2025 PDC World Darts Championship


The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament that was held from 15 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It was the thirty-second World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and the eighteenth to be held at Alexandra Palace. The winner received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,500,000.
The tournament featured 96 players, with the top 32 highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit being seeded through to the second round. Luke Humphries was the defending champion, having defeated Luke Littler 7–4 in the 2024 final. However, Humphries lost 4–1 to Peter Wright in the fourth round.
In his 3–1 second-round victory over Ryan Meikle, Littler set a new record for the highest three-dart set average in a World Championship match, with 140.91 in the final set. Littler went on to beat Nathan Aspinall 5–2 in the quarter-finals and Stephen Bunting 6–1 in the semi-finals to reach a second consecutive final, where he defeated Michael van Gerwen 7–3 to win his first world title. Aged 17 years and 347 days, Littler became the youngest world champion in darts history. He also won the Ballon d'Art trophy for scoring the most 180s in the tournament, with 76.
Christian Kist and Damon Heta both hit nine-dart finishes at the tournament, with both players earning a £60,000 bonus.

Overview

The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship was the 32nd World Darts Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, and the 18th to be held at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It took place from 15 December 2024 to 3 January 2025. The championship featured 96 participants, with the top 32 highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit being seeded through to the second round. The 32 qualifiers from the Pro Tour Order of Merit and the 32 other players from various qualifiers start in the first round.
Irish gambling company Paddy Power continued their sponsorship of the event, having agreed a three-year contract with the PDC ahead of the 2024 edition. As part of its promotion of the event, Paddy Power announced 'The Bigger 180' campaign, for which the bookmaker would, as last year, donate £1,000 to charity Prostate Cancer UK for every maximum score of 180 achieved during the tournament, while also introducing a £180,000 bonus for a nine-dart finish hit at the tournament, shared equally between the charity, the player, and a fan in the Alexandra Palace crowd.
Going into the event, the previous year's finalists were viewed by bookmakers as the tournament favourites with Luke Littler having won the [2024 2024 Premier League Darts|Premier League Darts|Premier League], the World Series Finals, and the [2024 2024 Grand Slam of Darts|Grand Slam of Darts|Grand Slam of Darts], and defending champion Luke Humphries having won the World Matchplay and the Players Championship Finals.

Format

All matches were played as straight in, double out, requiring the players to score 501 points to win a leg, finishing on a double. The matches were played in the set format, with a minimum of three sets required to win a match. The following rules are observed:
  • All sets were played to the best of five legs in the first round, and also in non-deciding sets of subsequent rounds.
  • In the deciding set of all but the first round, the first player to win at least three legs and be leading by two or more won the set and the match. If the set reached a 5–5 tie without a winner, it was decided by a sudden-death leg with no throw for the bull.
RoundBest of First to
First & Second53
Third & Fourth74
Quarter-finals95
Semi-finals116
Final137

Ranking

The rankings on the PDC Order of Merit are calculated on a two-year basis. Players who participated in the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship were defending their prize money from that event on their ranking. At the end of the tournament, the PDC Order of Merit prize money from that event was deleted from their ranking. After the tournament, the top 64 in the PDC Order of Merit received a one-year extension on their tour card. Players in the final year of their tour card, or that do not hold a tour card for the 2024 season, who finished the tournament outside the top 64 lost their tour card, unless players inside the top 64 resign their tour card, which Steve Beaton did when he retired from the professional game.

Prize money

The total prize pool for the tournament remained at £2.5 million in total for the seventh year in a row. Tournament sponsors Paddy Power pledged a £60,000 bonus for a nine-dart finish hit during the tournament to each of the players, Prostate Cancer UK, and a fan in the Alexandra Palace crowd during the match it was hit. Christian Kist hit a nine-darter in his first round match against Madars Razma. Damon Heta hit the second nine-darter of the tournament in his third round match against Luke Woodhouse.

Qualification

96 players competed in the event, with the thirty-two highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit being seeded to the second round. The top 32 not yet qualified players from the 2024 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and the 32 international qualifiers entered in the first round.

