2026 PDC World Darts Championship


The 2026 PDC World Darts Championship was a professional darts tournament that took place from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. The 33rd World Darts Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, it was the 19th to be staged at Alexandra Palace, where it was held in the venue's West Hall for the final time; subsequent editions will take place in the Great Hall. The winner received £1,000,000 from a total prize fund of £5,000,000. The prize fund was double that of the previous year, representing the biggest prize money increase in the PDC's history. The prizes for the winner, runner-up, semi-finalists, and quarter-finalists were also double those of the previous year.
The tournament featured a 128-player field, expanded from 96. The top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit were seeded for the first round. A total of 28 players made their debut at the tournament, the most successful of whom was Justin Hood, who reached the quarter-finals. At age 71, Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the tournament when he defeated Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round. Nitin Kumar, Stefan Bellmont, and David Munyua became the first Indian, Swiss, and Kenyan players respectively to win matches at a PDC World Championship.
Luke Littler was the defending champion, having defeated Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the 2025 final. He reached his third consecutive final, where he faced Gian van Veen, who became the third Dutch player to reach a PDC World Championship final, following Raymond van Barneveld and Van Gerwen. Littler beat Van Veen 7–1 to win his second world title. He was the fourth player to retain the PDC world title, following Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, and Gary Anderson, and the first to do so since Anderson in the 2016 championship. Littler lost only four sets across the seven matches he played in the tournament. He also won the "Ballon d'Art" award for the most 180s at the tournament, with 73.

Overview

Background

The Professional Darts Corporation was established under the World Darts Council name by the managers John Markovic, Tommy Cox and Dick Allix, along with the world's top 16 players in January 1992 as a separate body that broke away from the British Darts Organisation. The inaugural edition of the PDC World Darts Championship was held from December 1993 to January 1994 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, England. It was won by Dennis Priestley, who defeated Phil Taylor in the final on 2 January 1994. Taylor would go on to win the tournament 14 times, adding to his BDO World Darts Championship wins in 1990 and 1992 for a record total of 16 world titles, including eight in a row from 1995 to 2002. The PDC World Championship is one of two world championships in the game of darts; the other being the WDF World Darts Championship, which was first held in 2022 as the successor to the BDO event.
The 2026 tournament was held from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 in London, England. It was the 33rd edition of the event and the 19th to be held at Alexandra Palace, which first served as host venue at the 2008 World Championship. The event was hosted in Alexandra Palace's West Hall for the final time as it will move to the venue's larger Great Hall for subsequent editions, staying there until at least 2031. Irish gambling company Paddy Power continued its sponsorship of the event, having agreed a three-year contract with the PDC ahead of the 2024 edition; in December 2025, it was announced that Paddy Power renewed their sponsorship until 2031.
A record-breaking total of 128 players competed at the event, expanded from the previous total of 96; the expanded field was announced by the PDC in March 2025. A new qualification structure was also introduced. Luke Littler entered the tournament as defending champion, having defeated three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the 2025 final to win his first world title and become the youngest darts world champion in history at 17 years and 347 days old. Littler was the bookmakers' pre-tournament favourite to win the championship.

Format

Under the new format, all players, including the 32 seeds, entered the tournament in the first round, a change from previous years where seeds entered in the second round. All matches consisted of games of 501, where players are required to reduce their score from 501 to zero in order to win a leg, finishing on a double. The matches were played in set format, with the amount of sets required to win a match increasing as the tournament progressed. All non-deciding sets were played to the best of five legs. In the deciding set, a tie-break rule was applied if the set score is 2–2, where the first player to lead by two legs won the set and the match; if the deciding set reached 5–5, the winner was decided by a sudden-death leg.
RoundBest of First to
First & second53
Third & fourth74
Quarter-finals95
Semi-finals116
Final137

Ranking

The PDC's main world ranking system, the PDC Order of Merit, is calculated on a two-year cycle. Prize money won by players in ranking tournaments are removed from their ranking after 104 weeks, meaning players who participated in the 2024 World Championship, who did not lose their PDC Tour Card during the two-year period, 'defended' their prize money from that event. At the end of the tournament, the prize money won at the 2026 tournament was added and the prize money won at the 2024 tournament was removed. After the tournament, the top 64 players in the PDC Order of Merit received a one-year extension on their Tour Card, joined by the players who earned two-year Tour Cards in 2025 who entered their second year in 2026. Players with two or more years on their Tour Card, who finished outside of the top 64, lost their Tour Card and saw their ranking reset to £0, along with all other players who earned prize money in ranking tournaments without holding a Tour Card.

