PDC World Darts Championship 2025 – Preview
There’s less than two weeks until the start of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, one of the biggest sporting events of the Christmas period!
Join us now as we take a look ahead to all the action taking place at the famous ‘Ally Pally” starting on Sunday 15th December.
So let’s begin with a recap of the key information about the biggest darts tournament in the world!
PDC World Darts Championship 2025 – Key Data
- Dates – 15th December 2024 to 3rd January 2025.
- Days Off – 24th, 25th, 26th and 31st December 2024.
- Venue – The Alexandra Palace, London, England.
- Format – Sets.
- Current Champion – Luke Humphries (defeated Luke Littler 7-4).
- Total Prize Money – £2,500,000.
- Winners Prize – £500,000.
- Nine Dart Finish Prize – £60,000.
Tournament Organisation
The tournament is played using set play, with the first player to win three matches in a set, winning the set. The number of sets played in each game increases throughout the tournament as follows:
- First & Second Rounds – Best of 5 sets.
- Third & Fourth Rounds – Best of 7 sets.
- Quarter-finals – Best of 9 sets.
- Semi-finals – Best of 11 sets.
- Final – Best of 13 sets.
The top 32 seeds in the tournament receive a bye into the second round. The other 64 players are drawn into 32 First Round matches, with the winner of these matches going on to face one of the seeded players in the draw in the Second Round.
Players To Watch
Outlined below are some of the top players to watch at the tournament, together with their odds of winning the event (odds taken from bet365 Sport and were correct at the time of writing).
Luke Humphries (3.75)
The current champion and the undeniable World Number 1. Humphries has enjoyed a stellar 18 months which has seen him win six PDC Premier events as well as being runner up in the UK Open and Premier League. “Cool Hand Luke” has been the form player in the PDC this past season and is the man many feel they’ll have to beat to win the tournament.
Luke Littler (3.00)
Luke “The Nuke” Littler burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old prodigy in the 2024 World Championship, reaching the final where he lost 7-4 to Luke Humphries. Since then he has won the Grand Slam, Premier League and World Series Finals and the quarterfinal of the UK Open. He is the bookmakers current favourite to win the event.
Gary Anderson (10.00)
The Flying Scotsman is a two-time World Champion and while his last PDC Premier win was back in 2018, he has been in excellent form of late, including winning the European Darts Grand Prix this year. He is ranked 14th in the world at present, but will be a name many players will want to avoid in this tournament.
Michael van Gerwen (11.00)
“Mighty” Michael Van Gerwen dominated the main PDC events from 2014 to 2022. He has won a total of 47 PDC Premier Events, including three World Championships (2014, 2017, 2019) and seven Premier League wins. Wins in 2024 have been harder to come by as he has battled injuries and ill health at times, but he is certainly more than capable of winning this event if he hits top form.
The first and second rounds will take place before Christmas, with the remainder of the tournament being completed after Christmas and then the later rounds in the new year, with the final on the 3rd January!