Seeds

Luke Humphries, the reigning 2024 PDC World Champion, the World Matchplay, and Players Championship Finals champion, and the Premier League, UK Open, and World Grand Prix runner-up was top of the two-year Order of Merit and number one seed going into the tournament. The 2023 world champion and 2024 World Series Finals runner-up Michael Smith was the second seed. Michael van Gerwen, the 2014, 2017 and 2019 PDC World Champion and 2024 Masters and World Matchplay runner-up was the third seed. Luke Littler, the 2024 Premier League, Grand Slam and World Series Finals champion, and the runner-up at the 2024 PDC World Championship and Players Championship Finals was the fourth seed. 2018 world champion, Rob Cross, was the fifth seed.
As well as Humphries, Smith, van Gerwen and Cross, four other previous PDC world champions qualified as seeds: 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price was the tenth seed, 2015 and 2016 world champion Gary Anderson was seeded fourteenth, 2020 and 2022 world champion Peter Wright was the seventeenth seed, and 2007 world champion Raymond van Barneveld was the thirty-second seed. 2014 BDO World Champion and 2024 Masters champion Stephen Bunting was the eighth seed. He was one of two former BDO world champions to qualify as seeds, alongside 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005 BDO world champion van Barneveld.
The top seeds behind Humphries, Smith, van Gerwen, Littler and Cross were Dave Chisnall, 2023 World Matchplay runner-up Jonny Clayton, Bunting, 2024 UK Open semi-finalist Damon Heta, Price, 2024 UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh, 2023 World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall, 2022 UK Open champion Danny Noppert, Anderson, 2023 Masters champion Chris Dobey and 2023 European Championship runner-up James Wade. Other tournament winners to qualify as seeds were 2022 European Champion Ross Smith as the nineteenth seed, 2023 UK Open champion Andrew Gilding as the twenty-first seed, 2022 Masters champion Joe Cullen as the twenty-third seed, 2024 World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker as the twenty-fourth seed, 2018 Players Championship Finals champion Daryl Gurney as twenty-seventh seed and 2024 European Champion Ritchie Edhouse as the twenty-ninth seed. Edhouse had previously led the non–seeded Pro Tour Order of Merit qualifiers prior to his major win. The 2023 World Championship semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens qualified as twenty-seventh seed, while 2024 World Youth Champion Gian van Veen was the twenty-eighth seed and 2024 quarter-finalist Brendan Dolan was the thirtieth seed.

Pro Tour qualification

Cameron Menzies was the highest-ranked non-seed on the 2024 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and one of four Pro Tour event winners in 2024 to qualify via the Pro Tour, alongside Wessel Nijman, Wesley Plaisier and Alan Soutar. Two players who were runners-up in PDC majors in 2024 qualified via the Pro Tour, Jermaine Wattimena at the 2024 European Championship and Martin Lukeman at the Grand Slam.
Other players qualifying via the 2024 Pro Tour included event winners from 2023 Ricardo Pietreczko, Ryan Joyce, Callan Rydz and Kim Huybrechts as well as 2024 UK Open semi-finalist and 2024 Pro Tour event runner-up Ricky Evans.
2024 World Championship semi-finalist and 2022 Pro Tour event winner Scott Williams also qualified alongside Connor Scutt, the 2024 Challenge Tour Order of Merit winner, and a Pro Tour event runner-up in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Scutt and Wesley Plaisier also qualified for the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship but withdrew in order to play at the Alexandra Palace.
Jeffrey de Graaf, a 2024 Pro Tour event runner-up, qualified via both the 2024 Pro Tour and the PDC Nordic and Baltic circuit but was drawn as a Pro Tour qualifier.
Other players qualifying via their Pro Tour ranking included 2024 European Championship semi-finalist Luke Woodhouse, 2017 Champions League of Darts winner Mensur Suljović, 13-time PDC ranking event winner Ian White and 2024 Grand Slam semi-finalist Mickey Mansell.
Plaisier and James Hurrell made their PDC World Darts Championship debuts.