Prize money

On 31 March 2025, the PDC announced the biggest prize money increase in the organisation's history, starting from the 2026 season onward. Coinciding with the expansion of the field to 128 players, the World Championship's total prize money increased to £5,000,000, with the winner's share doubling from £500,000 to £1,000,000; this was the first time the tournament's prize money increased since the 2019 edition. The winner also received the Sid Waddell Trophy, named in honour of the darts commentator who died in 2012. The prize money for the runner-up also doubled from £200,000 to £400,000; the prize money for semi-finalists doubled from £100,000 to £200,000; and prize money for the quarter-finalists doubled from £50,000 to £100,000. Like the previous year, tournament sponsor Paddy Power pledged to award £60,000 to the player, a random fan and Prostate Cancer UK for every nine-dart finish hit during the tournament.
The prize money breakdown is shown below:

Broadcasts

The tournament was broadcast by Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland; the World Championship acted as the first event of the PDC and Sky Sports's new five-year broadcast deal. Other broadcasters included Viaplay in the Netherlands and the Nordic countries; DAZN in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy; Sport1 in Germany; VTM in Belgium; Fox Sports in Australia; Sky Sport in New Zealand; L'Équipe in France; Pragosport in Hungary; Nova Sport in Czechia and Slovakia; Peacock and FanDuel TV Extra in the United States; BeIN Sports in the Middle East and North Africa; Maincast in Ukraine; SPTV and ZonaSport in Croatia; StarHub TV in Singapore; TVP Sport in Poland; Rigour in China; Arena Sport in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo; TV3 in the Baltic states; Saran in Turkey; and Premier Sports Network in Mongolia.
The tournament was also available on the PDC's streaming service, PDCTV, for subscribers outside of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Talksport provided live commentary for the event, which featured former professional players Paul Nicholson and Chris Mason.

Qualification

The 128-player field comprised three sets of qualification routes. The top 40 players on the two-year PDC Order of Merit after the 2025 Players Championship Finals qualified automatically, followed by the next 40 highest-ranked players on the one-year PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit. The remaining 48 places went to various international qualifiers. A record total of 28 players made their PDC World Championship debut.

Background

Order of Merit qualifiers

There were 40 players who qualified for the tournament by virtue of being ranked in the top 40 of the PDC Order of Merit. Defending champion Luke Littler was the number one seed for the tournament, having achieved world number one status on his way to winning the [2025 2025 Grand Slam of Darts|Grand Slam of Darts|2025 Grand Slam]. He entered the World Championship off the back of claiming his sixth major title of 2025 at the Players Championship Finals; his other titles included the last World Championship, the World Matchplay and his second Grand Slam. Luke Humphries, the 2024 world champion and previous world number one, was the second seed. He won two major titles, the World Masters and the [2025 2025 Premier League Darts|Premier League Darts|Premier League], during the season. The third seed was three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen, who ended a two-year major title drought by winning the World Series Finals in September. Stephen Bunting, a two-time World Championship semi-finalist and former BDO world champion, was the fourth seed. Welsh number one Jonny Clayton and 2022 UK Open champion Danny Noppert were the fifth and sixth seeds, while four-time World Championship semi-finalist James Wade was seeded seventh in his 22nd appearance at the tournament. Chris Dobey, a 2025 semi-finalist, and 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price completed the top ten alongside tenth seed Gian van Veen, who achieved his first major title at the European Championship and retained his World Youth Championship during the year.
Former world champions Gary Anderson, Rob Cross, Michael Smith and Peter Wright were all amongst the seeded players. Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney, who won the World Cup for Northern Ireland, were the 11th and 22nd seeds. Nathan Aspinall, the most prolific player on the 2025 European Tour with three titles, was the 15th seed after finishing as runner-up to Littler at the Players Championship Finals. Jermaine Wattimena, the 19th seed, claimed his first two PDC ranking titles in 2025 Players Championship events. The 2022 Masters champion Joe Cullen secured the 32nd and final seeded position. Outside of the top 32 seeds, eight more players qualified through the PDC Order of Merit and were unseeded in the tournament draw, including five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld who made his 33rd World Championship appearance across both the PDC and BDO tournaments.

Pro Tour qualifiers

There were 40 players who qualified for the tournament as the 40 highest-ranked players on the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit who had not yet qualified. The list was topped by Niko Springer, who won his first PDC ranking title at the Hungarian Darts Trophy. Other first-time title winners to qualify through the Pro Tour were Bradley Brooks, Jeffrey de Graaf and Sebastian Białecki. Max Hopp, the 2015 World Youth champion, made his first appearance at the World Championship since the 2021 event. Former semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens was joined by former quarter-finalists Callan Rydz, Ian White, Kim Huybrechts and Darius Labanauskas. Ireland's 2019 World Cup finalists William O'Connor and Steve Lennon both qualified. Development Tour winner Cam Crabtree and Grand Slam quarter-finalist Lukas Wenig were among the players to qualify for their maiden World Championship.

