World Professional Darts Championship

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The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split in the game. Each organisation, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) then arranged their own World Championships, the former in January the latter in December. As a result, there was no longer a unified world champion in the sport for nearly three decades.

Contents

The BDO version dated back to 1978, when it was held at the Heart of the Midlands nightclub, Nottingham. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From then until 2019 it was held at the Lakeside Leisure Complex at Frimley Green, Surrey. In 2020 the tournament was held at The O2 Arena in London. The BDO went into liquidation in 2020 and the World Darts Federation announced later that they would be creating their own version of a World Championship, returning to the Lakeside Leisure Complex. [1] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their version didn't get underway until 2022. [2] Since qualification for the BDO version was always based on WDF rankings, most of the player pool and legacy of this new version of the World Championship is based on the old BDO system.

The PDC version has been running since 1994 after "the split", with a field of players containing all active previous World Champions from the BDO. It was originally staged at Purfleet's Circus Tavern, Essex, before moving to its current home Alexandra Palace, London, for the 2008 World Championship.

Men's winners

Englishman Phil Taylor has won a record sixteen World Championships. Philtaylor.jpg
Englishman Phil Taylor has won a record sixteen World Championships.

By player

The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 4 January 2025).

PlayerTotal BDO PDC
Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 16214
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Raymond van Barneveld 541
Flag of England.svg Eric Bristow 55
Flag of England.svg Martin Adams 33
Flag of England.svg John Lowe 33
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 33
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg John Part 312
Flag of England.svg Glen Durrant 33
Flag of Scotland.svg Gary Anderson 22
Flag of Scotland.svg Peter Wright 22
Flag of England.svg Ted Hankey 22
Flag of England.svg Adrian Lewis 22
Flag of England.svg Dennis Priestley 211
Flag of England.svg Scott Waites 22
Flag of Scotland.svg Jocky Wilson 22
Flag of England.svg Bob Anderson 11
Flag of England.svg Steve Beaton 11
Flag of England.svg Stephen Bunting 11
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Richie Burnett 11
Flag of England.svg Rob Cross 11
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony David 11
Flag of England.svg Keith Deller 11
Flag of England.svg Andy Fordham 11
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Christian Kist 11
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Jelle Klaasen 11
Flag of England.svg Scott Mitchell 11
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gerwyn Price 11
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Leighton Rees 11
Flag of England.svg Michael Smith 11
Flag of Scotland.svg Les Wallace 11
Flag of England.svg John Walton 11
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Wayne Warren 11
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Mark Webster 11
Flag of England.svg Luke Humphries 11
Flag of England.svg Luke Littler 11

By country

The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 20 February 2024).

PlayerTotal BDO PDC
Flag of England.svg  England 472819
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1064
Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 734
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 541
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 312
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 11

Highest average progression

AverageSeedPlayerScoreOpponentStageYear
97.493 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Leighton Rees 6–3 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Alan Evans QF 1978
99.005 Flag of England.svg John Lowe 2–0 Flag of England.svg Tony Brown 1st 1984
100.29unseeded Flag of England.svg Keith Deller 2–4 Flag of England.svg John Lowe QF 1985
100.80unseeded Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 5–0 Flag of England.svg Cliff Lazarenko SF 1990
102.631 Flag of England.svg Dennis Priestley 3–0 Flag of Scotland.svg Jocky Wilson 1st 1993
103.981 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 6–0 Flag of England.svg Dennis Priestley F 1998
105.033 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 3–0 Flag of England.svg Reg Harding1st 1999
105.872 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 6–0 Flag of England.svg Alan Warriner QF 2000
107.462 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 7–0 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg John Part F 2001
111.212 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 6–1 Flag of England.svg Shayne Burgess 2nd 2002
114.051 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 6–2 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Raymond van Barneveld SF 2017

Women's winners

Englishwoman Trina Gulliver has won a record ten World Championships. Trina Gulliver on Darts Planet TV.jpg
Englishwoman Trina Gulliver has won a record ten World Championships.

By player

The following sortable table lists all winners of all versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 December 2023).

PlayerTotal WDF

(BDO)

PDC
Flag of England.svg Trina Gulliver 1010
Flag of England.svg Lisa Ashton 44
Flag of Russia.svg Anastasia Dobromyslova 33
Flag of England.svg Beau Greaves 33
Flag of Japan.svg Mikuru Suzuki 22
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Francis Hoenselaar 11
Flag of the United States.svg Stacy Bromberg 11

By country

The following sortable table lists all winners of all versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 December 2023).

PlayerTotal WDF

(BDO)

PDC
Flag of England.svg  England 1717
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 33
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 22
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 11
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 11

Youth winners

The British Darts Organisation scores are sets, while the Professional Darts Corporation scores are legs.

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References

  1. "Darts is Coming Home! Lakeside World Championship 2022". DartsWDF. World Darts Federation. 6 June 2021.
  2. "Lakeside WDF World Championships 2022 - Rescheduled". World Darts Federation. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.