International qualifiers

Niko Springer and Keane Barry qualified from the 2024 PDC Development Tour series, while 2012 BDO World Champion Christian Kist and Alexander Merkx qualified from the Challenge Tour series.
Fallon Sherrock, the only woman to have won a match at the PDC World Darts Championship, and Noa-Lynn van Leuven qualified from the 2024 PDC Women's Series, with Van Leuven becoming the first transgender competitor to play at the event. As with the previous edition, no player was eligible to compete in the 2025 PDC World Championship had they played at the 2024 WDF World Championship which concluded a week earlier. Beau Greaves, the winner of the 2024 Women's World Matchplay, qualified but opted to play the WDF event.
Rashad Sweeting became the first player from the Bahamas to play at the PDC World Championship after sealing his qualification through the Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean Order of Merit, while Stefan Bellmont became the first Swiss player to play at the PDC World Championship.
The final places were awarded by a qualifier for non-qualified PDC Tour Card holders, with Rhys Griffin, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Dylan Slevin and Matt Campbell progressing through the qualifier.
Debutants from the international qualifiers were Ryusei Azemoto, Stefan Bellmont, Joe Comito, Kai Gotthardt, Romeo Grbavac, Rhys Griffin, Lok Yin Lee, Alexander Merkx, Niko Springer, Rashad Sweeting, Alexis Toylo and Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
EventDatesPositionQualifier
North American Championship1 JuneChampion
Women's World Matchplay21 JulyChampion
China Championship18 AugustWinner
PDCNB ProTour16 February – 25 AugustWinner
PDCNB ProTour16 February – 25 AugustRunner-Up
Japan Tour27 April – 8 SeptemberWinner
DPA ProTour10 Feb – 14 SepChampion
CDC Main Tour18 May – 22 SeptemberTop American
CDC Main Tour18 May – 22 SeptemberTop Canadian
CDC Main Tour18 May – 22 SeptemberTop-Ranked Non-Qualified
African Darts Group Qualifier29 SeptemberWinner
Asian Tour13 January – 6 OctoberWinner
Asian Tour13 January – 6 OctoberRunner-Up
Asian Tour13 January – 6 OctoberThird Place
Asian Tour13 January – 6 OctoberFourth Place
DPNZ Qualifier7 OctoberWinner
CLDC Tour20 July – 6 OctoberWinner
Development Tour23 February – 13 OctoberWinner
Development Tour23 February – 13 OctoberRunner-Up
Development Tour23 February – 13 OctoberThird Place
Asian Championship19–20 OctoberWinner
Asian Championship19–20 OctoberRunner-Up
Asian Championship19–20 OctoberTop-Ranked Semi-Finalist
DPA Oceanic Masters20 OctoberWinner
Women's Series23 March – 20 OctoberWinner
Women's Series23 March – 20 OctoberRunner-Up
Women's Series23 March – 20 OctoberThird Place
Indian Qualifier27–28 OctoberWinner
Challenge Tour19 January – 3 NovemberWinner
Challenge Tour19 January – 3 NovemberRunner-Up
Challenge Tour19 January – 3 NovemberThird Place
Challenge Tour19 January – 3 NovemberFourth Place
PDC Europe Superleague7–8 NovemberChampion
West Europe Qualifier16 NovemberWinner
World Youth Championship14 Oct – 24 NovChampion
East Europe Qualifier24 NovemberWinner
PDPA Tour Card Holder Qualifier25 NovemberLast Four
PDPA Tour Card Holder Qualifier25 NovemberLast Four
PDPA Tour Card Holder Qualifier25 NovemberLast Four
PDPA Tour Card Holder Qualifier25 NovemberLast Four

List of qualifiers

Order of Merit
Second round

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Pro Tour Order of Merit
First round
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International Qualifiers
First round
  • – PDC Asian Tour '
  • – PDC Development Tour '
  • – West Europe Qualifier '
  • – CDC Pro Tour '
  • – PDC TCH Qualifier '
  • – African Qualifier '
  • – DPA Pro Tour '
  • – CDC Pro Tour '
  • – PDJ Japan Tour '
  • – PDC Europe Super League '
  • – PDC Nordic & Baltic '
  • – East Europe Qualifier ' – Women's World Matchplay '
  • – PDC TCH Qualifier '
  • – PDC Asian Tour '
  • – PDC Challenge Tour '
  • – India Qualifier '
  • – PDC Nordic & Baltic '
  • – PDC Asian Championship Qualifier '
  • – CDC Pro Tour '
  • – Oceanic Masters '
  • – PDC Challenge Tour '
  • – PDC Asian Tour '
  • – DPNZ Qualifier '
  • – PDC Women's Series '
  • – PDC TCH Qualifier '
  • – PDC Development Tour '
  • – CDLC Tour '
  • – PDC Asian Tour
  • – PDC TCH Qualifier ''''