International qualifiers

There were 48 players who qualified for the tournament through international qualifiers. Three-time women's world champion Beau Greaves made her second appearance at the PDC World Championship after her debut at the 2023 event, having declined to participate in the last two editions in favour of competing in the WDF World Championship. A minimum of four women were guaranteed to participate in the tournament as part of the new World Championship qualification structure. Along with Greaves, Women's World Matchplay champion Lisa Ashton and Women's Series players Fallon Sherrock, Noa-Lynn van Leuven and Gemma Hayter qualified. Sherrock entered as the only woman to have won matches at the tournament, while Van Leuven remained the only transgender player in the event's history.
Paul Lim, who finished fifth on the 2025 PDC Asian Tour, qualified for his first PDC World Championship since the 2022 edition; at age 71, he extended his record as the oldest player to compete at the event. Simon Whitlock, who finished as runner-up at the 2010 World Championship, confirmed his comeback by winning the newly-established ANZ Premier League, having missed the last World Championship to end a 15-year participation streak. Whitlock, Tim Pusey and Joe Comito comprised the Australian contingent to qualify, alongside seeded player Damon Heta. Spain's Cristo Reyes secured his return to the World Championship by winning the Mediterranean qualifier, having last competed at the 2020 edition.
Kenya and Argentina were represented for the first time after David Munyua and Jesús Salate earned their places in the tournament. The final five places at the World Championship went to the successful players from the Tour Card holder qualifier: 2020 Grand Slam champion José de Sousa, Tavis Dudeney, Adam Hunt, Stephen Burton and Haupai Puha.
The international qualifiers were invited in the following order:
EventDatesPositionQualifier
PDC World Youth Championship23 NovemberWinnerGian van Veen.png" />Gian van Veen|NEDEfn|name=WYCDate table sorting|12 Oct|format=hide

List of qualifiers

The following players qualified for the tournament. Their placement in the tournament is shown in parentheses.
PDC Order of Merit

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Pro Tour Order of Merit
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Summary

