 The stage at the2016 edition | |
| Founded | 1994 |
|---|---|
| First season | 1994 |
| Organising body | Professional Darts Corporation |
| Country | England |
| Venues | Circus Tavern (1994–2007) Alexandra Palace (since 2008) |
| Most recent champion |  Luke Littler(2025) |
| Broadcaster | Sky Sports (1993–) |
| Tournament format | Sets |
 2025 PDC World Darts Championship | |
ThePDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as thePaddy Power World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport ofdarts. The championship begins in December and ends in January and has been held atAlexandra Palace inLondon, since 2008. Organised by theProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC), it is the most prestigious of their tournaments, with the winner receiving the Sid Waddell Trophy, named in honour of the darts commentatorSid Waddell. Along with thePremier League Darts andWorld Matchplay, it is part of theTriple Crown.
The PDC championship began in 1994 as theWDC World Darts Championship as one of the consequences of thesplit in darts, which saw theWorld Darts Council break away from the BDO. As a result of the settlement between the BDO and the WDC in 1997, the WDC became the PDC, and players were then free to choose which world championship to enter (but not both in the same year), as long as they met certain eligibility criteria. Both organisations continued to organize their own world championship until the 2020 editions, after which the BDO folded.
There have been thirteen different winners since the tournament's inception. With 14 wins from 25 appearances,Phil Taylor dominated the competition until last winning it in 2013. Other players to win more than once areJohn Part (2003 & 2008),Adrian Lewis (2011 & 2012),Gary Anderson (2015 & 2016),Michael van Gerwen (2014, 2017 & 2019) andPeter Wright (2020 & 2022). The one-time winners are the inaugural championDennis Priestley (1994),Raymond van Barneveld (2007),Rob Cross (2018),Gerwyn Price (2021), Michael Smith (2023),Luke Humphries (2024) andLuke Littler (2025).
In 1992,some high-profile players, including all previous winners of theBDO World Darts Championship still active in the game, formed the WDC, and in 1994, held their first World Championship.Dennis Priestley won the inaugural competition.
The players who broke away were taking a significant gamble – the tournament was broadcast on satellite television rather than terrestrial, and from 1994 to 2001, the prize fund for the players in the WDC/PDC World Championship was lower than the prize fund in the (BDO version, although the 1997 PDC World Champion received £45,000 compared to that year's BDO World Champion receiving £38,000. In 2002, the PDC prize fund overtook that of the BDO for the first time, and the PDC event now boasts the largest prize fund of any darts competition. In 2010, the prize fund reached £1 million for the first time, with the champion collecting £200,000.
The 2014 and 2015 PDC world champions collected £250,000 for their wins. For the next three years, the winner's share increased by £50,000 each year culminating in a 2018 prize fund of £1.8 million.[1] The prize fund for the tournament was £2.5 million with £500,000 to the winner from 2019. The 2025/26 World Championship will see the field expand to 128 players with the prize fund increasing to £5 million with a record £1 million to the champion.
The tournament has been held atAlexandra Palace inLondon since 2008, having previously been held at theCircus Tavern inPurfleet,Essex, from 1994 to 2007.[2] Currently, the play takes place inside the venue's West Hall, which has a capacity of 3,200.[3]
| Year | Champion(average in final)[4] | Score | Runner-up(average in final) | Prize money | Sponsor | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total[5] | Champion | Runner-up | ||||||
| 1994 | Dennis Priestley (94.38) | 6–1 | Phil Taylor (85.62) | £64,000 | £16,000 | £8,000 | Skol | Circus Tavern, Purfleet |
| 1995 | Phil Taylor (94.11) | 6–2 | Rod Harrington (87.15) | £55,000 | £12,000 | £6,000 | Proton Cars | |
| 1996 | Phil Taylor (98.52) | 6–4 | Dennis Priestley (101.48) | £62,500 | £14,000 | £7,000 | Vernon's Pools | |
| 1997 | Phil Taylor (100.92) | 6–3 | Dennis Priestley (96.78) | £99,500 | £45,000 | £10,000 | Red Band | |
| 1998 | Phil Taylor (103.98) | 6–0 | Dennis Priestley (90.75) | £72,500 | £20,000 | Skol | ||
