These are the five biggest absentees from the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship
PDC
The 2025 PDC World Darts Championship promises to be another darting spectacle. The field of participants consists of 96 of the very best in the world, but as happens every year, there are some prominent names who are conspicuous by their absence.
According to Dartsnews.com, these are the five best-known darters who will have to miss this year's prestigious darting extravaganza at the Alexandra Palace...
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It's not a surprise, but like last year, Adrian Lewis is once again absent from the World Darts Championship. 'Jackpot' took a temporary break from darts back in April 2023 and did not play a single PDC tournament this season. Lewis will not be there next year either, but the darter from Stoke-on-Trent has announced his comeback at the MODUS Super Series. It remains a shame that a darter of his caliber is not competing at the World Darts Championship. With two world titles and a historic nine-darter in the 2011 World final, Lewis is one of the modern icons in the sport of darts.
This iconic darter is also sadly absent. Simon Whitlock is missing this year after a disappointing season. The experienced Australian darter, finalist at the 2010 World Darts Championship, was renowned for his trademark goatee and long ponytail plus guaranteed spectacular finishes in his heyday. This year, "The Wizard" could not produce consistent results on the Pro Tour though, and as a result, is set to lose his Tour Card.
Mervyn King, a veteran darts player with numerous World Championship appearances, failed to qualify for the darts' calendar's main event this year. King, who reached the semifinals of the 2009 World Championship at Alexandra Palace, proved himself a consistent player on the tour for many years, but since 2023, things have gone downhill for 'The King'. At the 2022 World Darts Championship, the Englishman was still a surprising quarterfinalist, but barely three years later, King is absent from Ally Pally for the second year running.
Steve Beaton stood on the World Darts Championship stage for 33 years in a row, but in his farewell year, the charismatic Englishman has failed to qualify for the most important tournament of the year. During the last World Championship, Beaton announced that 2024 was going to be his last season on the PDC Tour. His results on the Pro Tour were not enough to force World Championship participation for the 34th time. Next year, though, "The Bronzed Adonis" will be on display at the World Seniors Darts Championship. Beaton played at Lakeside from 1992 through 2001, where he became world champion in 1996. At the PDC, Beaton was a lot less successful in his 23 participations. Only at the 2004 and 2020 editions did he reach the last sixteen.
Looking purely at the rankings, Jose de Sousa is the biggest absentee from the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. The world number 40 is the highest ranked player who did not qualify for the conclusion of the season. Especially at the Players Championship tournaments, the Portuguese failed. In 19 of the 30 floor tournaments he was eliminated in the first round. De Sousa participated in the World Darts Championship for the first time at the 2012 edition, but only returned in 2019. After that, 'The Special One' competed six times in a row, with a spot in the last sixteen in 2023 as his best result.
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- Less exhibitions then you numpty.Mysstree06-04-2025
- I agree. There needs to be a points system and preferably just a rolling one year. World Championship should earn the most points though it can be argued that the current qualification system does see a fair few players qualify from regional country qualifiers who would struggle to hold down a place on the Pro Tour. If prize money won is going to remain as the determining factor for ranking then the World Championship should just consist of the 128 Tour Card Holders. Another option would be to take the World Championship out of the rankings and have it as the stand alone pinnacle that you qualify for by winning certain tournaments or your ranking position, sort of like a GSOD+.Mysstree05-04-2025
- The Premier league has literally become a pantomime with a hero and villain, all thats needed is an older dart player in drag to play the joke old woman / queen and a younger woman to play the male hero. Barry is probably working on it now.Mysstree04-04-2025
- Ridiculous the booing for both these players in the final in Germany tonightListerAnderson03-04-2025
- May only have won two PDC Majors but thats two more than most players will ever win. He wasn’t lucky either to beat Taylor and MVG, he outplayed them.Mysstree29-03-2025
- Bunting is having a nightmare.Mysstree28-03-2025
- The next prodigy (prodigies) are just round the corner. Wonder if it gets to the stage of 180 after 180 being hit leg after leg whether there will be a modification to the equipment such as reduced doubles and trebles, reduce the size of the board or length of the oche?Mysstree25-03-2025
- obviously littler has the potential to surpass everybody simply because nobody has been this good at this age before, but people who think he would be any kind of favourite right now against prime taylor in a big final have short memories. it's obvious that prime taylor wouldn't win as many world titles if he was playing today, but there's also good reason to believe he'd be winning more than anybody else. hell, his statistical profile still stands alone in darts history and he might statistically be even better if he was playing today with better equipment, larger beds, more competition therefore more motivation, etc.colt24-03-2025
- Bad idea. Every other Major ranking title prize funds added together do not come to £1 million. Add £500k to the prize pot and spread it out evenly over the draw.Mysstree24-03-2025
- Jake Paul is an arrogant American attention seeker. It would be nice to see - Usyk knock the arrogance out of him... but take his time in doing so.MrYnyslas197123-03-2025