THE SCHEDULE for the World Darts Championship has been confirmed by the PDC.
The blockbuster Alexandra Palace tournament will kick-start on December 15 and run through to the final on Friday January 3, 2025.
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The draw for the opening rounds has drawn up some huge matches, including Luke Littler potentially facing off against Fallon Sherrock in the second round.
However, Littler – who was defeated in the final by Luke Humphries last time out – will be facing some tough competition for TV attention.
That is because it has been revealed his opening game will be played on December 21 as part of the 7pm group of matches, around the same time as Tyson Fury‘s blockbuster rematch as Oleksandr Usyk.
Fortunately for the Nuke, he should not be directly competing with the Gypsy King as the ring walks for the heavyweight boxing showdown taking place in Saudi Arabia are not expected until 11pm.
World No.1 Humphries will take to the Ally Pally stage for the first time on Sunday December 15 to take on the round one winner of Thibault Tricole and Joe Comito.
The following day will see world No.10 Gerwyn Price take on the winner of Kim Huybrechts and Keane Barry.
Peter Wright will be hoping to find some form against Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto, who qualified from the PDC Asian Tour.
Nathan Aspinall headlines the games on December 18 with a match against either Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates.
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World No.2 Michael Smith takes on one of Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who became the first trans women to play in a darts TV tournament.
Fan favourite Stephen Bunting and three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen will both be in action on December 20 at 12.30pm and 7pm respectively.
Gary Anderson will take on one of Jeffrey De Graaf or Rashad Sweeting, who will become the first darts star from the Bahamas to compete in the tournament after qualifying through the Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean Order of Merit.
World No.5 Rob Cross takes on one of Scott Williams or Niko Springer in the highlight game on December 23.
The winner of the tournament will take home a colossal £500,000, while the runner-up will land £200,000.
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List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries