2025 World Matchplay


The 2025 World Matchplay was a professional darts tournament that was held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England, from 19 to 27 July 2025, and won by Luke Littler. It was the 32nd staging of the World Matchplay by the Professional Darts Corporation. The total prize fund was £800,000, with the winner receiving £200,000. The fourth edition of the Women's World Matchplay also took place on 27 July and was won by Lisa Ashton.
The tournament, sponsored by Betfred, featured 32 players: the top 16 players on the two-year PDC Order of Merit and the top 16 players from the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit who had not yet qualified. Cameron Menzies and Wessel Nijman made their debuts at the event. Michael Smith missed out on qualification for the first time since the 2013 edition, while James Wade qualified for the 20th consecutive time. Luke Humphries was the defending champion, having defeated Michael van Gerwen 18–15 in the 2024 final; however, he lost 10–8 to Gian van Veen in the first round.
Luke Littler hit a nine-dart finish in the eighth leg of his semi-final match against Josh Rock – the 10th nine-darter in the event's history. After Littler and Rock both landed back-to-back maximums to start the leg, Littler completed the nine-darter with a 141 checkout, denying Rock the chance to attempt the same feat. The pair also broke the record for the most combined maximums hit in a World Matchplay match with a total of 29; Littler later broke the record for most maximums hit by an individual player in a World Matchplay campaign with 64 in total.
Littler went on to win his first World Matchplay title, beating James Wade 18–13 in the final. At the age of 18, Littler became the youngest player to win the tournament, as well as the fifth player in history to complete the so-called PDC Triple Crown by winning the World Matchplay, the World Championship and the Premier League.

Overview

Background

The 2025 World Matchplay was the 32nd edition of the tournament to be staged by the Professional Darts Corporation since the inaugural event in 1994. Held annually at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England, with the exception of the 2020 event held in Milton Keynes, the inaugural champion was Larry Butler, who remains the only American to win a PDC major title; he defeated Dennis Priestley 16–12 in an upset victory in the final. In 2018, the World Matchplay trophy was renamed to the Phil Taylor Trophy, in honour of the sixteen-time champion who retired from professional darts following the 2018 World Championship. Taylor won his sixteenth and final World Matchplay title at the 2017 event. The Women's World Matchplay was introduced in 2022 as the PDC's first fully-televised women's tournament; the 2025 edition was won by Lisa Ashton.
The 2025 World Matchplay took place from 19 to 27 July 2025 in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens. British bookmaker Betfred continued its sponsorship of the event, extending its partnership with the PDC until 2030. Luke Humphries entered the tournament as defending champion after defeating Michael van Gerwen 18–15 in the 2024 final to win his first World Matchplay title, and looked to become the fourth player to retain the title after Taylor, Van Gerwen and Rod Harrington. Humphries and reigning world champion Luke Littler were considered favourites to win the tournament by bookmakers.

Format

The top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit were seeded, and were drawn to compete against the 16 qualifiers from the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit in the first round. All matches were in leg play format. All matches had to be won by two clear legs; if the scores were tied and the players could not be separated after an additional six legs, the match would be decided by a sudden death leg.
The number of legs required to win increased as the tournament progressed:
  • First round: Best of 19 legs
  • Second round: Best of 21 legs
  • Quarter-finals: Best of 31 legs
  • Semi-finals: Best of 33 legs
  • Final: Best of 35 legs

    Prize money

The prize fund remained at £800,000, with £200,000 going to the winner. The winner also received the Phil Taylor Trophy.

Broadcasts

The tournament was broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Other broadcasters included DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Peacock in the United States; FanDuel in the United States and Canada; Fox Sports in Australia; Sky Sport in New Zealand; Viaplay in the Netherlands, Iceland and Scandinavia; L'Équipe in France; VTM in Belgium; Nova in Czechia and Slovakia; and Sport1 in Hungary. It was also available on the PDC's streaming service, PDCTV, to international subscribers.

Qualification

The top 16 players on the two-year PDC Order of Merit at the cut-off point on 10 July were seeded for the tournament. The top 16 players on the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit, not to have already qualified through the main ranking, were unseeded.
Michael Smith, who won the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship and was runner-up at the 2019 World Matchplay, did not qualify for the event for the first time since the 2013 edition. Among other notable players to not qualify were 2020 champion Dimitri Van den Bergh, 2021 semi-finalist Krzysztof Ratajski and 2024 European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse. Cameron Menzies and Wessel Nijman made their World Matchplay debuts, while 2007 champion James Wade made his 20th consecutive appearance at the event.
The following players qualified for the tournament:
PDC Order of Merit
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Pro Tour Order of Merit
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  16. Summary