Summary

Opening rounds

The tournament began on 15 December, with defending champion Luke Humphries defeating Frenchman Thibault Tricole 3–0 in his opening match. Second seed and former champion Michael Smith became the highest-ranked player to fail to make it through the second round, losing 3–2 to Kevin Doets. Smith was one of four former world champions not to win their opening match, being joined by Rob Cross, who lost 3–1 to Scott Williams, Gary Anderson who was beaten 3–0 by Jeffrey de Graaf and Raymond van Barneveld who lost 3–1 to Nick Kenny.
Two major champions from the 2024 season also failed to win a match, 2024 World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker being beaten by Luke Woodhouse and 2024 European Champion Ritchie Edhouse losing 3–1 to Ian White, with White himself having received a walkover victory over Sandro Eric Sosing in the first round after the Filipino withdrew with ill health.
In total, 14 seeds were eliminated in the second round, a record for the tournament; in addition to Michael Smith, Cross, Anderson, Van Barneveld, De Decker and Edhouse, Dave Chisnall, Danny Noppert, James Wade, Ross Smith, Martin Schindler, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Gabriel Clemens and Gian van Veen all lost their first game.
Former world champions to win their opening match, in addition to Humphries, were Michael van Gerwen who defeated James Hurrell 3–0, Peter Wright who knocked out Wesley Plaisier 3–1 and Gerwyn Price who beat Keane Barry 3–0. The highest average of the tournament, was thrown by Callan Rydz in his first round victory over Romeo Grbavac, hitting a three dart average of 107.06; Rydz would go on to defeat Martin Schindler to make the third round.
In his first round defeat to Madars Razma, Christian Kist hit the first nine-dart finish at the World Championship since the 2023 tournament's final.

Third round

Callan Rydz continued to average highly in the third round, averaging 105.31 in a 4–0 win over 2024 UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh. Ninth-seed Damon Heta was eliminated by a 4–3 scoreline to Luke Woodhouse, being the highest seed to be eliminated in this round despite being the second player to throw a nine-dart finish in the championship. Rydz and Woodhouse were two of seven unseeded players to make it to the fourth round, along with Ryan Joyce, Ricardo Pietreczko, Kevin Doets, Jeffrey de Graaf and Robert Owen.
Former world champion Gerwyn Price kept his hopes of regaining his crown alive with a victory over Joe Cullen, having to come through a deciding leg in the final set despite having previously held a 3–0 lead. Reigning champion Luke Humphries defeated Nick Kenny, with former world champions Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright, and pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler also winning their third round matches.

Fourth round

Reigning champion Luke Humphries's campaign ended in the fourth round after he was defeated 4–1 by Peter Wright. Wright's fellow former world champions also qualified, with Gerwyn Price knocking out fellow Welshman Jonny Clayton 4–2 and Michael van Gerwen eliminating Jeffrey de Graaf by the same scoreline. Callan Rydz was the only unseeded player to reach the quarter-final, beating Robert Owen 4–3 to reach the second quarter final of his career.
Two other matches went the full seven sets, Luke Littler defeating Ryan Joyce to reach his second quarter-final from two attempts and Chris Dobey beating Kevin Doets to get through the fourth round for the third consecutive year. The remaining matches were won by scorelines of 4–0, with 2024 Masters champion Stephen Bunting eliminating Luke Woodhouse and Nathan Aspinall conquering a distinctly below-par Ricardo Pietreczko.

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were held on New Year's Day 2025. Chris Dobey played Gerwyn Price in the first quarter-final. Price won the first two sets before Dobey took control, winning four sets in a row to go one away. Price won the seventh set after Dobey missed five darts to win the match, but Dobey won the eighth set 3–1 to qualify for the first world championship semi-final of his career. In the second quarter-final Michael van Gerwen played Callan Rydz. After five sets, which were all won by the player throwing first, Van Gerwen held a 3–2 lead, before breaking Rydz's throw in the third leg of the sixth set on his way to a 3–1 victory in that set to go two sets up. Rydz, who had earlier missed a dart to win the fifth set, managed to win the seventh set against the Van Gerwen throw, but missed two darts in the deciding leg of the eighth set, allowing Van Gerwen to win that set and the match to qualify for the world championship semi-final for the ninth time of his career.
Stephen Bunting played Peter Wright in the third quarter-final. Bunting won the first four sets, including winning the fourth set 3–0 against the throw, before Wright came back and won sets five and six. Bunting secured the match victory with a 3–0 win in the seventh set to reach the second PDC world championship semi-final of his career. In the final quarter-final Luke Littler took on Nathan Aspinall. Littler got off to a strong start, winning the first set with three consecutive twelve-darters, and took the second set against the Aspinall throw. Aspinall broke back in the third set, but a Littler eleven-darter in the deciding leg of the fourth set restored the two-set advantage. Littler won the fifth set to go one away, and while Aspinall did manage to take the sixth set, another 3–0 scoreline in the seventh set ensured Littler would qualify for the semi-final for the second consecutive year.