First round

The first round took place from 11 to 19 December. Luke Littler opened his title defence with a 3–0 victory over Darius Labanauskas. The first two sets of the match were played to deciding legs, which Littler won, before also claiming the third set. Littler admitted to being nervous for his opening match, which he called "the hardest game" of the tournament to play. Michael Smith, the 2023 world champion, defeated Lisa Ashton 3–0 in what he deemed "not a great game". After a year of dealing with injuries, Smith said: "That is the first time I felt 100 per cent this year, but I didn't play 100 per cent. It's hard coming the first night, I am glad to be through." German debutant Arno Merk won the opening match of the tournament by beating Kim Huybrechts 3–1, while Madars Razma closed the opening day by defeating Dutch debutant Jamai van den Herik by the same scoreline. Rob Cross, the 2018 world champion, hit a 170 checkout in the final leg of his 3–0 win against Cor Dekker. In his third World Championship appearance, Gian van Veen, the reigning European champion, earned his first win at the tournament by defeating Cristo Reyes 3–1. Twelfth seed Ross Smith was the first seeded player to be eliminated, losing 3–2 to Swedish debutant Andreas Harrysson. Smith missed six match darts in the fourth set to win 3–1, allowing Harrysson to level the score and win the deciding set.
Luke Humphries, the 2024 world champion, won his opening match 3–1 against Ted Evetts. Already the oldest player to compete at the event, 71-year-old Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a PDC World Championship match by defeating Jeffrey de Graaf 3–1; he beat the previous record held by John MaGowan, who was 67 when he won a match at the 2009 World Championship. Humphries and Lim's wins set up a match between the pair in the second round—a rematch of their 2021 World Championship meeting, which Lim won 3–2. Lim praised Humphries's ability in his post-match interview but claimed that he "can be beaten", while Humphries recounted his friendly interactions with Lim since their match, adding: "The crowd will be against me and if I don't play well, he will fancy his chances." World number 84 Adam Hunt took a 2–1 lead against two-time world champion Gary Anderson, but Anderson claimed the next two sets to win 3–2. "That's probably the best Adam has played all season," said Anderson afterwards. Gabriel Clemens converted a 170 checkout in the second leg of his match against Alex Spellman and went on to win 3–0, only conceding one leg throughout the contest.
Fourth seed Stephen Bunting established a two-set lead over Sebastian Białecki, who then won six of the next seven legs to bring the score to 2–2. With the deciding set level at 2–2 in legs, Bunting and Białecki were the first pair of the tournament to enter a tie-break, where Bunting earned the two clear legs required to win the set 4–2 and the match 3–2. Dimitri Van den Bergh, a semi-finalist at the 2023 World Championship, missed 16 out of 17 attempts at double as he lost 3–0 to Scottish debutant Darren Beveridge. Competing in his fifth PDC World Championship, Nitin Kumar became the first Indian player to win a match at the event, beating Richard Veenstra 3–2. Kumar, who hit 75 per cent of his darts at double, said he was "willing to be the puppet" for inspired Indian players, while Sky Sports commentator Glen Durrant called the match "one of the greatest games ever commentated on". The 2024 European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse lost 3–0 to Jonny Tata, who was the first player from New Zealand to win at the event since the 2019 World Championship.
Fifth seed Jonny Clayton progressed to the second round by beating Adam Lipscombe 3–1. Number 26 seed Cameron Menzies led 2–1 against 20-year-old English debutant Charlie Manby, but Manby came back to claim a 3–2 victory. As Manby celebrated, Menzies began punching the underside of a drinks table on stage out of frustration, cutting his right hand open in the process. He was subsequently taken to hospital. Menzies later apologised for his behaviour, revealing that his uncle had recently died but that it was "no excuse for what did on the stage". In a statement, PDC chief executive Matt Porter said: "Any incident of this nature is reported to the Darts Regulation Authority for review, but our main priority is the player's health and wellbeing." Two-time world champion Peter Wright defeated Noa-Lynn van Leuven 3–0 but admitted he was unhappy with how he played, believing he was "not transferring on the big stage". The 2010 World Championship runner-up Simon Whitlock forced a deciding set against Connor Scutt after initially going 2–0 down; Whitlock took the first leg of the set before Scutt took the next three for a 3–2 win. Dirk van Duijvenbode and Andy Baetens also went to a deciding set, where Van Duijvenbode hit a 170 checkout in the first leg and went on to win the set and the match. Max Hopp marked his return to the World Championship after five years by defeating Martin Lukeman 3–1. Brendan Dolan won the second set of his match against Tavis Dudeney with a 170 checkout before clinching a 3–1 victory.
Gerwyn Price, the 2021 world champion, began his campaign by defeating Adam Gawlas 3–0. Price thanked the crowd for cheering him on and said that he " usually get this ". Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle stated that Price's scoring during the match was "outrageous" and that he looked like "a million dollars". Following losses in his opening match at the previous two World Championships, sixth seed Danny Noppert was a 3–1 winner over Dutch compatriot Jurjen van der Velde. Chris Dobey defeated Xiaochen Zong by the same scoreline. Australia's Joe Comito earned an 3–1 upset victory against Niko Springer. Alan Soutar and Teemu Harju missed a total of 19 match darts—15 from Soutar and 4 from Harju—on their way to the first sudden death leg of the tournament, where Soutar hit double 16 to prevail. The 2020 Grand Slam champion José de Sousa officially lost his PDC Tour Card following his 3–1 loss to Ricardo Pietreczko. Seventh seed James Wade achieved his first win at the tournament since the 2022 World Championship, defeating Ryusei Azemoto 3–0. Raymond van Barneveld, the 2007 world champion and four-time BDO World Championship winner, lost 3–0 to Stefan Bellmont, who become the first Swiss player to win a match in the event's history.
Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen lost the opening set of his match against Japanese debutant Mitsuhiko Tatsunami, but won the next three to claim a 3–1 victory. "It was really difficult, I don't know what happened," commented Van Gerwen, who remarked that Tatsunami made him "work really hard" for the win. African qualifier David Munyua, the first Kenyan representative in PDC World Championship history, earned a shock victory against the 2024 World Grand Prix champion and 18th seed Mike De Decker. After winning the first two sets, De Decker missed three match darts to win 3–1 and Munyua capitalised by levelling the score at 2–2. In the deciding set, Munyua landed a 135 checkout before completing a 3–2 comeback win. Japanese debutant Motomu Sakai defeated Thibault Tricole 3–0 in another upset win. Sky Sports pundit Mark Webster said that the debuting players had "done themselves more than justice" with their performances, stating that Munyua's victory was "what the World Championship is about". Fallon Sherrock, the first woman to win a PDC World Championship match, lost 3–0 to Dave Chisnall. Dominik Grüllich led 2–1 against the 19th seed Jermaine Wattimena, but Wattimena overturned the deficit to win 3–2. Krzysztof Ratajski converted a 170 checkout on his way to beating Alexis Toylo 3–0.
Making her second PDC World Championship appearance, Beau Greaves went to a deciding set with 22nd seed Daryl Gurney. Gurney converted a 144 checkout in the third leg of the set before winning the next leg to seal a 3–2 victory, despite Greaves winning more legs throughout the match. Gurney praised Greaves after the match and called her "the best woman darts player on the planet". He also predicted that she was "going to be a force to be reckoned with" and that she would "win some PDC tournaments" in 2026. Nathan Aspinall won 3–1 against Lourence Ilagan after losing the opening set, completing the victory with a 170 checkout. Gemma Hayter clinched a set against 11th seed Josh Rock before losing 3–1. Rock admitted to underestimating Hayter, later declaring: "When it comes to round two against Joe Comito, I will not perform like that, I assure you." William O'Connor produced the highest three-dart average of the first round as he averaged 102.36 to defeat Krzysztof Kciuk 3–0. Keane Barry was the last player to advance, beating Tim Pusey 3–0 in the final match of the round.

