Complete Darts World Championships Guide
In my complete Darts World Championships guide I have compiled a fact file of all you need to know. I will keep you up to date of any/all the changes and additions to the premier darts event should they occur. Global expansion and the very first darts millionaire maker tournament, just two of the things to whet the appetite of every darts player and fan!
Full contents:
Draw brackets for the 2026 PDC World Championships
The draw is set for the PDC World Championships, see your favourite player and the route to the title. Seedings are in brackets.
Quarter #1
(1) Luke Littler vs. Mensur Suljovic
(16) Damon Heta vs. (17) Rob Cross
Andrew Gilding vs. (25) Luke Woodhouse
Wesley Plaisier vs Krzysztof Ratajski
Quarter #2
(4) Stephen Bunting vs. James Hurrell
(13) Martin Schindler vs (20) Ryan Searle
(5) Jonny Clayton vs Niels Zonneveld
Andreas Harrysson vs Ricardo Pietreczko
Quarter #3
(2) Luke Humphries vs Gabriel Clemens
(15) Nathan Aspinall vs Kevin Doets
Ricky Evans vs. Charlie Manby
(10) Gian van Veen vs Madars Razma
Quarter #4
(3) Michael van Gerwen vs. Arno Merk
(14) Gary Anderson vs.(19) Jermaine Wattimena
Justin Hood vs. Ryan Meikle
(11) Josh Rock vs. Callan Rydz
When and where is it held?
12 months of professional darts culminates in the World Championships taking place at the Alexandra Palace in London England. Starting in the middle of December and crowning the champion in early January the world championships have become a popular venue for corporate Christmas parties and Yuletide fun for many fans. Christmas fancy dress isn’t just restricted to those in the crowd, Peter Wright always turns up to his first match in festive getups and many players change their match shirts to compliment the season.
Venue: Alexandra Palace, London
Dates: December 11th 2025- January 3rd 2026
Prize money at the World Championships darts
The 2025/26 edition will see the world champion receive the first ever 1 million pound prize in darts to go with the covetted Sid Wadell trophy. The winners cheque and the total prizefund of 5m pounds shows the huge growth the sport has seen is recent years.
Full prize fund breakdown:
Winner: £1,000,000
Runner-Up: £400,000
Semi-Finalists: £200,000
Quarter-Finalists: £100,000
Last 16 losers: £60,000
Last 32 losers: £35,000
Last 64 losers: £25,000
Last 128 losers: £15,000
Total: £5,000,000
To put the growth of the sport commercially into perspective, the 5m pounds on offer is double the amount which has been played for in each of the championships since 2019. Previous winners Michael Smith (2023), Luke Humphries (2024) and 2025 champ Luke Littler will be among the players gunning for the check worth double the amount they collected.
Who won the Darts World Championships?
Since the very first PDC World Championship in 1994, there have only been 13 different winners of the title with Phil Taylor (14), Michael van Gerwen (3), John Part, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright (all 2) having taken multiple titles. With only 3 winners in the past coming from outside of the UK (Part, van Barneveld and van Gerwen) will the increased field mean we see another international winner in the coming years? Defending champ Luke Littler and 2024 winner Luke Humphries start as favourites for the event.
Who plays who in the darts?
Another big change to the worlds is the fact that all of the stars of darts now play in round one. Previously the 32 top ranked players from the Werner darts rankings ladder entered the tournament in the second round and as such received a protected status. This change will see some interesting match ups and has the potential for shocks as the international qualifiers take on the big guns. All qualified players can be found here
Where can I watch the darts?
With the expansion of the field I am sure we will see an expansion of the countries and territories where the darts is broadcast. As promissed I will add to this complete darts world championships guide if changes or additions are required but the current broadcast partners of the PDC are:
UK and Ire: World Darts Championship is live on the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel.
Netherlands, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Bulgaria & Baltic States – Viaplay
Germany, Austria, Switzerland- DAZN
Germany- Sport1
Australia- Fox Sports
New Zealand- Sky
Czech Republic & Slovakia -Nova
Hungary- Prago Sport
Belgium- VTM