Semi-finals

In the first semi-final, Michael van Gerwen played Chris Dobey. Van Gerwen won the first set against the throw, and took advantage of three missed darts from Dobey to also take the second. Dobey got off the mark with a 3–0 win in the third set, including a 170 checkout in the second leg, but Van Gerwen won the fourth set by the same scoreline to re-gain the two set advantage before breaking in the fifth set. Van Gerwen took the next two sets to complete a 6–1 victory to reach his seventh world championship final. Luke Littler took on Stephen Bunting in the other semi-final. Littler won the first set 3–2, before breaking in second set 3–1. The same 3–2, 3–1 pattern was repeated in the next two sets, giving Littler a 4–0 lead. Bunting broke back the fifth set with a 3–1 win, but missed 3 to win the sixth set, which Littler won 3–2 to go one away. With a 3–1 win in the seventh set Littler also completed a 6–1 win to reach the world championship final for the second time.

Final

Luke Littler took on Michael van Gerwen in the final, held on Friday January 3. Van Gerwen threw first in the opening set, but missed three darts, and lost a fourth after busting his score, to win the first leg, enabling Littler to break and eventually win the set 3–1. Littler won the second set 3–0. In the second leg of the third set Van Gerwen missed three darts to break, and Littler won that leg and the next two to go 3–0 up in the match. The third leg of the fourth set saw Van Gerwen break the Littler throw for the first time in the match – with Littler having missed two darts for the set – but in the next leg van Gerwen missed more darts and Littler broke again to cross the halfway mark towards the championship.
Van Gerwen got off the mark with a 3–1 win in the fifth set, but Littler held the sixth set to go two sets away from victory. Van Gerwen took the seventh set 3–2, but again Littler won the next set. Van Gerwen won the ninth set, but Littler broke in the second leg of the next set to set himself up to throw for the match, and a fourteen-dart leg finished on double 16 wrapped up the world championship for Littler. Aged 17, Littler became the youngest world champion in PDC history, beating the record previously held by Van Gerwen who was 24 years old when he triumphed in 2014.

Schedule

Match no.RoundPlayer 1ScorePlayer 2Set 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5
211
221
231
242

Match no.RoundPlayer 1ScorePlayer 2Set 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5Set 6Set 7Set 8
89QF
90QF

Match no.RoundPlayer 1ScorePlayer 2Set 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5Set 6Set 7
93SF
94SF

Match no.RoundPlayer 1ScorePlayer 2Set 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5Set 6Set 7Set 8Set 9Set 10
95F

Draw

The draw took place on 25 November 2024, live on Sky Sports News, and was conducted by Sky Sports presenter, Emma Paton, and former semi-finalists Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster.

Highest averages

This table shows all averages over 100 achieved by players throughout the tournament. For players with multiple high averages, this is indicated by the number in brackets.
The three-dart average is the most cited statistic in darts matches as it gives a rough estimate of a player's form. For comparison with previous years, see the highest ever recorded averages in the World Darts Championship.

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports is the TV broadcaster for the coverage, with the event airing on a dedicated channel which replaced its Sky Sports F1 channel for the duration of the tournament. Sky Sports coverage was presented by Emma Paton, Anna Woolhouse and Michael Bridge with punditry and commentary coming from Stuart Pyke, Rod Studd, Dan Dawson, Abigail Davies, John Part, Mark Webster, Laura Turner, and Glen Durrant. Wayne Mardle was not present for the coverage due to the death of his wife prior to the start of the tournament.
Talksport also provided coverage of the event via their digital channel Talksport 2 with selected coverage on Talksport and the new Talksport darts YouTube channel. Talksport coverage featured Ian Danter, Chris Mason, Paul Nicholson, Chris Murphy, Mark Wilson and Gabbie Partington.