Second round

The second round took place from 20 to 23 December and was the final round before the Christmas break. Before the start of the second round, Dom Taylor was suspended by the Darts Regulation Authority after failing a drug test, which was conducted on the same day he won his first-round match 3–0 against Oskar Lukasiak. He was removed from the tournament and his scheduled opponent, Jonny Clayton, received a bye to the third round. Four of the six seeded players that competed on 20 December were eliminated. The 28th seed Michael Smith was beaten 3–1 by Niels Zonneveld, who said "I think this is the biggest victory of my life" in response to defeating the former world champion. Andrew Gilding won 3–1 against eighth seed Chris Dobey, marking the first time Dobey had failed to reach the third round since 2018. The 21st seed Dave Chisnall hit 11 maximums as he recovered from 2–0 down against Ricardo Pietreczko, but missed a match dart before Pietreczko secured victory in a tie-break. James Hurrell also won in a deciding set, earning a 3–2 upset win over 29th seed Dirk van Duijvenbode. Seeded players Stephen Bunting and Ryan Searle were 3–0 winners over Nitin Kumar and Brendan Dolan, respectively. Andreas Harrysson continued his debut campaign by defeating Motomu Sakai 3–0.
Welsh debutant David Davies missed darts at double to win the opening set of his match with Luke Littler; Littler later claimed a 3–0 victory. On his opponent's missed doubles, Littler said: "If he hit them, it was a complete different game, but I'm glad he missed." Ninth seed Gerwyn Price suffered a shock 3–0 loss to world number 92 Wesley Plaisier. Plaisier stated that it was "by far biggest win ever" and that he "couldn't imagine beating" Price. Mensur Suljović went 1–0 down against 32nd seed Joe Cullen, who hit a 170 checkout, but Suljović won the next three sets for a 3–1 victory. Cullen was visibly unhappy with his opponent's slow style of play during the match and believed it was intentional, posting on social media: "The old guard will say it's part of the game but word it how you will – it's cheating. That's not darts." Suljović denied accusations of cheating, claiming he "never, ever as a provocation". His win set up a third-round tie against Littler, who revealed that Suljović sent him a message when the tournament draw was conducted that said "See you in round three". Martin Schindler defeated Keane Barry 3–0 in a match where all sets went to a deciding leg. Stefan Bellmont led 1–0 and 2–1 against Damon Heta but Heta ultimately won 3–2. Rob Cross defeated Ian White 3–1, Luke Woodhouse beat Max Hopp 3–0, and Krzysztof Ratajski eliminated 24th seed Ryan Joyce with a 3–1 win.
Luke Humphries won the first eight legs against Paul Lim. Lim clinched his sole leg of the match before Humphries sealed a 3–0 win. Humphries professed that he did not want to "destroy" Lim 9–0 in legs and he was happy to see Lim avoid a full whitewash defeat. Alan Soutar missed a dart to go 2–0 ahead against Gian van Veen, who hit a 170 checkout on his way to winning 3–1 with a three-dart average of 108.28. Nathan Aspinall defeated Leonard Gates 3–0 in a rematch of their meeting the previous year. Ricky Evans reached the third round for the third consecutive year by beating seventh seed James Wade 3–2. Wade converted a 170 checkout but fell 2–1 behind to Evans, before a successful fourth set from Wade saw the match go to a deciding set. Evans missed seven match darts and Wade missed one as the pair went to a tie-break, where Evans won the set 6–4 in legs with a 99 checkout. "My sister hit that double for me there" said Evans, whose sister died in March 2025. Kevin Doets defeated David Munyua 3–0 to end the Kenyan's run, while Charlie Manby beat fellow debutant Adam Sevada by the same scoreline. Gabriel Clemens earned a 3–0 victory against 31st seed Wessel Nijman and Madars Razma defeated Darren Beveridge 3–1.
Michael van Gerwen rebounded from his first-round performance by defeating William O'Connor 3–1. Danny Noppert trailed English debutant and world number 86 Justin Hood 2–0, but won the next two sets after Hood missed the bullseye for a 3–0 victory. In the deciding set, Noppert missed a match dart but landed checkouts of 157 and 127 as the pair entered a sudden-death leg, which Hood won with a 78 finish. The match, in which both players averaged over 102, was noted for its high quality and dramatic play. Gary Anderson registered a three-dart average of 105.41 and hit nine maximums in his 3–1 victory over Connor Scutt. Arno Merk advanced to the third round with a 3–0 win against Peter Wright, who only averaged 79.20. When asked about Wright's defeat, Van Gerwen commented that he was not surprised and believed it was "time for to retire anyway", while Anderson said his fellow Scottish world champion needed to be given "a bit of time". Two-time quarter-finalist Callan Rydz converted two 167 checkouts on his way to defeating Daryl Gurney 3–2 in a tie-break. Ryan Meikle became the second player of the tournament to overturn a two-set deficit as he completed a 3–2 comeback victory against Jonny Tata; 2024 semi-finalist Scott Williams attempted the same feat but lost in a deciding set to Jermaine Wattimena. The final match of the second round saw Josh Rock defeat Joe Comito 3–0. By the end of the second round, 17 of the 32 seeds had been eliminated from the tournament.

