PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25 LIVE: Dates, start times, draw, format and competitors for iconic event plus talkSPORT commentary
The 2024/25 PDC World Championship is fast approaching as the best darts players in the world head to the Alexandra Palace to compete for the Sid Waddell Trophy. It is an event not only loved by darts fans but one that has become a key highlight of the sporting calendar. Luke Humphries is the reigning champion after beating Luke LittlerGetty Last year saw the emergence of teenage sensation Luke Littler, with the then-16-year-old making it all the way to the final during his debut appearance. Littler stunned everyone, but he couldn’t quite get over the line, with Luke Humphries proving to be too good for the Warrington-born player. However, he’ll be back and will be determined to go that one step further, while Humphries will be out to defend his title. But they won’t be the only attractions, with all of darts best players set to take their place on the oche in north London. PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: Dates and how to follow This edition of the World Darts Championship is set to get underway on Sunday, December 15, and will end on Friday, January 3. It is being held in north London at the famous Alexandra Palace, or Ally Pally as it’s commonly known. There are set to be seven rounds until the final. talkSPORT will have live commentary of the World Darts Championship action across the network. We will announce details about our team in due course. talkSPORT.com will also be right across the action with reaction and all of the latest news. To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM. The action will also be streamed on Sky Sports Main Event and Arena. Littler’s rise to prominence was one of the sporting stories of the yearX: @OfficialPDC / ITV Where to buy Luke Littler's darts range *If you click on a link in this boxout we will earn affiliate revenue Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler has released a collection with Target Darts, with prices starting at just £14.95. Choose from darts, hardware and accessories endorsed by the Grand Slam of Darts Champion 2024, or pick up The Nuke’s purple playing shirt, on the Target Darts website. Highlights include: Luke Littler brass 22g steel tip darts, £14.95 – buy here Luke Littler playing shirt, £39.95 – buy here Luke Littler 90% tungsted G1 SP darts, £99.95 – buy here Takoma Luke Litter wallet, £16.95 – buy here Luke Littler cabinet and dartboard with two sets of darts: £69.95 – buy here PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: Tournament format The draw for the event will be made at 1pm on Monday, November 25. talkSPORT’s Hawksbee & Jacobs show will bring fans the draw live and will be joined by Humphries, Littler and Michael van Gerwen for the latest reaction. You can tune in and watch the whole thing live on talkSPORT’s Youtube channel. There are set to be 96 players involved in the tournament this year. Last year, there was a prize pot of £2.5million up for grabs, with the winner taking home £500,000. However, the prize money for this edition has yet to be revealed. In terms of the 96 players, the top-ranked 32 in the world automatically qualify and enter at the second round. Another 32 are made up of the PDC Tour Order of Merit, and the rest are qualifiers. Each match in the first round sees a qualifier take on a PDC Order of Merit player. Prize money won across the season is what determines a player’s ranking, and the cut-off point is November 24. All matches are played as single in, double out – requiring players to score 501 points to win a leg, finishing on either a double or the bullseye. For all rounds except the first, the deciding set has to be won by two clear legs unless the set score goes to 5–5, in which case a sudden-death leg will be played. There would be no throw for the bull in any sudden-death legs. The matches get longer as the tournament progresses, with the first and second rounds being best of five and working up to the final which will be best of 13. Michael van Gerwen is a three-time winner at Ally Pally, and he’ll be determined to claim glory hereRex PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: What has been said? Former PDC chairman Barry Hearn believes that Littler has the chance to become one of the greatest darts players ever. Speaking on the Barry Hearn Show, he said: “He has the potential to be one of the greats of all time. “That is the sacrifice he has to make. Does money spoil him along the way? “No one really knows the answer, will he be or won’t he be? It will largely depend on him and how he copes with his new world. “I think he will surprise a lot of people with his maturity as he already has. The way he handles himself. He’s excellent. “Let’s
The 2024/25 PDC World Championship is fast approaching as the best darts players in the world head to the Alexandra Palace to compete for the Sid Waddell Trophy.
