It's the most wonderful time of the year!
The World Darts Championship gets under way tomorrow night in London's Alexandra Palace with Luke Littler the firm favourite to retain the Sid Waddell Trophy and the accompanying £1m pay cheque.
As the winner’s prize money has doubled from last year, the field has also increased to a record 128 players taking to the stage at the famous north London venue.
They will battle it out in 127 matches in 36 sessions across 20 days with the seeds joining in the first round.
The landscape of the game has changed dramatically over the last two years and it’s largely down to the performances of the 18-year-old Littler, who beat Michael van Gerwen in last year’s final after losing the previous year’s decider, aged just 16, to Luke Humphries.
Littler is hotly tipped to become the first player since Gary Anderson in 2016 to retain the title, but Premier League winner Humphries, Gian van Veen, Gerwyn Price and Antrim’s Josh Rock are among those waiting to pounce if the Warrington youngster suffers a bad night on the oche.
Those are few and far between, and the Professional Darts Corporation’s statistician Christopher Kempf has calculated Littler is winning 68% of his legs in 15 darts or fewer, giving his opponents a 5-10% chance of breaking his throw when he does so.
"He is at the top of his game in scoring (46 180s per 100 legs played) and finishing (47% doubles), operating at a level few other players ever achieve in their careers," adds Kempf.
Rock, who alongside Derry’s Daryl Gurney won the World Cup of Darts for Northern Ireland earlier his year, reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam and Players Championship, and the last four of the Matchplay.
Rock and eventual winner Littler met in an incredible semi-final at the Winter Gardens and landed a combined 29 180s throughout the tie but it was a relentless Littler who overturned a five-leg deficit to claim a 17-14 victory.
The 24-year-old is ranked 11th on the PDC’s order of merit and faces Women’s Series qualifier Gemma Hayter in the first round.
Rock’s quarter of the draw includes Van Gerwen, Anderson and Beau Greaves, the top female in the world but he’ll quietly fancy his chances of winning that board.
His first-round game is on 19 December with no fewer than five Irish dartists in action on the day.
"I've had a fantastic year and I’ve gained a lot more experience," he said.
"This year is probably the most I have ever looked forward to the World Championship, because I’ve been playing well in most TV tournaments.
"Hopefully that experience can help me produce the goods this year."
Tyrone’s Mickey Mansell, ranked 45 and a Grand Slam semi-finalist last year, takes on USA’s Leonard Gates, while Limerick’s Willie O’Connor opens up the evening session against Krzysztof Kciuk of Poland.
The Magpie, ranked 41, has been consistent across the year and was unlucky to have missed out on some of the televised tournaments.
The final game of the first round sees Meath’s Keane Barry, a former double World Youth Champion, take on Australia’s Tim Pusey.
Barry’s form improved over the last month and he’ll be desperate to make an impression this time around and improve on his world ranking of 55.
Brendan Dolan, ranked 39, from Fermanagh will be hoping he can emulate his runs in 2019 and 2024 when he reached the quarter-finals.
Two years ago he lost out in the last eight to Littler. He meets England’s Tavis Dudeney in the first round next Monday.
Carlow’s Steve Lennon, at 76 in the order of merit, has struggled to make an impact over recent years but comes up against an opponent in Australia’s Damon Heta who is not firing on all cylinders either.
He's the first Irish player in action on Friday night.
Van Gerwen, who last won the title in 2019 and is looking for a fourth crown, remains a serious threat but has endured a tough year away from the oche and would need to find his best form in a couple of years to go all the way.
Former champions Michael Smith, Rob Cross and Peter Wright don’t appear in the right place to put together the run required to feature in the final on 3 January.
Paul Lim makes his World Championship return this year! 🙌
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 9, 2025
'The Singapore Slinger' came so close to achieving perfection on the Ally Pally stage in the 2017/18 event!
What a moment that would have been! 😩 pic.twitter.com/Td2waFQOYx
Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld will bring the fans and the colour to the stage when he lines up against Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont.
The Singapore Slinger Paul Lim will rival Barney for the most popular player at the Palace this year.
Lim, the first man to hit a nine-darter at the World Championship in 1990 against Ireland's Jack McKenna, is 71 years old.
Queen of the Palace Fallon Sherrock faces Dave Chisnall but the focus will be on Greaves, who averaged over 100 in one-leg defeats to both Van Gerwen and Anderson in the Grand Slam, while she also defeated Littler in the World Youth semi-final in October.
The 21-year-old three-time Lakeside champion takes on Gurney, a former Grand Prix and Players Championship winner, on Friday week.
How exactly did darts become such a phenomenon?
But the story remains Littler.
The world number one, who has won six majors this year including the UK Open, Grand Prix, Grand Slam, and Players Championship Finals, kicks off his defence against Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas, a quarter-finalist in 2019/2020 on Thursday evening.
The expanded tournament has a prize pot of £5m and the sponsors, Paddy Power, will donate £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180, as well an incredible £180,000 nine-dart bonus shared between charity, player and a member of the crowd.
As usual, there’s a three-day break from the 24th to the 27th when the third and fourth rounds get under way, and another down day on New Year's Eve.
This is a tournament that delivers storylines like no other, expect big seeds to fall early, unlikely runs from players you haven't heard of, incredible averages, big fishes and likely a couple of nine-darters.
Let the game ons begin.
2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship Round One Schedule
Thursday 11 December (1900)
Kim Huybrechts v Arno Merk
Michael Smith v Lisa Ashton
Luke Littler v Darius Labanauskas
Madars Razma v Jamai van den Herik
Friday 12 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Niels Zonneveld v Haupai Puha
Ian White v Mervyn King
Ryan Searle v Chris Landman
Rob Cross v Cor Dekker
Evening Session (1900)
Ross Smith v Andreas Harrysson
Ricky Evans v Man Lok Leung
Gian van Veen v Cristo Reyes
Damon Heta v Steve Lennon
Saturday 13 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Mario Vandenbogaerde v David Davies
Andrew Gilding v Cam Crabtree
Luke Woodhouse v Boris Krcmar
Gary Anderson v Adam Hunt
Evening Session (1900)
Jeffrey de Graaf v Paul Lim
Wessel Nijman v Karel Sedlacek
Luke Humphries v Ted Evetts
Gabriel Clemens v Alex Spellman
Sunday 14 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Ritchie Edhouse v Jonny Tata
Dom Taylor v Oskar Lukasiak
Richard Veenstra v Nitin Kumar
Joe Cullen v Bradley Brooks
Evening Session (1900)
Lukas Wenig v Wesley Plaisier
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Darren Beveridge
Stephen Bunting v Sebastian Bialecki
James Hurrell v Stowe Buntz
Monday 15 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Brendan Dolan v Tavis Dudeney
Cameron Menzies v Charlie Manby
Mensur Suljovic v David Cameron
Peter Wright v Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Evening Session (1900)
Martin Lukeman v Max Hopp
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Andy Baetens
Jonny Clayton v Adam Lipscombe
Connor Scutt v Simon Whitlock
Tuesday 16 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Alan Soutar v Teemu Harju
Nick Kenny v Justin Hood
Scott Williams v Paolo Nebrida
Chris Dobey v Xiaochen Zong
Evening Session (1900)
Ricardo Pietreczko v Jose de Sousa
Danny Noppert v Jurjen van der Velde
Gerwyn Price v Adam Gawlas
Niko Springer v Joe Comito
Wednesday 17 December (1900)
Matt Campbell v Adam Sevada
Raymond van Barneveld v Stefan Bellmont
James Wade v Ryusei Azemoto
Martin Schindler v Stephen Burton
Thursday 18 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Callan Rydz v Patrik Kovacs
Thibault Tricole v Motomu Sakai
Ryan Joyce v Owen Bates
Mike De Decker v David Munyua
Evening Session (1900)
Jermaine Wattimena v Dominik Gruellich
Dave Chisnall v Fallon Sherrock
Michael van Gerwen v Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
Krzysztof Ratajski v Alexis Toylo
Friday 19 December Afternoon Session (1230)
Kevin Doets v Matthew Dennant
Ryan Meikle v Jesus Salate
Mickey Mansell v Leonard Gates
Josh Rock v Gemma Hayter
Evening Session (1900)
William O'Connor v Krzysztof Kciuk
Daryl Gurney v Beau Greaves
Nathan Aspinall v Lourence Ilagan
Keane Barry v Tim Pusey
