Preview PDC World Darts Championship 2025: Van Gerwen v Rydz and Price v Dobey starts New Year on Wednesday

The new darts year kicks off Wednesday with the eight players still competing for the world title at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. During the afternoon session, the first two quarter-finals will be played at Alexandra Palace.

In the quarterfinals, the format has again gone up slightly from the previous two rounds. Best of 9 sets will be played, meaning a player must win five sets to advance to the semifinals.

Follow the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship via our LIVE SCORE!

Chris Dobey v Gerwyn Price

What a delightful match to start 2025 with. We begin the quarterfinals with a friendly between Gerwyn Price and Chris Dobey. Both players have already had some tough matches. Price started his tournament with a 3-0 win over Keane Barry and then had to play a tough match against Joe Cullen. The Iceman lost a 3-0 lead against the Englishman and escaped in the final set when Cullen missed a matchdart. In the end, Price managed to pull out the victory after a sudden-death leg. The third round was again difficult for the former rugby player. Against his Welsh compatriot Jonny Clayton, Price led 2-0, but again he squandered this lead. Clayton came back to 2-2, but then Price still put things right and won 4-2. It is Price's fifth time in the last eight at the World Darts Championship. He reached the semifinals in 2020, while Price took the world title in 2021.

Read also

Everything about the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship: Schedule, results, TV guide and prize money

Dobey kicked off his tournament with a victory over Alexander Merkx. Against Merkx, Dobey quickly gained a 2-0 lead, but as 'Hollywood' let down the reins a bit, the Dutchman was able to grab another set. Then it was 3-1 for Dobey, who managed to win 4-2 in sets over Josh Rock at the last 32 after a tough fight. In his fourth round match against Kevin Doets, Dobey was mostly battling himself. The former Masters champion missed a truckload of doubles, but was fortunate that Doets' scoring was completely stagnant. As a result, Dobey managed to turn the 2-3 deficit into a 4-3 victory. The dart player from Bedlington, England, also reached the quarterfinals of the World Darts Championship the past two editions, but never reached the semifinals. That should have happened last year, when Dobey squandered a 4-0 lead in his quarterfinal against Rob Cross (4-5).

The head-to-head offers little hope for Dobey. The 34-year-old Englishman has played against Price 16 times in the past, but won only once from the Welshman. Only in 2019 did Dobey win once against his upcoming opponent. In 2024, Price and Dobey did not meet once, but in 2023, Price managed to win all of his seven matches against Dobey.

Can Gerwyn Price reach the semifinals at the World Darts Championship for the first time in four years?

Michael van Gerwen v Callan Rydz

The chances of a fourth world title for Michael van Gerwen increased significantly last weekend. In the first place because defending champion Luke Humphries was eliminated in the fourth round, but especially because 'Mighty Mike' left a strong impression in his match at the last sixteen. Van Gerwen is growing in the tournament, as it is nicely called. The 35-year-old Dutchman opened his World Cup campaign with a 3-0 victory over James Hurrell with an average of 95, after which he reached a moyenne of 97 in his match against Brendan Dolan at the last 32. In the eighth finals, Van Gerwen made another move. In a high-class match, he defeated Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 thanks to an average of 102. With this form, Van Gerwen can become world champion, De Graaf also indicated after his lost match.

Like a jack-in-the-box, Callan Rydz is back. Three years ago, Rydz reached the quarterfinals at the World Darts Championship, but after that, "The Riot" was actually invisible for three years. Rydz was really only in the news with unsportsmanlike behavior after a defeat, such as breaking his darts in half after a match on the Euro Tour. Meanwhile, Rydz has things better in order, and impressed at the World Darts Championship with wins over Romeo Grbavac (3-0), Martin Schindler (3-0) and Dimitri van den Bergh (4-0). Against Grbavac and Van den Bergh he recorded averages of 107 and 105, respectively. At the last sixteen, Rydz did have to go deep against Robert Owen, who was narrowly defeated 4-3.

Five times before, Van Gerwen and Rydz faced each other on the PDC circuit. In 2020, the first encounter was won 6-4 by Van Gerwen, but after that it was Rydz who prevailed twice, 6-4, and thus briefly had a positive record against the three-time world champion. The Dutchman evened the score again in 2023 by beating Rydz 6-3 at the Players Championship Finals, their only previous clash at a major. In 2024, Van Gerwen settled with Rydz 6-0 at a Players Championship tournament.

TV Guide during World Darts Championship

Sky Sports are broadcasting the entire World Darts Championship in the UK with coverage throughout on a dedicated channel Sky Sports Darts.

A subscription is required to access this though which can be sought on a Sky box or through their streaming platform.

Read also

TV Guide World Darts Championship 2025: Here's how to watch every dart thrown live at Ally Pally on Sky Sports

Prize money

The 96 participants at the 2025 World Darts Championship may divide as much as 2.5 million pounds between them. That amount is almost forty times higher than at the very first edition of the PDC Worlds in 1994.

The 64 participants to start in the first round of the World Darts Championship will receive £7500 in prize money anyway. The top-32 of the seedings list are guaranteed 15,000 pounds. These players enter the World Darts Championship from the second round. The amount then increases further each round. The new world champion will receive the top prize of 500,000 pounds.

Read also

Here's how much players can earn in Prize Money at 2025 PDC World Darts Championship

Format

First round: Best of 5 sets

Second round: Best of 5 sets

Third round: Best of 7 sets

Fourth round: Best of 7 sets

Quarterfinals: Best of 9 sets

Semifinals: Best of 11 sets

Final: Best of 13 sets

In the first round, there will be no tiebreak if it is 2-2 after four legs in the fifth set. In that case, the fifth leg will be sudden-death. Starting from the second round, a tie-break rule will be applied in all matches; a deciding set must be won with a difference of two legs. If the score in the final set becomes 5-5, a sudden-death leg will still be played.

World Darts Championship 2025 Schedule

Wednesday, Jan. 1

Afternoon session (from 12:30 p.m.)

2x quarterfinals

Chris Dobey v Gerwyn Price

Michael van Gerwen v Callan Rydz

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Unlock your ultimate darts experience—subscribe today for exclusive access to top stories.

Subscribe