DARTS fans are in for a thrilling end to 2024 as the World Championship is rolling through at – and the top stars are currently battling it out for the iconic crown once again!
Luke Humphries rubber-stamped his name in darts history by beating teen sensation Luke Littler to lift the 2023/24 crown and earn World No 1 status for the first time in his career.
Luke Humphries will defend his World Darts Championship title in December[/caption]
It was a match fit to be labelled as the showpiece event, with Humphries marginally winning 7-4 despite being 4-2 down at one stage.
The tournament broke records by recording the most 180s achieved (914), raising £914,000 for charity, which was ultimately rounded up to £1 million.
And with competition rife as ever, especially between the two Lukes, fans are in for another super spectacle at Alexandra Palace.
Humphries is set to start his campaign on the first night of the competition and will face the winner of Thibault Tricole vs Joe Comito, while Littler will not play until December 21 – the same night as Tyson Fury‘s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Plus, the likes of Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen are all set to feature.
But there will be no emotional Ally Pally send-off for darts legend Steve Beaton as the Bronzed Adonis failed at the first hurdle of Tour Card Holder qualifying.
When is the World Darts Championship?
- The World Darts Championship got underway on Sunday, December 15 and will conclude on Friday, January 3, 2025.
- Afternoon sessions are scheduled to start from 12.30pm GMT while the evening sessions take place from 7pm GMT.
- Day 1 of the competition will only have an evening session, while there is no play from December 24-26.
- Alexandra Palace in North London is the chosen venue for this iconic competition.
- Luke Humphries pipped Luke Littler to the 2023/24 title with a 7-4 win.
What TV channel is the World Darts Championship on and can it be live streamed?
- The 2024/25 World Darts Championship will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sports in the UK.
- Fans in the UK can stream the entire action on NOW TV.
- Matches are also available to watch on PDCTV or their worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay.
- SunSport will also have a rolling LIVE BLOG that will cover every match and all the latest news from the tournament.
What is the World Darts Championship format?
It will be the best of five sets in the first and second rounds of the tournament.
As the rounds progress, matches go to best of seven, then nine before reaching best of 11.
While the final will be the best of 13 sets.
The 32 highest-ranking darts players have already automatically qualified for the second round.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries
World Darts Championship 2024/25 schedule
Sunday, December 15
Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Thibault Tricole 3-1 Joe Comito (R1)
- Jermaine Wattimena 3-0 Stefan Bellmont (R1)
- Kim Huybrechts 1-3 Keane Barry (R1)
- Luke Humphries 3-0 Thibault Tricole (R2)
Monday, December 16
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Wesley Plaisier 3-2 Ryusei Azemoto (R1)
- Luke Woodhouse 3-0 Lourence Ilagan (R1)
- Alan Soutar 1-3 Kai Gotthardt (R1)
- James Wade 0-3 Jermaine Wattimena (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Niels Zonneveld 1-3 Robert Owen (R1)
- Connor Scutt 3-0 Ben Robb (R1)
- Cameron Menzies 1-3 Leonard Gates (R1)
- Gerwyn Price 3-0 Keane Barry (R2)
Tuesday, December 17
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- James Hurrell 3-0 Jim Long (R1)
- Kevin Doets 3-1 Noa-Lynn van Leuven (R1)
- Ryan Joyce 3-1 Darius Labanauskas (R1)
- Mike De Decker 1-3 Luke Woodhouse (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Jeffrey de Graaf 3-1 Rashad Sweeting (R1)
- Ricardo Pietreczko 3-0 Xiaochen Zong (R1)
- Ryan Meikle 3-2 Fallon Sherrock (R1)
- Peter Wright 3-1 Wesley Plaisier (R2)
Wednesday, December 18 (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Jim Williams 2-3 Paolo Nebrida (R1)
- Madars Razma 3-1 Christian Kist (R1)
- Ricky Evans 3-2 Gordon Mathers (R1)
- Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Leonard Gates (R2)
Thursday, December 19
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Chris Landman 1-3 Lok Yin Lee (R1)
- Callan Rydz 3-0 Romeo Grbavac (R1)
- Martin Lukeman 3-1 Nitin Kumar (R1)
- Gabriel Clemens 1-3 Robert Owen (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Nick Kenny 3-0 Stowe Buntz (R1)
- Mensur Suljovic 2-3 Matt Campbell (R1)
- Scott Williams 3-1 Niko Springer (R1)
- Michael Smith 2-3 Kevin Doets (R2)
Friday, December 20
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
- Stephen Burton 0-3 Alexander Merkx (R1)
- Wessel Nijman 3-2 Cameron Carolissen (R1)
- Ian White vs Sandro Eric Sosing (R1) – White wins by walkover after Sosing withdraws
- Stephen Bunting 3-1 Kai Gotthardt (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
2x First Round, 2x Second Round
- Mickey Mansell 3-1 Tomoya Goto (R1)
- Florian Hempel 3-1 Jeffrey De Zwaan (R1)
- William O’Connor 1-3 Dylan Slevin (R1)
- Michael van Gerwen 3-0 James Hurrell (R2)
Saturday, December 21
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
4x Second Round
- Karel Sedlacek vs Rhys Griffin (R1)
- Richard Veenstra vs Alexis Toylo (R1)
- Brendan Dolan vs Lok-Yin Lee (R2)
- Chris Dobey vs Burton/Merkx (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
4x Second Round
- Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce (R2)
- Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny(R2)
- Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle (R2)
- Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt (R2)
Sunday, December 22
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
4x Second Round
- Ryan Searle vs Matt Campbell (R2)
- Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Razma/Kist (R2)
- Joe Cullen vs Nijman/Carolissen (R2)
- Ritchie Edhouse vs White/Sosing (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
4x Second Round
- Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz (R2)
- Ross Smith vs J Williams/Nebrida (R2)
- Gary Anderson vs De Graaf/Sweeting (R2)
- Dimitri van den Bergh vs O’Connor/Slevin (R2)
Monday, December 23
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
4x Second Round
- Krzysztof Ratajski vs Veenstra/Toylo (R2)
- Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman (R2)
- Josh Rock vs Sedlacek/Griffin (R2)
- Jonny Clayton vs Mansell/Goto (R2)
Evening Session (7pm)
4x Second Round
- Gian van Veen vs Pietreczko/Zong (R2)
- Daryl Gurney vs Hempel/De Zwaan (R2)
- Dave Chisnall vs Evans/Mathers (R2)
- Rob Cross vs Scott Williams/Springer (R2)
Friday, December 27
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Third Round
Evening Session (7pm)
3x Third Round
Saturday, December 28
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Third Round
Evening Session (7pm)
3x Third Round
Sunday, December 29
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Third Round
Evening Session (7pm)
1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round
Monday, December 30
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Fourth Round
Evening Session (7pm)
3x Fourth Round
Wednesday, January 1
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
2x Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (7pm)
2x Quarter-Finals
Thursday, January 2 (7.30pm)
Semi-Finals
Friday, January 3 (8pm)
Final