Third round

The third round took place from 27 to 29 December. Luke Littler dropped three legs as he defeated Mensur Suljović 4–0, not allowing Suljović to have a dart at double in the first seven legs of the match. Littler recorded a three-dart average of 107.09 and converted 71 per cent of his double attempts. Speaking after the match, he said that he was settled and believed it was the best he had felt at the World Championship. James Hurrell produced another upset victory by beating fourth seed Stephen Bunting 4–3, defying checkouts of 161 and 121 in deciding legs from Bunting to win the match in a decider. Hurrell called it "the biggest win of career", later saying "I've just beaten the number four in the world. I'm not bothered who I face next" when asked about his potential fourth-round opponents. After a 12-day break, Jonny Clayton prevailed in a deciding set against Niels Zonneveld to advance to the last 16 stage for a fifth successive year. Krzysztof Ratajski recovered from 3–1 down to complete a 4–3 comeback victory over Wesley Plaisier, who missed three match darts in the sixth set. Luke Woodhouse defeated Andrew Gilding 4–1 to reach the fourth round for the second straight year, while Andreas Harryson beat Ricardo Pietreczko 4–2.
After losing the first three sets of his match against Luke Humphries, Gabriel Clemens found his way back into the tie by winning the fourth and fifth sets, despite a 170 checkout from Humphries during the latter. Clemens had the opportunity to take the match to a deciding set but squandered three darts at double. Humphries halted his opponent's comeback with an 81 checkout on double 13 to win 4–2. Despite the defeat, Clemens became the first German player to average over 100 at the World Championship. Humphries expressed his surprise at his opponent's "onslaught", calling him "the better player in the last three sets". Gary Anderson missed four match darts as he was brought to a deciding set by Jermaine Wattimena. Moving into a tie-break scenario, Anderson attempted a nine-dart finish in the seventh leg but missed the final dart needed at double 12, before winning the set 5–3 in legs for a 4–3 victory—the same scoreline as the pair's third-round meeting at the 2019 World Championship. Anderson joked that he was "getting palpitations, never mind flashbacks" and claimed he "bottled" his shot at the nine-dart finish. Anderson's win set up a fourth-round tie against Michael van Gerwen, who defeated Arno Merk 4–1. Gian van Veen advanced to the next round with a 4–1 win against Madars Razma. Ryan Searle failed to lose a set for the third match in a row as he defeated Martin Schindler 4–0, while Rob Cross beat Damon Heta by the same scoreline to set up a meeting with Luke Littler.
Callan Rydz won the opening set against Josh Rock before Rock claimed four consecutive sets to win 4–1. After the match, Rock offered his condolences to Rydz and his family following the death of his grandfather. Nathan Aspinall, the 15th seed, landed his second 170 checkout of the tournament to take a 3–2 lead against Kevin Doets, but Doets responded by winning the last six legs of the match for a 4–3 victory—his sixth straight win against Aspinall. Charlie Manby and Justin Hood continued their respective debut campaigns, with Manby defeating Ricky Evans 4–2—Evans's seventh loss in the round of 32—and Hood beating Ryan Meikle 4–1. "It's crazy to be in the last 16" stated Manby, who progressed to a fourth-round tie against "good mate" Van Veen.

Fourth round

The fourth round took place from 29 to 30 December. Luke Littler established a 3–1 lead against Rob Cross, averaging 125.25 in the third set of the match. Cross reduced the deficit to 3–2 through a 126 checkout on the bullseye. He led the sixth set but missed a dart to level the match at 3–3, allowing Littler to take the next two legs to win 4–2. Littler, who ended the match with a three-dart average of 106.58 and 17 maximums, laughed off boos from the crowd that occurred during and after the match, saying: "You guys pay for tickets and you pay for my prize money so thank you for my money, thank you for booing me." Ryan Searle defeated James Hurrell 4–0 to continue his streak of matches without dropping a set, having only lost 11 legs in his first four matches. Searle downplayed his performance, claiming he "just threw a few darts and managed to win".
Justin Hood hit 11 consecutive doubles, a PDC record, during his match against Josh Rock, only missing his first dart at double when he attempted a 143 checkout to win the match. He defeated Rock 4–0 by converting a 119 finish, ending the contest with 12 successful doubles out of 16 attempts. Hood admitted that he only felt nervous when throwing to win the match. In response to having his name chanted by the crowd, he said: "To have people chanting your name like that and being on your side like that is an amazing feeling. Long may it continue." Andreas Harrysson was level at 2–2 with Jonny Clayton when he claimed the first two legs of the fifth set, requiring a third to lead 3–2. However, he missed a total of seven darts to win the set, allowing Clayton to capitalise and take the lead before eventually winning the match 4–2. Clayton, who provisionally rose to world number four on the PDC Order of Merit, commented: "What a player Andreas is – he's such a nice guy and he pushed me all the way, but I've got a smile on my face." Luke Woodhouse became the second player of the tournament to miss double 12 for a nine-dart finish, doing so in the third set of his match with Krzysztof Ratajski. Ratajski went on to beat Woodhouse 4–2 to set up a quarter-final tie against Littler, acknowledging the challenge ahead of him by stating: " the best player in the world, he's the world champion, but in sport, anything is possible."
In a rematch of the 2017 World Championship final, Michael van Gerwen faced Gary Anderson in the pair's 77th meeting. Anderson won the first two sets of the match in deciding legs, dropping the third set as Van Gerwen brought the score back to 2–1. From there, Anderson won six of the next eight legs to seal a 4–1 win. Van Gerwen's defeat marked the first time he had been eliminated from the World Championship before the quarter-finals since 2016. Anderson exclaimed that he and Van Gerwen were "rotten", stemming from the pair missing a number of doubles during the match. Luke Humphries conceded two breaks of throw in the opening set of his match with Kevin Doets, who took a 1–0 lead. Humphries won 12 of the next 14 legs, including the last eight consecutively, to claim a 4–1 victory. "It was a decent performance" said Humphries, who believed there was "another level" in him that he needed to win the championship. Gian van Veen and Charlie Manby traded the first two sets of their match. Momentum shifted in Van Veen's favour when he won the third set 3–0, landing a 132 checkout on the bullseye in the final leg. He produced another bullseye finish, an 88 checkout, to win the fourth set before completing a 4–1 win. On facing Humphries in the quarter-finals, Van Veen recognised his past wins against Humphries as a "confidence boost" before adding: "Playing in a World Championship quarter-final is a different animal and I am going to be ready for that game."

