Overview
Background
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) was established under the World Darts Council name by the managers John Markovic, Tommy Cox and Dick Allix, along with the world's top 16 players in January 1992 as a separate body that broke away from the British Darts Organisation (BDO). [2] The inaugural edition of the PDC World Darts Championship was held from December 1993 to January 1994 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, England. It was won by Dennis Priestley, who defeated Phil Taylor in the final on 2 January 1994. [3] [4] Taylor would go on to win the tournament 14 times, adding to his BDO World Darts Championship wins in 1990 and 1992 for a record total of 16 world titles, including eight in a row from 1995 to 2002. [5] [6] The PDC World Championship is one of two world championships in the game of darts; the other being the WDF World Darts Championship, which was first held in 2022 as the successor to the BDO event. [4] [7]
The 2027 tournament will be held from 11 December 2026 to 3 January 2027 in London, England. [8] It will be the 34th edition of the event and the 20th to be held at Alexandra Palace, which first served as host venue at the 2008 World Championship. [9] [10] The event will be hosted in Alexandra Palace's Great Hall for the first time after 19 years in the venue's West Hall; [11] [12] the Great Hall was previously used for the News of the World Darts Championship from 1963 to 1976. [13] The move saw an increase in available tickets to 180,000, which will be distributed through a ballot system. [14] Irish gambling company Paddy Power continued its sponsorship of the event, having agreed a renewal of their sponsorship until 2031. [15]
A total of 128 players will compete at the event. [16] Luke Littler will be the defending champion, having defeated Gian van Veen 7–1 in the 2026 final to win his second world title. [17]
Format
Under the tournament format introduced in 2026, all 128 players, including the 32 seeds, will enter the tournament in the first round. The matches will be in set play format, with the amount of sets required to win a match increasing as the tournament progresses. All non-deciding sets will be played to the best of five legs. In the deciding set, a tie-break rule will be applied if the set score is 2–2, where the first player to lead by two legs will win the set and the match; if the deciding set reaches 5–5, the winner will be decided by a sudden-death leg. [18]
| 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 PDC World Rankings (known for sponsorship reasons as the Werner Rankings Ladder) are calculated on a two-year cycle. Prize money won by players in ranking tournaments are removed from their ranking after 104 weeks, meaning players who participated in the 2025 World Championship, who did not lose their PDC Tour Card during the two-year period, will 'defend' their prize money from that event. At the end of the tournament, the prize money won at this tournament will be added and the prize money won at the 2025 tournament will be removed. After the tournament, the top 64 players in the PDC World Rankings will receive a one-year extension on their Tour Card, joined by the players who earned two-year Tour Cards in 2026 who will enter their second year in 2027. Players with two or more years on their Tour Card, who finish outside of the top 64, will lose their Tour Card and see their ranking reset to £0, along with all other players who earned prize money in ranking tournaments without holding a Tour Card. [19] [20]
Prize money
The prize money breakdown is shown below: [21]
| Position (no. of players) | Prize money (Total: £5,000,000) | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | (1) | £1,000,000 |
| Runner-up | (1) | £400,000 |
| Semi-finalists | (2) | £200,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | (4) | £100,000 |
| Fourth round losers | (8) | £60,000 |
| Third round losers | (16) | £35,000 |
| Second round losers | (32) | £25,000 |
| First round losers | (64) | £15,000 |
