Schedule Saturday night at PDC World Darts Championship 2025: Van Gerwen and Littler battle for spot in last 16

It's Super Saturday on Saturday night at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship in London. With Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler two favourites for the world title will be in action. Will they live up to their status and make it to the last sixteen at the Alexandra Palace?

During the third round of the World Darts Championship, players need four sets won to qualify for the last sixteen of the World Darts Championship. The fourth round will take place on Dec. 29 and 30.

Follow the 2025 World Darts Championship via our LIVE SCORE!

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

Chris Dobey v Josh Rock

On paper, this should be one of the most exciting duelx of the third round; a clash between numbers fifteen and eighteen in the world. In fact, on the post-World Darts Championship rankings, they are numbers sixteen and seventeen, with a difference of only 250 pounds based on a two-year ranking. Dobey played a steady first match at the Alexandra Palace. Dobey won the first two sets in his match against Alexander Merkx, but then let the reins slip a little. Merkx grabbed a set back, but after that Dobey was on hand and triumphed 3-1. Hollywood' can advance to the eighth finals in London for the fourth consecutive year.

Rock had better forget his first match soon. Although Rock managed to win 3-0 in sets, his play was not anything to write home about. 'Rocky' himself stated afterwards that he put a lot of pressure on himself to get through his first match because he said he does not have a good record in Ally Pally.

The Englishman and the Northern Irishman met four times in the past on the PDC Tour and the standings are exactly balanced: 2-2. Rock won the first two encounters and Dobey picked up the last two confrontations in 2024, including one in the final of Players Championship 7.

Michael van Gerwen v Brendan Dolan

The World Darts Championship also continues for Michael van Gerwen, who has Brendan Dolan as his next prey in his hunt for a fourth world title. The start of 'Mighty Mike' prior to the Christmas break was solid. With an average of 95, he edged James Hurrell 3-0 in sets. All sets went 3-1 to the Dutchman. 

Brendan Dolan also did not concede a set in his first match, as he was too strong for Lok Yin Lee 3-0 in sets. 'The History Maker' gets to return after Christmas for the fifth time in seven years for the remainder of the World Darts Championship. Last year, Dolan matched his best result at the World Darts Championship by reaching the quarter-finals. During that tournament he eliminated Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson, so Dolan has proven he can win against the big men on the Worlds stage.

The Northern Irishman has also floored Van Gerwen at a television tournament before, most recently in the first round of the 2023 World Matchplay. That was also the last time the two players met. In the overall head-to-head, Van Gerwen leads 22-8.

During the 2024 World Darts Championship, Dolan emerged as the giant killer of the tournament

Luke Littler v Ian White

The eyes of the British fans will be especially focused on the final match of the evening, in which Luke Littler will make his appearance against Ian White. A fun fact; both players were born in the town of Runcorn, where White even used to play darts against Littler's grandfather.

The 17-year-old Littler will be the house favorite to advance to the eighth finals for the second year in a row. In his opening match against Ryan Meikle (3-1), Littler made a shaky impression. The final part of the match was phenomenal though, as in his final set Littler threw a set average of no less than 140, a world record.

Like Littler, White only needed to play one match to reach the last 32. The Diamond was supposed to play Sandro Eric Sosing in the first round, but the Filipino had to cancel due to medical problems. White then won 3-1 in sets against European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse. This year White already faced Littler once. White came close to victory, but had to concede 5-6 during the Euro Tour qualifying tournament.

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

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.

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 seeding 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.

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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

Saturday, December 28

Evening session (from 7 p.m.)

Third round

Chris Dobey v Josh Rock

Michael van Gerwen v Brendan Dolan

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