
The PDC World Championship's History
The
World Darts Championship, which takes place during Christmas and New Year's at
the Alexandra Palace in London, is the climax of the PDC year.
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Only
ten players have claimed the world title since it was initially hosted at the
Circus Tavern in 1994. Following the much-publicized departure from the British
Darts Organisation, thanks primarily to darts superstar Phil Taylor winning it
no fewer than 14 times throughout his incredible career.
Dennis
Priestley defeated Taylor 6-1 in the inaugural final before The Power's reign
of dominance began with eight consecutive global titles before Canada's John
Part memorably upset him 7-6 in a classic in 2003, much to the relief of the
bookies!
Taylor
won three more titles before Raymond van Barneveld defeated him 7-6 in another
spectacular final. At the same time, Part's victory against Kirk Shepherd in
2008 was the first time the Stoke thrower had failed to reach the last in the
tournament's history.
It
was also the year when the event moved to Alexandra Palace. A resurgent Taylor
won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 until Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis burst
onto the international stage by defeating Gary Anderson in 2011 final and
repeated the feat 12 months later against Andy Hamilton.
The
Power convinced critics that he could still win world titles by winning his
14th title against Michael van Gerwen, who won the trophy in 2014 against Peter
Wright. Mighty Mike was the hot betting favorite to win again a year later.
Still, he didn't even make the final as Anderson kept his nerve to overcome
Taylor 7-6 for his maiden world championship title, which he repeated in 2016
by overcoming Lewis.
Van
Gerwen reclaimed his world title in 2017 after defeating the Flying Scotsman
but suffered one of the biggest all-time upsets in the semi-finals the
following year at the hands of newcomer Rob Cross.
The
voltage then capped off an extraordinary fairytale by beating Phil Taylor in
the Power's final match before retirement.
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Van
Gerwen won the title for the third time a year later, but Peter Wright, at the
age of 49, accomplished a lifelong goal by defeating the Dutchman in the 2020
final - an edition that also made news owing to Fallon Sherrock's exploits.
Even
though there were no fans present for most of the 2021 edition, there was no
shortage of drama as Gerwyn Price defeated Gary Anderson to win world champion
and world number one.
In
the 3rd round of the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship in Alexandra Palace in
London, defending champion Gerwyn Price might play Fallon Sherrock.
Sherrock
makes her World Championship comeback two years after her historic run to the
third round. She plays veteran Steve Beaton in the first round, earning his
21st consecutive appearance in the PDC's main tournament.
Price,
36, of Wales, will face either Ritchie Edhouse or Lihao Wen in the second
round, and if victorious, he will face the winner of Kim Huybrechts vs. Sherrock
or Beaton.
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The
winner of Ryan Meikle and 16-year-old German Fabian Schmutzler will face the
number two seed and recent Players Championship Finals champion, Peter Wright.
Gary
Anderson, a fellow Scot and last year's runner-up might face two-time World
Champion Adrian Lewis or Canada's Matt Campbell.
Three-time
World Champion Michael van Gerwen will face the winner of Chas Barstow and John
Norman Jnr, who has not won a significant ranking championship in a full
calendar year for the first time in 10 years.
Lisa
Ashton will compete in the event for the third time and face Ron Meulenkamp in
the first round.
Jonny
Clayton of Wales, who has four majors this year, will meet the winner of Keane
Barry and Royden Lam.
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Former
world champion Raymond van Barneveld will also compete after returning from
retirement, and he might meet another former world champion, Rob Cross, in the
second round.
A
total of 31 nations will be represented, two more than in the previous event in
2021.
Austrian
brothers Rowby-John and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez and Australian father-and-son Raymond
and Ky Smith will compete.
A
record five Welsh players will compete in Ally Pally for the first time.
The
World Championship begins on December 15 and goes through January 3.
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PDC World Darts Championship betting: Price in pole
position
For
the 2nd year in a row, Gerwyn Price is the 7/2 favorite to win the PDC World
Championship.
Last
year, the Welshman breezed through the first round before defeating Daryl
Gurney in the quarter-finals, Stephen Bunting in the semi-finals, and Gary
Anderson 7-3 in the final.
This
will be his ninth appearance at Alexandra Palace, and after winning the Grand
Slam of Darts earlier this month, he will be hopeful of collecting a second
global championship.
Michael
van Gerwen is the 4/1 second favorite to win the PDC World Championship for the
fourth time, having won it in 2014, 2017, and 2019, when he defeated Michael
Smith in the final 7-3.
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Peter
Wright and Jonny Clayton are the joint-third favorites at 6/1. Scotsman Wright
defeated Van Gerwen to win the title in 2020, but Clayton has never advanced
past the round of 32 at Ally Pally.
The
top six in the betting for the largest tournament on the darts calendar are
two-time quarter-finalist Dimitri van den Bergh (18/1) and 2018 world champion
Rob Cross (20/1).
Get To Know How to watch on television and listen on
the radio
Every
session's throw will be televised live on a dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel.
In addition, to live coverage of every dart thrown, there are highlights of
great games from the past, famous rivalries, and profiles of our icons. You may
also tune in to talkSPORT 2 to hear the action.
Are tickets for the World Darts Championships still
available?
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Over
75,000 tickets have been sold for the holiday spectacle as people return to
London's famous Alexandra Palace. If you are a tourist from other countries,
you could try your luck by playing other sporting activities in the region such
as casino
and if you are lucky enough you will win big.
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Latest comments
- And why should he listen to you?Deduce635807-11-2026
- Ultimately it is a bye for whoever draws Barney. It will be another stroppy and sulky performance once he goes behind. Barney was excellent but really must completely call it a day now.richieburnettrocks07-11-2026
- I'm disappointed he was not able to secure a spot at the Grand Slam. With Carl Sneyd taking care of Daryl Gurney, he would have had to beat Andy Boulton before facing the winner of Sneyd vs Mensur Suljović for a Grand Slam spot. Unfortunately, after beating Filip Bereza comfortably, he succumbed to Boulton, and the board would ultimately be won by the highly inconsistent Carl Sneyd. Since he could instead have been drawn against the likes of Cristo Reyes, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Stephen Bunting, I think once Gurney was out of the picture he would have been favourite to win his board, and it seems like a massive missed opportunity to put 5 grand on his ranking and seal another major TV appearance ahead of the Worlds. The highs and lows of following Raymond van Barneveld!Deduce635806-11-2026
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026