First round

The first round began on 19 July, where the last two World Matchplay champions were defeated in their opening match. Top seed and defending champion Luke Humphries was eliminated, going out in an upset loss to Gian van Veen. Humphries took a 3–2 lead early on by hitting a 146 checkout, but Van Veen would eventually break Humphries's throw to go 8–7 ahead, before winning the match 10–8 after several missed match darts. In his post-match interview, Van Veen told Sky Sports that knocking out the defending champion was the "biggest win" of his career. Nathan Aspinall, the 2023 champion, also suffered an early exit by losing to debutant Wessel Nijman 10–6. Nijman stated that the win was "probably more special" than winning his first match at Alexandra Palace during the 2025 World Championship. Due to the loss, Aspinall dropped from 7th to 23rd on the PDC Order of Merit. Making his 20th consecutive appearance at the event, 2007 champion James Wade recorded his highest World Matchplay three-dart average in his 10–3 victory over Joe Cullen, while Danny Noppert defeated debutant Cameron Menzies 10–2 – a match that included Menzies busting 178 by hitting a 180.
All four seeds that competed in the afternoon session on Sunday 20 July were eliminated. Former champions Rob Cross and Peter Wright lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode and Jermaine Wattimena respectively. Seventh seed Damon Heta and former UK Open winner Andrew Gilding were the first pairing of the tournament to go to a tiebreaker; Gilding, who missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish, eventually won 12–10. Twelfth seed Dave Chisnall was also beaten, losing 10–7 to World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker, who hit a 148 checkout to secure victory.
Reigning world champion Luke Littler, who lost in his World Matchplay debut to Michael van Gerwen at the previous year's event, achieved his first win at the tournament by defeating Ryan Searle 10–2 with an average of nearly 109. He disclosed that he was putting "hours and hours" of his time into practising at home, saying that he was "glad it's paid off". Gary Anderson, the 2018 champion, advanced with a 10–5 win over Luke Woodhouse, who hit a high checkout of 167. Stephen Bunting defeated Ryan Joyce 10–8 in a rematch of their 2024 meeting, while 2023 runner-up Jonny Clayton beat Martin Schindler 10–7.
Three-time champion Van Gerwen reached the second round by defeating compatriot Raymond van Barneveld 10–6, but expressed dissatisfaction with his performance, stating: "I think in only one leg he had the darts on the double before me and I should have taken advantage of that." He added: "I think this could be the start of something really nice." Gerwyn Price beat Daryl Gurney 10–7, with the pair sharing an aggressive handshake and exchanging words after the match's conclusion, stemming from Gurney imitating Price's passionate celebrations after winning a leg. Gurney's World Cup-winning teammate Josh Rock claimed his first win at the World Matchplay in a 10–5 victory over Ross Smith, avenging his loss to Smith the previous year and hitting a 167 checkout in the process. Chris Dobey made the second round for the fourth consecutive year by beating Ricardo Pietreczko 10–5.

Second round

The second round was played on 22 and 23 July. Gary Anderson won four consecutive legs to force a tiebreaker against Stephen Bunting at 10–10, but Bunting won the next two legs to triumph 12–10 and advance to the quarter-finals of the event for the second time. Bunting, who missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish in the 15th leg, revealed that he felt nervous playing "a legend of the sport", labelling Anderson "one of the best players to grace the stages". James Wade landed checkouts of 126, 121 and 108 on his way to defeating Wessel Nijman 11–5. Critical of his performance, Wade commented: "Wessel made a few mistakes, and I was fortunate he didn’t play how he can." Jonny Clayton set up a meeting with Bunting by beating Mike De Decker 11–8, while Gian van Veen continued his run in an 11–5 victory over Danny Noppert to set up a tie against Wade.
Jermaine Wattimena raced into a 4–0 lead against Luke Littler in the opening session of their match. Littler won the next two legs but found himself trailing 7–2 as the Dutchman took the next three. Littler won six legs in a row to take charge and lead 8–7, before the match entered a tiebreak situation at 10–10. Littler went on to hit double 10 and complete a 13–11 comeback victory. In his post-match interview, he proclaimed that he was "a world champion for a reason" and admitted that he had "not felt pressure like that since the first round of the world championships." The win extended Littler's unbeaten record against Wattimena to 5–0. The match between Josh Rock and Michael van Gerwen also required extra legs to decide a winner. Van Gerwen opened the contest with a 150 checkout to break Rock's throw and initially led 5–1. However, at 9–6, Van Gerwen missed opportunities to extend his lead and allowed Rock to win four consecutive legs and take the lead the first time, a run of legs that included a 152 checkout. Van Gerwen landed a 138 finish to level the score at 10–10 and send the match to a tiebreaker, but Rock pinned double 16 to win 13–11 and eliminate the three-time champion. Rock commented that his heart was "pumping throughout the whole game" and called the match "one of the best games" he had been involved in. Gerwyn Price recorded a three-dart average of 108.73 and hit eight 180s in a dominant 11–3 victory over Chris Dobey; he took pride in his performance by saying: "The middle part of the game I felt like I couldn't miss." Andrew Gilding reached a second successive World Matchplay quarter-final by beating Dirk van Duijvenbode 11–5.