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals took place on New Year's Day. Competing in his first World Championship quarter-final, Ryan Searle extended his streak of consecutive sets won to 17 as he took a 3–0 lead against Jonny Clayton. Although Clayton won the fourth set of the match to end this run, Searle captured the fifth set with a 111 checkout before completing a 5–2 victory. Clayton missed 30 of his 40 shots at double, in contrast to Searle pinning 17 of 30 attempts. Speaking after the match, Searle discussed his genetic eye condition, dominant optic atrophy, and said: "Other people who try to play darts, if they can't see particularly well, try not to let that hold you back." In the afternoon session's other quarter-final, Gary Anderson and Justin Hood traded the first four sets, with Anderson taking the first and third while Hood took the second and fourth. Anderson proceeded to claim nine of the next ten legs to defeat Hood 5–2. Anderson previewed the semi-finals by stating: "I don't think it makes any difference who you play now; they're all talented players, so we'll see what happens."
Luke Littler faced Krzysztof Ratajski in the first quarter-final of the evening session. Despite receiving boos before walking to the stage, Littler was soon given a positive response from the crowd, who began chanting "there's only one Luke Littler". The first set went to a deciding leg, which Littler won with a 170 checkout. He won the first three sets and survived missed darts at double from Ratajski to claim the fourth in another deciding leg, also taking the fifth for a 5–0 win. "The crowd were very good tonight – it's a new year so obviously there must be some new fans" joked Littler, who believed more pressure from Ratajski would have "set up even better" for the semi-finals. In the final quarter-final match, Luke Humphries faced Gian van Veen. Van Veen produced checkouts of 120 and 124 as he won the first set, with Humphries claiming the next to level at 1–1. Van Veen capitalised on mishaps from Humphries to claim the third set in a deciding leg, before converting a 170 checkout on his way to leading 3–1. He claimed another set in a deciding leg before completing a 5–1 victory, his fifth consecutive win against Humphries. Van Veen, who averaged 105.41 and hit 11 maximums, provisionally rose to world number three and ensured that he would become the new Dutch number one by surpassing Michael van Gerwen, who held the position since 2013. Van Veen remarked that the victory was "probably" the biggest win of his career, overtaking his victory over Humphries in the 2025 European Championship final.

Semi-finals

The semi-finals took place on 2 January. Luke Littler faced Ryan Searle and Gian van Veen faced Gary Anderson. Searle and Van Veen both featured in their first World Championship semi-final, Anderson contested his first semi-final since 2022 and eighth in total, and Littler reached the semi-finals for the third year in a row. Searle described his tie against Littler as "potentially the toughest game of them all" and one he was "probably not expected to win". Littler called himself "the next man in Ryan 's way" and hoped to have a good match. Van Veen expressed his excitement at facing his "darting idol" Gary Anderson, while Anderson asserted that the difference in experience between him and Van Veen made little difference in their match.
Searle claimed the opening set of his match with Littler, despite the defending champion producing a 10-dart leg and registering a set average of 105. Littler responded with two breaks of throw on his way to winning the second set, soon taking control of the match and establishing a 4–1 lead. He completed a run of 10 consecutive legs won to extend his lead to 5–1, and although Searle capitalised on a failed nine-darter attempt from his opponent to land a 170 checkout, Littler added another set to win 6–1. He ended the match with a three-dart average of 105.35, his third average of the tournament above 105, and hit 10 maximums. The win extended Littler's unbeaten record in major ranking semi-finals to 11. Littler recounted his annoyance at losing the first set and telling himself that he would find the lead; he later said that Ryan Searle "can be proud" of the "amazing" tournament he had.
In the second semi-final, Anderson took the first set but Van Veen started the second with a 10-dart leg, landing a 117 checkout to level the score at 1–1. The Dutchman then won the next two sets to lead Anderson 3–1. Anderson opened the fifth set with a 10-dart break of throw and followed it with a 170 checkout to go 2–0 ahead in legs. However, Van Veen converted a 170 checkout of his own and claimed the set in a deciding leg to extend his advantage to 4–1, defying a set average of 117.44 from his opponent. The sequence was dubbed a "set of darts from God" by Wayne Mardle on commentary. Anderson reduced the deficit to 4–3 after Van Veen missed darts at double to go one set away from victory, but Van Veen was able to claim the next two, completing a 6–3 win with a 13-dart leg. The nine-set match, in which both players averaged over 102, was the longest World Championship semi-final in four years. Van Veen stated that he "enjoyed every single second" of the contest and claimed that his first dream was to simply be in a World Championship, rather than reach the final of one.

