PDC World Darts Championship 2025/26 LIVE: Results, full schedule, prize money and how to follow as Littler defends title

The 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship is taking centre-stage once again this Christmas as Luke Littler defends his title.

The 18-year-old demolished Michael van Gerwen 7-3 at the Alexandra Palace to make history as the youngest winner ever in the last edition.

AFP

In the end, there was no stopping The Nuke, who blasted his way to victory to claim £500,000 after defending champion Luke Humphries had been knocked out by Peter Wright.

And Littler is back to defend his crown and looking to become just the fourth player in history to win back-to-back World Championships.

There will be a record prize fund up for grabs this time, with the winner’s pot doubling to £1million.

This is the first time in history that a darts tournament will hand out seven figures to the victor as the popularity of the sport continues to grow.

PDC World Championship 2025/26: Dates and how to follow

This year’s PDC World Darts Championship got underway on Thursday, December 11, and run to the final on Saturday, January 3.

The whole thing will take place at the iconic Alexandra Palace in north London.

Ally Pally is now synonymous with this competition, and it will take centre-stage for the duration of the tournament.

talkSPORT will have full live coverage of the darts this Christmas with our commentary team of Ian Danter, Mark Wilson, Paul Nicholson and Chris Mason.

To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream or find us on DAB digital radio through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Download and listen to all our live commentaries via the talkSPORT app here.

Visit talkSPORT BET for all the latest odds and bet boosts for every big event.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here for news, views and analysis plus our regular goals show and for more, follow us on talkSPORT Facebook and talkSPORT X.

Sky Sports will show every match as well.

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PDC World Championship 2025/26: Tournament format and draw

The draw for the World Darts Championship was made on November 24.

There were a total of 128 players at the start, and there are seven rounds until the final.

The top 40 from the PDC Order of Merit have qualified with another 40 from the PDC Tour Order of Merit, and 48 more international qualifiers.

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 will 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.

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PDC World Championship 2025/26: Schedule

Round 1

Thursday, December 11

• Kim Huybrechts 1-3 Arno Merk
• Michael Smith 3-0 Lisa Ashton
• Luke Littler 3-0 Darius Labanauskas
• Madars Razma 3-1 Jamai van den Herik

Friday, December 12

• Niels Zonneveld 3-0 Haupai Puha
• Ian White 3-2 Mervyn King
• Ryan Searle 3-0 Chris Landman
• Rob Cross 3-0 Cor Dekker
• Ross Smith 2-3 Andreas Harrysson
• Ricky Evans 3-0 Man Lok Leung
• Gian van Veen 3-1 Cristo Reyes
• Damon Heta 3-1 Steve Lennon

Saturday, December 13

• Mario Vandenbogaerde 1-3 David Davies
• Andrew Gilding 3-0 Cam Crabtree
• Luke Woodhouse 3-1 Boris Krcmar
• Gary Anderson 3-2 Adam Hunt
• Jeffrey de Graaf 1-3 Paul Lim
• Wessel Nijman 3-0 Karel Sedlacek
• Luke Humphries 3-1 Ted Evetts
• Gabriel Clemens 3-0 Alex Spellman

Sunday, December 14

• Ritchie Edhouse 0-3 Jonny Tata
• Dom Taylor 3-0 Oskar Lukasiak
• Richard Veenstra 2-3 Nitin Kumar
• Joe Cullen 3-0 Bradley Brooks
• Lukas Wenig 1-3 Wesley Plaisier
• Dimitri Van den Bergh 0-3 Darren Beveridge
• Stephen Bunting 3-2 Sebastian Bialecki
• James Hurrell 3-1 Stowe Buntz

Monday, December 15

• Brendan Dolan 3-1 Tavis Dudeney
• Cameron Menzies 2-3 Charlie Manby
• Mensur Suljovic 3-1 David Cameron
• Peter Wright 3-0 Noa-Lynn van Leuven
• Martin Lukeman 1-3 Max Hopp
• Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-2 Andy Baetens
• Jonny Clayton 3-1 Adam Lipscombe
• Connor Scutt 3-2 Simon Whitlock

Tuesday, December 16

• Alan Soutar 3-2 Teemu Harju
• Nick Kenny 0-3 Justin Hood
• Scott Williams 3-0 Paolo Nebrida
• Chris Dobey 3-1 Xiaochen Zong
• Ricardo Pietreczko 3-1 Jose de Sousa
• Danny Noppert 3-1 Jurjen van der Velde
• Gerwyn Price 3-0 Adam Gawlas
• Niko Springer 1-3 Joe Comito