It is an event not only loved by darts fans but one that has become a key highlight of the sporting calendar.
Last year saw the emergence of teenage sensation Luke Littler, with the then-16-year-old making it all the way to the final during his debut appearance.
Littler stunned everyone, but he couldn’t quite get over the line, with Luke Humphries proving to be too good for the Warrington-born player.
However, he’ll be back and will be determined to go that one step further, while Humphries will be out to defend his title.
But they won’t be the only attractions, with all of darts best players set to take their place on the oche in north London.
PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: Dates and how to follow
This edition of the World Darts Championship is set to get underway on Sunday, December 15, and will end on Friday, January 3.
It is being held in north London at the famous Alexandra Palace, or Ally Pally as it’s commonly known.
There are set to be seven rounds until the final.
talkSPORT will have live commentary of the World Darts Championship action across the network.
We will announce details about our team in due course.
talkSPORT.com will also be right across the action with reaction and all of the latest news.
To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
The action will also be streamed on Sky Sports Main Event and Arena.
Where to buy Luke Littler's darts range
*If you click on a link in this boxout we will earn affiliate revenue
Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler has released a collection with Target Darts, with prices starting at just £14.95.
Choose from darts, hardware and accessories endorsed by the Grand Slam of Darts Champion 2024, or pick up The Nuke’s purple playing shirt, on the Target Darts website.
Highlights include:
- Luke Littler brass 22g steel tip darts, £14.95 – buy here
- Luke Littler playing shirt, £39.95 – buy here
- Luke Littler 90% tungsted G1 SP darts, £99.95 – buy here
- Takoma Luke Litter wallet, £16.95 – buy here
- Luke Littler cabinet and dartboard with two sets of darts: £69.95 – buy here
PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: Tournament format
The draw for the event will be made at 1pm on Monday, November 25.
talkSPORT’s Hawksbee & Jacobs show will bring fans the draw live and will be joined by Humphries, Littler and Michael van Gerwen for the latest reaction.
You can tune in and watch the whole thing live on talkSPORT’s Youtube channel.
There are set to be 96 players involved in the tournament this year.
Last year, there was a prize pot of £2.5million up for grabs, with the winner taking home £500,000.
However, the prize money for this edition has yet to be revealed.
In terms of the 96 players, the top-ranked 32 in the world automatically qualify and enter at the second round.
Another 32 are made up of the PDC Tour Order of Merit, and the rest are qualifiers.
Each match in the first round sees a qualifier take on a PDC Order of Merit player.
Prize money won across the season is what determines a player’s ranking, and the cut-off point is November 24.
All matches are played as single in, double out – requiring players to score 501 points to win a leg, finishing on either a double or the bullseye.
For all rounds except the first, the deciding set has to be won by two clear legs unless the set score goes to 5–5, in which case a sudden-death leg will be played. There would be no throw for the bull in any sudden-death legs.
The matches get longer as the tournament progresses, with the first and second rounds being best of five and working up to the final which will be best of 13.
PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: What has been said?
Former PDC chairman Barry Hearn believes that Littler has the chance to become one of the greatest darts players ever.
Speaking on the Barry Hearn Show, he said: “He has the potential to be one of the greats of all time.
“That is the sacrifice he has to make. Does money spoil him along the way?
“No one really knows the answer, will he be or won’t he be? It will largely depend on him and how he copes with his new world.
“I think he will surprise a lot of people with his maturity as he already has. The way he handles himself. He’s excellent.
“Let’s hope he keeps like that. We are being entertained by greatness. There are a dozen or so players that have the potential from 12 years up.
“We need to be able to tell a story, set the scene. We need to involve everybody, get people talking. Luke Littler did that. By the way, he’s still got a long way to go.