Final

The final between Luke Littler and Gian van Veen took place on 3 January. The final was officiated by referee George Noble, who announced his intention to retire following the World Championship along with John McDonald, the PDC's full-time master of ceremonies since 2007. The duo were subsequently inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame. Littler contested his third successive final, with his only previous defeat on the Alexandra Palace stage being against Luke Humphries in the 2024 final. He became the fourth player to reach three finals in a row—after Dennis Priestley, Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson—and the second player to reach the final in each of their first three appearances, after Taylor. Van Veen contested his first final, becoming the third Dutch player to reach a PDC World Championship final, after Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen. A rematch of the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final that Littler won 6–4, Van Veen entered the match having beaten Littler in three of their five meetings in 2025. The pair held a combined age of 41, making the match the youngest World Championship final in history.
Van Veen landed a 116 finish to win the opening leg of the match before claiming the set to take a 1–0 lead. He converted checkouts of 145 and 127 to win the first two legs of the second set, but Littler rebounded and hit his own 116 finish to level at 1–1. He hit his second 170 checkout of the tournament to win the third set and lead 2–1. Littler claimed the fourth set without reply. Although Van Veen halted his momentum with a 137 checkout to open the fifth set, Littler won the next three legs to extend his lead to 4–1. The sixth set saw Van Veen leave a trace of blood on the dartboard, causing the board to be replaced; he later revealed that his little finger got stuck in a door while going to the toilet during the interval. After winning both the sixth and seventh sets 3–0 in legs, Littler sealed a 7–1 victory by following a maximum with a 147 checkout—treble 20, treble 19, double 15. Littler finished the match, his 20th straight win in all competitions, with a three-dart average of 106.02, 16 maximums and a 46 per cent checkout success rate. In all, Littler won 21 of the last 24 legs in the final.
Littler won the PDC World Championship for the second time, having only lost four sets across the tournament. He became the fourth player to win back-to-back PDC world titles—after Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Anderson—and the first player to retain the title since Anderson at the 2016 World Championship. He also became the seventh player to win the title on more than one occasion. His retention of the title ended a run of five successive different winners that had begun in 2021, the longest such sequence in the tournament's history. Littler was the first recipient of the £1,000,000 top prize, extending his lead at the top of the PDC Order of Merit. After being awarded the Sid Waddell Trophy by cyclist Chris Hoy, Littler quoted boxer Anthony Joshua by saying: "The first time was so nice, I had to do it twice." He emphasised his desire to follow his "very special" victory with more success, stating: "We've got to keep going, we've got to keep adding more titles. We can't stop here. We're still on this rollercoaster." Littler also won the "Ballon d'Art" award for recording the most 180s at the tournament, with 73. Van Veen, who earned £400,000 for his runner-up finish, said he "would have liked to lift up the title" and "would have liked to have given Luke a game", ultimately calling Littler "unplayable" and admitting that it "doesn't feel great" to "get smashed" in the final. Speaking about Littler on Sky Sports, Wayne Mardle claimed there was "nothing he can't do on a dartboard", adding: "The format doesn't matter any more. He's just the best."

Schedule

The event consisted of 36 sessions held across 20 days from 11 December 2025 until the date of the final on Saturday, 3 January 2026. The schedule of play for round one was confirmed on 26 November 2025. The figures to the right of a player's name show their three-dart average in a match. Players in bold denote match winners.

Draw

The draw for the tournament was held on 24 November 2025, conducted live on Sky Sports News and YouTube by former semi-finalists Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster. Of the 128 qualifiers, the top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit were seeded in standard seeding positions in the first round. The next qualifiers, ranked 33 to 64, were randomly drawn into the left hand side of the draw. These 64 players were matched up against the remaining 64 qualifiers, who were also drawn at random.
Numbers to the left of a player's name show the 32 seeded players for the tournament. The 48 international qualifiers are indicated by 'Q'. The figures to the right of a player's name show their three-dart average in a match. Players in bold denote match winners.

Highest averages

This table shows all three-dart 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.