It’s the most wonderful time of the year as the World Darts Championships are just around the corner and there’s nothing better than sitting back for a few weeks and watching the greatest darts on Earth.
We will look back on 2024 as a landmark year for darts, a year where the sport reached new heights and a new generation of players emerged.
From iconic walks, arguments, tussles, huge upsets and nine darts, including a certain ‘can’t talk’, the World Cup always delivers.
When is the 2025 World Darts Championship?
The 32nd World Darts Championship will take place from Sunday, December 15 to Friday, January 3.
There are activities every day except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Where is the 2025 World Darts Championship?
Alexandra Palace in London hosts the World Darts Championship since 2008.
The Circus Tavern in Essex previously hosted the biggest darts event of the year between 1994 and 2007.
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Go behind the scenes as Luke Littler defeats character Raymond van Barneveld from the new Sky Original documentary The Game of Darts – Inside Darts, available now.
Why is Alexandra Palace so special?
There are no definitive answers to this, but having a popular tournament that sells out every year probably helps. As expected, every session of this year’s tournament sold out in a matter of hours, so the 3,500-capacity Ally Pally will be packed to capacity. :
Ally Pally also hosts the Masters snooker tournament in January and Pool’s Mosconi Cup every two years in the winter too, so it feels like the home of snooker during this period.
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PDC ambassador Russ Bray gives his prediction for the World Darts Championship You can now buy Russ’ book All About Darts
How to watch the World Darts Championship
In the World Cup, you won’t miss an arrow on a dedicated one Sky Sports Darts channel as well as the best of the action Sky Sports’ main event.
Coverage begins at 6.30pm on Sunday 15th December, with afternoon sessions at 12.30pm and evening sessions at 7pm for most of the tournament.
The quarter-finals will be played on New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1 January, with the first two legs at 12.30pm and the last two legs at 7pm.
The semi-finals will take place on Thursday 2 January from 19:30 and the final on Friday 3 January at 20:00.
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Matchroom Sport chairman Barry Hearn joked that Luke Littler was like his Christmas present last year after the teenager burst onto the scene in a sensational World Darts Championship.
World Darts Championship format
The World Championship uses a sets format where each set is three legs from the first.
The deciding set must be won by at least two legs, so if the final set is 2-2, the player must win 4-2 or 5-3. If it is 5-5, the sudden-death leg will take place without a bull to throw, so the change of first thrower just keeps going.
When is Luke Littler playing?
Luke Littler has been a shining light in darts for the past 12 months, but this time around he is expected to go far and become world champion.
The 17-year-old will be in action on Saturday, December 21, a night that also features the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Littler will face Ryan Meikle or “Queen of the Chamber” Fallon Sharrock in what could be a must-watch.
If he gets through that, Littler and top seed Luke Humphreys will be on a collision course against each other in the semi-finals as they are in the same half of the draw.
Who is the current champion?
World No.1 Humphries is the reigning champion after he beat Littler in a thrilling final earlier in 2024.
The last player to successfully defend his title was Gary Anderson in 2016. Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor are the only players to have achieved the feat.
Humphries will lead Sunday’s opening night against either Thibaut Tricolet or Joe Comito.
World Darts Championship prize money
- Champion – £500,000
- Second place: £200,000
- Semi-Final: £100,000
- Quarter Final: £50,000
- Fourth round – £35,000
- Third stage – 25,000 pounds
- Second round – £15,000
- First round – £7,500
- Inndarter – 60,000 pounds
PDC World Darts Championship Winners
How many world titles has Phil Taylor won?
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor won 14 PDC world titles but was also world champion twice before the PDC era.
It’s a record that many believe will be impossible to beat.Michael van Gerwen has won three titles, with only John Part, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis and Peter Wright the only multiple winners.
How many nine arrows were there?
It’s fair to say that nine darts have become more common in the sport, but there have only been 14 in the history of the PDC World Championship.
The first came only in 2009 when Raymond van Barneveld nailed a perfect leg. Barney did it again a year later, then Adrian Lewis hit the first nine in the 2011 final.
Dean Winstanley and Van Gerwen had two nines in 2013. Terry Jenkins and Kyle Anderson joined the nine-dart list in 2014 and Lewis recorded a second nine in 2015.
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Watch how Wayne Mardle and Stuart Pike reacted to Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith’s sensational leg in the 2023 World Cup final that ended in nine balls for the Bully Boy.
In 2016, Gary Anderson made nine points in the semifinals, and there was a five-year gap before the next perfect game.
The player with the most nine-pointers against him, James Wade, became the eighth player to make nine, following William Borland, Darius Labanauskas and Gervin Price in 2022.
And of course, Michael Smith’s nine-ball against Van Gerwen in the 2023 final is etched in folklore as the best ever darts leg.
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This fan couldn’t contain his excitement as Michael Smith hit a staggering nine darts in the final of the World Darts Championship (Credit: @EagleDarts1)
How much beer is drunk at the World Cup?
Around 90,000 darts fans will flock to Ally Pally from mid-December to early January.As the crowds get up to love darts, they might as well have a pint in hand.
How many pints drank, you ask?Apparently around half a million.
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Watch the best moments from the 2024 World Darts Championship
What song do they play between breaks on darts?
Have you ever had that nagging feeling when you know how the song is going but you don’t know what it’s called?You might think of it as the song that plays at half-time at the end of a leg during the World Cup.
It’s called Chase the Sun by Planet Funk and you just have to join it when it opens.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship Watch every match exclusively live from December 15 to January 3 on Sky Sports’ special Darts channel. Get Sky Sports or Stream NOW!