“I think he’s a sensible boy, I think he knows that. He’s pacing himself and he’s going to get beat as well, he’s not going to suddenly blow everybody away.”
PDC World Darts Championship 2024/25: Competitors
The full field for the upcoming event was confirmed on Sunday, November 24 and is as follows…
PDC Order of Merit
1. Luke Humphries (England)
2. Michael Smith (England)
3. Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
4. Luke Littler (England)
5. Rob Cross (England)
6. Dave Chisnall (England)
7. Jonny Clayton (Wales)
8. Stephen Bunting (England)
9. Damon Heta (Australia)
10. Gerwyn Price (Wales)
11. Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)
12. Nathan Aspinall (England)
13. Danny Noppert (Netherlands)
14. Gary Anderson (Scotland)
15. Chris Dobey (England)
16. James Wade (England)
17. Peter Wright (Scotland)
18. Josh Rock (Northern Ireland)
19. Ross Smith (England)
20. Ryan Searle (England)
21. Andrew Gilding (England)
22. Martin Schindler (Germany)
23. Joe Cullen (England)
24. Mike De Decker (Belgium)
25. Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands)
26. Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
27. Gabriel Clemens (Germany)
28. Gian van Veen (Netherlands)
29. Ritchie Edhouse (England)
30. Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)
31. Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland)
32. Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers
Cameron Menzies (Scotland)
Wessel Nijman (Netherlands)
Jermaine Wattimena (Netherlands)
Ricardo Pietreczko (Germany)
Luke Woodhouse (England)
Ryan Joyce (England)
Niels Zonneveld (Netherlands)
Alan Soutar (Scotland)
Madars Razma (Latvia)
Callan Rydz (England)
Wesley Plaisier (Netherlands)
Martin Lukeman (England)
Kevin Doets (Netherlands)
Richard Veenstra (Netherlands)
Scott Williams (England)
Kim Huybrechts (Belgium)
William O’Connor (Ireland)
Karel Sedlacek (Czech Republic)
Stephen Burton (England)
Thibault Tricole (France)
Connor Scutt (England)
Mensur Suljovic (Austria)
Ian White (England)
Jeffrey de Graaf (Sweden)
Jim Williams (Wales)
Florian Hempel (Germany)
Ryan Meikle (England)
Chris Landman (Netherlands)
Nick Kenny (Wales)
James Hurrell (England)
Mickey Mansell (Northern Ireland)
Ricky Evans (England)
International Qualifiers
Ryusei Azemoto (Japan)
Keane Barry (Ireland)
Stefan Bellmont (Switzerland)
Stowe Buntz (USA)
Cameron Carolissen (South Africa)
Joe Comito (Australia)
Leonard Gates (USA)
Tomoya Goto (Japan)
Kai Gotthardt (Germany)
Romeo Grbavac (Croatia)
Lourence Ilagan (Philippines)
Christian Kist (Netherlands)
Nitin Kumar (India)
Darius Labanauskas (Lithuania)
Lok Yin Lee (Hong Kong)
Jim Long (Canada)
Gordon Mathers (Australia)
Alexander Merkx (Netherlands)
Paolo Nebrida (Philippines)
Robert Owen (Wales)
Ben Robb (New Zealand)
Sandro Eric Sosing (Philippines)
Fallon Sherrock (England)
Niko Springer (Germany)
Rashad Sweeting (Bahamas)
Alexis Toylo (Philippines)
Noa-Lynn van Leuven (Netherlands)
Xiaochen Zong (China)
Plus: 4x PDC Tour Card Holder Qualifiers
PDC World Championship Odds
To win the tournament:
Luke Littler – 2/1
Luke Humphries – 3/1
Gary Anderson – 10/1
Michael van Gerwen – 11/1
Mike De Decker – 25/1
Michael Smith – 28/1
Rob Cross – 33/1
Gerwyn Price – 35/1
Darts World Championship Outright Odds
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