| 1999 | Phil Taylor (97.11) | 6–2 | Peter Manley (93.63) | £104,000 | £30,000 | £16,000 | ||
| 2000 | Phil Taylor (94.42) | 7–3 | Dennis Priestley (91.80) | £111,000 | £31,000 | £16,400 | ||
| 2001 | Phil Taylor (107.46) | 7–0 |  John Part (92.58) | £125,000 | £33,000 | £18,000 | ||
| 2002 | Phil Taylor (98.47) | 7–0 | Peter Manley (91.35) | £205,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 | ||
| 2003 | John Part (96.87) | 7–6 | Phil Taylor (99.98) | £237,000 | Ladbrokes | |||
| 2004 | Phil Taylor (96.03) | 7–6 | Kevin Painter (90.48) | £257,000 | ||||
| 2005 | Phil Taylor (96.14) | 7–4 | Mark Dudbridge (90.66) | £300,000 | £60,000 | £30,000 | ||
| 2006 | Phil Taylor (106.74) | 7–0 | Peter Manley (91.72) | £500,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 | ||
| 2007 |  Raymond van Barneveld (100.93) | 7–6 | Phil Taylor (100.86) | |||||
| 2008 | John Part (92.86) | 7–2 | Kirk Shepherd (85.10) | £589,000 | Alexandra Palace, London | |||
| 2009 | Phil Taylor (110.94) | 7–1 | Raymond van Barneveld (101.18) | £724,000 | £125,000 | £60,000 | ||
| 2010 | Phil Taylor (104.38) | 7–3 |  Simon Whitlock (100.51) | £1,000,000 | £200,000 | £100,000 | ||
| 2011 | Adrian Lewis (99.40) | 7–5 |  Gary Anderson (99.41) | |||||
| 2012 | Adrian Lewis (93.06) | 7–3 | Andy Hamilton (90.83) | |||||
| 2013 | Phil Taylor (103.04) | 7–4 | Michael van Gerwen (100.66) | |||||
| 2014 | Michael van Gerwen (100.10) | 7–4 | Peter Wright (95.71) | £1,050,000 | £250,000 | |||
| 2015 | Gary Anderson (97.68) | 7–6 | Phil Taylor (100.69) | £1,250,000 | £120,000 | William Hill | ||
| 2016 | Gary Anderson (99.26) | 7–5 | Adrian Lewis (100.23) | £1,500,000 | £300,000 | £150,000 | ||
| 2017 | Michael van Gerwen (108.06) | 7–3 | Gary Anderson (104.93) | £1,650,000 | £350,000 | £160,000 | ||
| 2018 | Rob Cross (107.67) | 7–2 | Phil Taylor (102.26) | £1,800,000 | £400,000 | £170,000 | ||
| 2019 | Michael van Gerwen (102.21) | 7–3 | Michael Smith (95.29) | £2,500,000 | £500,000 | £200,000 | ||
| 2020 | Peter Wright (102.79) | 7–3 | Michael van Gerwen (102.88) | |||||
| 2021 |  Gerwyn Price (100.08) | 7–3 | Gary Anderson (94.25) | |||||
| 2022 | Peter Wright (98.34) | 7–5 | Michael Smith (99.22) | |||||
| 2023 | Michael Smith (100.71)[6] | 7–4 | Michael van Gerwen (99.58) | Cazoo | ||||
| 2024 | Luke Humphries (103.67) | 7–4 | Luke Littler (101.13) | Paddy Power | ||||
| 2025 | Luke Littler (102.73) | 7–3 | Michael van Gerwen (100.69) | |||||
| 2026 | £5,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £400,000 | |||||
| Rank | Player | Winner | Runner-up | Finals | Apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Taylor | 14 | 5 | 19 | 25 |
| 2 | Michael van Gerwen | 3 | 4 | 7 | 18 |
| 3 | Gary Anderson | 2 | 3 | 5 | 16 |
| 4 | Adrian Lewis | 2 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| John Part | 2 | 1 | 3 | 18 | |
| Peter Wright | 2 | 1 | 3 | 16 | |
| 7 | Dennis Priestley | 1 | 4 | 5 | 19 |
| 8 | Michael Smith | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| 9 | Raymond van Barneveld | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
| Luke Littler | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 11 | Rob Cross | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Luke Humphries | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| Gerwyn Price | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | |
| 12 | Peter Manley | 0 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 14 | Mark Dudbridge | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Andy Hamilton | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | |
| Rod Harrington | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
| Kevin Painter | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17 | |
| Kirk Shepherd | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Simon Whitlock | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Country | Players | Total | First title | Last title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 7 | 21 | 1994 | 2025 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 4 | 2007 | 2019 |
| Scotland | 2 | 4 | 2015 | 2022 |
| Canada | 1 | 2 | 2003 | 2008 |
| Wales | 1 | 1 | 2021 | 2021 |
Sixteennine-dart finishes have been thrown at the World Championship. The first one was in 2009.
Two have been made in world finals: firstly byAdrian Lewis in 2011 and thenMichael Smith in 2023.
