gerwyn Price

Q

23

Joe Cullen

Q

Section 4

First round (best of 5 sets) December

Second round (best of 5 sets) December

Third round (best of 7 sets) December

Fourth round (best of 7 sets) December

Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets) January

3

Michael van Gerwen

Q

30

Brendan Dolan

Q

14

Gary Anderson

Q

19

Ross Smith

Q

6

Dave Chisnall

Q

27

Gabriel Clemens

Q

11

Dimitri Van den Bergh

Q

22

Martin Schindler

Q

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