Schedule World Darts Championship 2025 on Monday afternoon: Josh Rock and Jonny Clayton make opening appearance at Ally Pally

We have already arrived at the final day of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship before Christmas. On Monday, the final eight matches of the second round are scheduled, including four during the afternoon session.

Two former major winners will make their appearance at London's Alexandra Palace as well as Josh Rock.

Beforehand, Richard Veenstra was expected to take Alexis Toylo's spot, but the Asian darter managed to floor the Dutchman 3-0 in the first round. If Krzysztof Ratajski has done his homework well, the Pole knows that he can get ready for a long match. Toylo makes no move to step to the oche too quickly and his throwing style is also particularly slow.

With Ratajski, Toylo meets a player who is no longer the big name that 'The Polish Eagle' was a few years ago. Ratajski has now slipped to 31st position in the world rankings. On the floor, he also failed to reach a final for the first time since 2017, and on the Euro Tours Ratajski made it to the last sixteen only twice. Nevertheless, reaching the last 32 would be a huge boost for Ratajski.

A match between two players who have never advanced beyond the second round at the World Darts Championship. So for one of these two players, a milestone is shining. Martin Lukeman has already played one match this tournament. The Grand Slam finalist fell a set behind in his match against Nitin Kumar, but then managed to win 3-1 in sets from the Indian.

Gilding stranded in the second round on each of his four previous World Cup appearances. It should be noted that Gilding has never really had a lucky draw. He lost to Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Dave Chisnall and Luke Littler respectively. Earlier this year, "Goldfinger" was a surprising quarterfinalist at the World Matchplay, while also reaching a semifinal on the floor.

The head-to-head between the two players is balanced. Lukeman and Gilding have already played each other four times and both won twice. This year they faced each other once. Then Lukeman won 6-4.

Rhys Griffin is making the most of his World Championship debut for now. The Welshman had initially not even qualified through the Pro Tour, but through the qualifying tournament for Tour Card holders he still secured a spot. Griffin then shocked in the first round with a surprisingly convincing 3-0 victory over Karel Sedlacek. It will be an unforgettable Christmas for him if Griffin manages to advance another round.

For Josh Rock, Griffin is obviously a good draw to get to the last 32 in London. However, the 23-year-old Northern Irishman has had a lousy TV year. At the World Darts Championship, The World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, European Championship and the Grand Slam of Darts he was eliminated in the first round. Two years ago, 'Rocky' made it to the last sixteen at the World Championship. So he has that result to defend this year.

Mickey Mansell earned a spot in the second round of the World Darts Championship by winning 3-1 over Tomoya Goto in his opening match. Mansell also made it to the second round at Alexandra Palace in 2021, 2023 and 2024, but has so far failed to advance to the third round.

Jonny Clayton has already managed to survive Christmas at the World Darts Championship five times in a row, culminating in the quarter-finals at the 2023 edition. 'The Ferret' is now seventh in the world rankings, but has not really achieved results in 2024 that justify this position. At the television tournaments, he reached the quarter-finals only at the World Grand Prix. Furthermore, Clayton reached one final on the Euro Tour. Clayton and Mansell have already played ten official matches against each other. Of those, six were won by Clayton and four by Mansell.

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.

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 placement 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.

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

Krzysztof Ratajski v Alexis Toylo (R2)

Andrew Gilding v Martin Lukeman (R2)

Josh Rock v Rhys Griffin (R2)

Jonny Clayton v Mickey Mansell (R2)