Since the breakaway of the PDC players, there has been much debate about the relative merits of the players within each organisation. The debate often focuses on the three-dart averages of players in matches.
An average over 100 in a match in the PDC World Championship has since been achieved 195 times.[7] This is compared to 21 times in the BDO World Championship, following the 2019 event. In2010Phil Taylor became the first player to average over 100 in all six rounds of the tournament. He repeated this feat (though lost the final) in2015 andMichael van Gerwen achieved it in2017 and2019.
An average of over 105 in a match in the PDC World Championship has been achieved 40 times. The highest match average ever in the BDO World Championship is 103.83 by Raymond van Barneveld in his quarter-final victory over John Walton in 2004.
| Ten highest PDC World Championship one-match averages[8] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year (+Round) | Opponent | Result |
| 114.05 | Michael van Gerwen | 2017, Semi-Final | Raymond van Barneveld | 6–2 |
| 111.21 | Phil Taylor | 2002, 2nd Round | Shayne Burgess | 6–1 |
| 110.94 | Phil Taylor | 2009, Final | Raymond van Barneveld | 7–1 |
| 109.34 | Raymond van Barneveld | 2017, Semi-Final | Michael van Gerwen | 2–6 |
| 109.23 | Michael van Gerwen | 2016, 2nd Round | Darren Webster | 4–0 |
| 109.00 | Phil Taylor | 2007, 2nd Round |  Mick McGowan | 4–1 |
| 108.98 | Michael van Gerwen | 2021, 2nd Round | Ryan Murray | 3–1 |
| 108.80 | Phil Taylor | 2009, Quarter-Final | Co Stompé | 5–0 |
| 108.74 | Luke Humphries | 2024, Semi-Final | Scott Williams | 6–0 |
| 108.65 | Michael van Gerwen | 2018, 2nd Round | James Wilson | 4–0 |
| Five highest losing averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year (+Round) | Opponent | Result |
| 109.34 | Raymond van Barneveld | 2017, Semi-Final | Michael van Gerwen | 2–6 |
| 106.09 | Jeffrey de Zwaan | 2019, 2nd Round | Rob Cross | 1–3 |
| 106.07 |  Cristo Reyes | 2017, 2nd Round | Michael van Gerwen | 2–4 |
| 105.78 | Michael van Gerwen | 2016, 3rd Round | Raymond van Barneveld | 3–4 |
| 104.93 | Gary Anderson | 2017, Final | Michael van Gerwen | 3–7 |
| Players with 5 or more 100+ match average (updated 3 January 2025) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Total | Highest Av. | Year (+Round) |
| Phil Taylor | 56 | 111.21 | 2002, 2nd Round |
| Michael van Gerwen | 42 | 114.05 | 2017, Semi-Final |
| Gary Anderson | 23 | 108.39 | 2011, 3rd Round |
| Peter Wright | 16 | 105.86 | 2020, Quarter-Final |
| Adrian Lewis | 15 | 106.51 | 2010, 1st Round |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 13 | 109.34 | 2017, Semi-Final |
| Michael Smith | 13 | 106.32 | 2022, 2nd Round |
| Luke Littler | 10 | 106.12 | 2024, 1st Round |
| Rob Cross | 7 | 107.67 | 2018, Final |
| Dave Chisnall | 7 | 107.34 | 2021, Quarter-Final |
| Stephen Bunting | 7 | 107.28 | 2024, 2nd Round |
| Simon Whitlock | 7 | 105.37 | 2010, Quarter-Final |
 Dimitri Van den Bergh | 6 | 105.61 | 2021, 2nd Round |
| Gerwyn Price | 5 | 104.20 | 2020, 3rd Round |
| Ten highest tournament averages(min 3 matches) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year | Round (+ result) | Reference |
| 106.37 | Michael van Gerwen | 2017 | Final (won) | [9] |
| 104.68 | Michael van Gerwen | 2016 | 3rd Round | [10] |
| 104.63 | Phil Taylor | 2010 | Final (won) | [11] |
| 104.19 | Adrian Lewis | 2010 | Quarter-Final | [11] |
| 104.08 | Phil Taylor | 2009 | Final (won) | [12] |
| 104.05 | Michael van Gerwen | 2018 | Semi-Final | [13] |
| 103.64 | Michael van Gerwen | 2021 | Quarter-Final | |
| 103.45 | Gary Anderson | 2017 | Final (loss) | [9] |
| 103.38 | Michael van Gerwen | 2019 | Final (won) | [14] |
| 103.06 | Gary Anderson | 2011 | Final (loss) | [15] |
Note: Tournament averages above were calculated by summing the match averages of a player by the number of matches. This does not take into account the length of the matches. The true three dart average is defined by three times the "total points scored" divided by the "number of darts used". The real 2017 tournament average for Michael van Gerwen was 107.06.
