PDC World Darts Championship 2025/26 – Who Wins Darts Biggest Prize?
On December 11th, one of the biggest festive sports events of the year starts as the top darts players in the world convene at the Alexandra Palace in London to compete in a new-look Paddy Power World Darts Championship 2025/26.
There is a total prize pool of £5,000,000 up for grabs, with a cool £1,000,000 for the winner alone as the players compete up to and over the festive period and new year to decide who will be crowned World Champion on January 3rd 2026.
The tournament has a new look and expanded format, with 128 players competing and all the seeds starting in the first round, this promises to be one of the biggest and most exciting World Championships in recent memory.
It will be the final edition of the World Championship hosted in the West Hall at Alexandra Palace as from next year, the tournament will move to the larger Great Hall for subsequent tournaments through to 2031.
Luke Littler is the defending Champion and the current World Number 1. He beat Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the 2025 final.
Tournament Format
The tournament is competed over leg play where the first player to win three legs wins a set and the player needs to win a stated number of sets to win the match. The number of sets contested (best of) increases as we move through the tournament.
- First and Second Rounds – Best of 5 Sets
- Third and Fourth Rounds – Best of 7 Sets
- Quarter-Finals – Best of 9 Sets
- Semi-Finals – Best of 11 Sets
- Final – Best of 13 Sets
Seeds
The 32 top ranked players in the PDC will be seeded in the first round draw and will not have to face another seeded player until the third round, should they win through.
First Round Draw
- Kim Huybrechts (Bel) v Arno Merk (Ger)
- Michael Smith (Eng) v Lisa Ashton (Eng)
- Luke Littler (Eng) v Darius Labanauskas (Lit)
- Madars Razma (Lat) v Jamal van den Herik (Net)
- Ross Smith (Eng) v Andreas Harrysson (Swe)
- Ricky Evans (Eng) v Man Lok Leung (HK)
- Gian van Veen (Net) v Cristo Reyes (Esp)
- Damon Heta (Aus) v Steve Lennon (Ire)
- Mario Vandenbogaerde (Bel) v David Davies (Wal)
- Andrew Gilding (Eng) v Cam Crabtree (Eng)
- Luke Woodhouse (Eng) v Boris Krcmar (Cro)
- Gary Anderson (Sco) v Adam Hunt (Eng)
- Jeffrey de Graaf (Swe) v Paul Lim (Sin)
- Wessel Nijman (Net) v Karel Sedlacek (Cze)
- Luke Humphries (Eng) v Ted Evetts (Eng)
- Gabriel Clemens (Ger) v Alex Spellman (USA)
- Ritchie Edhouse (Eng) v Jonny Tata (N.Z)
- Dom Taylor (Eng) v Oskar Luskasiak (Swe)
- Richard Veenstra (Net) v Nitin Kumar (Ind)
- Joe Cullen (Eng) v Bradley Brooks (Eng)
- Lukas Wenig (Ger) v Wesley Plaisier (Ger)
- Dmitri Van den Bergh (Bel) v Darren Beveridge (Sco)
- Stephen Bunting (Sco) v Sebastian Bialecki (Pol)
- James Hurrell (Eng) v Stowe Buntz (USA)
- Brendan Dolan (Ire) v Tavis Dudeney (Eng)
- Cameron Menzies (Sco) v Charlie Manby (Eng)
- Mensur Suljovic (Aut) v David Cameron (Can)
- Peter Wright (Sco) v Noa-Lynn van Leuven (Net)
- Martin Lukeman (Eng) v Max Hopp (Ger)
- Dirk van Duijvenbode (Net) v Andy Baetens (Bel)
- Jonny Clayton (Wal) v Adam Lipscombe (Eng)
- Connor Scutt (Eng) v Simon Whitlock (Aus)
- Alan Soutar (Sco) v Teemu Harju (Fin)
- Nick Kenny (Wal) v Justin Hood (Eng)
- Scott Williams (Eng) v Paolo Nebrida (Phi)
- Chris Dobey (Eng) v Xiaochen Zong (Chn)
- Ricardo Pietreczko (Ger) v Jose de Sousa (Por)
- Danny Noppert (Net) v Jurjen van der Velde (Net)
- Gerwyn Price (Wal) v Adam Gawlas (Cze)
- Niko Springer (Ger) v Joe Comito (Aus)
- Matt Campbell (Can) v Adam Sevada (USA)
- Raymond van Barneveld (Net) v Stefan Bellmont (Swi)
- James Wade (Eng) v Ryusei Azemoto (Jap)
- Martin Schindler (Ger) v Stephen Burton (Eng)
- Callan Rydz (Eng) v Patrick Kovacs (Hun)
- Thibault Tricole (Fra) v Motumu Sakai (Jap)
- Ryan Joyce (Eng) v Owen Bates (Eng)
- Mike De Decker (Bel) v David Munyua (Ken)
- Jermaine Wattimena (Net) v Dominik Grullich (Ger)
- Dave Chisnall (Eng) v Fallon Sherrock (Eng)
- Michael van Gerwen (Net) v Mitsuhiko Tatsunami (Jap)
- Krzystof Ratajski (Pol) v Alexis Toylo (Phi)
- Kevin Doets (Neth) v Matthew Dennant (Eng)
- Ryan Meikle (Eng) v Jesus Salate (Arg)
- Mickel Mansell (Eng) v Leonard Gates (USA)
- Josh Rock (Eng) v Gemma Hayter (Eng)
- William O’Connor (Ire) v Krzystof Kciuk (Pol)
- Daryl Gurney (Nir) v Beau Greaves (Eng)
- Nathan Aspinall (Eng) v Lourence Ilagan (Phi)
- Keane Barry (Ire) v Tim Pusey (Aus)
Latest Betting Odds – Tournament Winner
Bet365 is offering the following odds on players to win the tournament.
- 10/11 fav – Luke Littler
- 4/1 – Luke Humphries
- 12/1 – Gian van Veen
- 14/1 – Gerwyn Price, Josh Rock
- 20/1 – Michael van Gerwen
- 35/1 – Nathan Aspinall
- 40/1 – Stephen Bunting
- 50/1 – Danny Noppert, Gary Anderson
- 60/1 – James Wade
- 66/1 – Chris Dobey, Jonny Clayton
- 75/1 – Beau Greaves
- 80/1 – Wessel Nijman
- 100/1 bar.
Our Tip
You cannot look beyond the two superstars of darts in 2025 and that is the two Luke’s, Littler and Humphries. With both not scheduled to face the other until the final, I think a Littler v Humphries final is on the cards here.
Tune into Sky Sports Darts from the 11th December for all the action from the first dart to the last!