The PDC World Championship has been broadcast live and in its entirety bySky Sports in the UK since its inception. Since 2009 the tournament has been presented inHigh Definition (HD). Their coverage is currently presented from a studio overlooking the interior of the Alexandra Palace venue.
The current presenting team is as follows:[30]
Presenters:
Commentators:
Co-commentators/pundits:
Former presenters and commentators have been:
Dutch broadcasterSBS6, having covered the BDO World Darts Championship for many years, also covered the event untilRTL7 took over broadcasting.TV3 Sport (Denmark),Fox Sports (Australia),TSN (Canada),SuperSport (South Africa),Sky Sport (New Zealand),StarHub (Singapore), Ten Sports (India), CCTV (China), Showtime (Middle East), Ukraine TV, TVP Sport (Poland), NOVA Sport (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Sport1 (Germany, Hungary), Meersat (Malaysia), 7TV (Russia), Measat (Indonesia),J Sports (Japan),DAZN (USA, Italy), GOL TV (Spain)Eurosport (Romania),Viaplay (Iceland) andVTM4 (Belgium) now also broadcast the event.
Television viewing figures for the final are as follows:[32]
| Year | Broadcaster | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sky UK | GermanySPORT1 | Netherlands | |
| 2024 | 3.68 million peak[33] | 2.86 million peak[34] | |
| 2023 | 2,360,000[35] | ||
| 2022 | 1,490,000[36] | 1,650,000[37] | |
| 2021 | 1,000,000[38] | 1,550,000[39] | |
| 2020 | 1,006,553[40] | 1,590,000[41] | 1,200,000 (RTL 7)[42] |
| 2019 | 658,300 | 1,490,000[43] | 1,540,000 (RTL 7)[44] |
| 2018 | 1,400,000 | 2,150,000[45] | 864,000 (RTL 7) |
| 2017 | 607,000 | 1,480,000[46] | 2,170,000 (RTL 7)[47] |
| 2016 | 908,000 | 950,000[48] | 869,000 (RTL 7)[49] |
| 2015 | 1.5 million peak[50] | 1,360,000[51] | 908,000 (RTL 7)[52] |
| 2014 | 668,000 | 560,000[53] | 2,054,000 (RTL 7) |
| 2013 | 1,270,000[54] | 810,000 | 1,748,000 (RTL 7) |
| 2012 | 728,000 | 762,000 (RTL 7) | |
| 2011 | 920,000 | 435,000 (SBS6) | |
| 2010 | 888,000 | 730,000 | 854,000 (SBS6) |
| 2009 | 809,000 | 490,000 | 1,441,000 (SBS6) |
| 2008 | 731,000 | 340,000 | 211,000 (compilation SBS6) |
| 2007 | 1,028,000 | 1,339,000 (SBS6) | |
| 2006 | 761,000 | ||
| 2005 | 530,000 | ||
| 2004 | 820,000 | ||
| 2003 | 610,000 | ||
| 2002 | Unavailable | ||
| 2001 | 420,000 | ||
| 2000 | 240,000 | ||
| 1999 | 200,000 | ||
The PDC world championship events are now broadcast on www.livepdc.tv which shows the events live, highlights and also classic matches. This website is a subscription only viewing and is limited to certain territorial restrictions.
The PDC have worked with variousvideo game developers since 2006 to create a number of darts-themed titles based on the World Darts Championship tournament.
Their first gamePDC World Championship Darts was developed byMere Mortals for thePlayStation 2 andPC. The second game in the series wasPDC World Championship Darts 2008 developed by Mere Mortals for the PlayStation 2, PC,PlayStation Portable,Wii andXbox 360. A year laterRebellion Developments took over development of the series, releasing PDC World Championship Darts 2009 for the Wii andNintendo DS.
The most recent PDC World Darts Championship console game to be released wasPDC World Championship Darts Pro Tour a darts video game for thePlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. This game is the most comprehensive of the series featuring ten professional players and five official PDC tournaments including thePDC World Grand Prix,Las Vegas Desert Classic,PDC UK Open and the Holland Open.
In 2021 the PDC collaborated with Blueprint Gaming to developPDC World Darts Championship, an officially licensed slots game available to play on mobile devices and PC, the game was released in February 2021.[55]
The tournament has been sponsored by bookmakerPaddy Power in 2024. Previous sponsors have been:
Following popular darts commentatorSid Waddell's death on 11 August 2012, the decision was made to rename the champion's trophy to the Sid Waddell trophy from the 2013 tournament onwards.[56]
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