Wednesday, December 17

• Matt Campbell 1-3 Adam Sevada
• Raymond van Barneveld 0-3 Stefan Bellmont
• James Wade 3-0 Ryusei Azemoto
• Martin Schindler 3-1 Stephen Burton

Thursday, December 18

• Callan Rydz 3-0 Patrik Kovacs
• Thibault Tricole 0-3 Motomu Sakai
• Ryan Joyce 3-0 Owen Bates
• Mike De Decker 2-3 David Munyua
• Jermaine Wattimena 3-2 Dominik Gruellich
• Dave Chisnall 3-0 Fallon Sherrock
• Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
• Krzysztof Ratajski 3-0 Alexis Toylo

Friday, December 19

• Kevin Doets 3-1 Matthew Dennant
• Ryan Meikle 3-0 Jesus Salate
• Mickey Mansell 2-3 Leonard Gates
• Josh Rock 3-1 Gemma Hayter
• William O’Connor 3-0 Krzysztof Kciuk
• Daryl Gurney 3-2 Beau Greaves
• Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Lourence Ilagan
• Keane Barry 3-0 Tim Pusey

Round 2

Saturday, December 20

• Ryan Searle 3-0 Brendan Dolan
• Andreas Harrysson 3-0 Motomu Sakai
• Dirk van Duijvenbode 2-3 James Hurrell
• Dave Chisnall 2-3 Ricardo Pietreczko
• Michael Smith 1-3 Niels Zonneveld
• Chris Dobey 1-3 Andrew Gilding
• Stephen Bunting 3-0 Nitin Kumar
• Jonny Clayton bye (Dom Taylor suspended)

Sunday December 21
Afternoon Session (12:30)
Ryan Joyce v Krzysztof Ratajski
Joe Cullen v Mensur Suljovic
Luke Woodhouse v Max Hopp
Rob Cross v Ian White

Evening Session (19:00)
Martin Schindler v Keane Barry
Gerwyn Price v Wesley Plaisier
Luke Littler v David Davies
Damon Heta v Stefan Bellmont

Monday December 22

Afternoon Session (12:30)
Darren Beveridge v Madars Razma
Wessel Nijman v Gabriel Clemens
David Munyua v Kevin Doets
James Wade v Ricky Evans

Evening Session (19:00)
Gian Van Veen v Alan Soutar
Nathan Aspinall v Leonard Gates
Luke Humphries v Paul Lim
Charlie Manby v Adam Sevada

Tuesday December 23

Afternoon Session (12:30)
Jonny Tata v Ryan Meikle
Daryl Gurney v Callan Rydz
Jermaine Wattimena v Scott Williams
Peter Wright v Arno Merk

Evening Session (19:00)
Danny Noppert v Justin Hood
Gary Anderson v Connor Scutt
Michael van Gerwen v William O’Connor
Josh Rock v Joe Comito

Round 3

• Saturday, December 27 – 12.30
• Saturday, December 27 – 19:00
• Sunday, December 28 – 12.30
• Sunday, December 28 – 19:00
• Monday, December 29 – 12.30
• Monday December 29 – 19:00

Round 4

• Monday, December 29 – 19:00
• Tuesday December 30 – 12.30
• Tuesday December 30 – 19:00

Quarter-finals

• Thursday, January 1 – 12.30
• Thursday, January 1 – 19:00

Semi-finals

Friday, January 2 – 19:30

Final

Saturday, January 3 – 20:00

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PDC World Championship 2025/26: Prize money

This edition of the showpiece darts event is set to see an unprecedented amount of prize money dished out.

The overall pot is doubling from £2.5million to £5m, and the winner will take home £1m of that.

It is the biggest prize pot in the tournament’s history and follows a massive increase from the PDC across all of its events.

Speaking about the increase, the PDC’s chief executive Matt Porter said: “The £1 million prize for the World Champion reflects darts’ standing as one of the most exciting and in-demand sports in the world and the historic total will rightly attract headlines as the biggest prize ever paid out in the sport.

“However, the increased prize funds announced today demonstrate our commitment to growing earning potential for players at all levels within the PDC system.

“Expanding the player fields for the World Darts Championship and Grand Slam of Darts will provide more opportunities than ever before for players around the world to feature in televised PDC events.

“The incredible growth of the PDC in recent years has seen darts elevated to levels never seen before both in terms of playing opportunities and global interest and this is a huge moment for all players with the ambition to make it to the very pinnacle of the sport.”

2026 PDC World Championship Odds and Offer

2026 PDC World Darts Championship Winner Odds:

• Luke Littler – 5/6
• Luke Humphries – 4/1
• Gian van Veen – 12/1
• Gerwyn Price – 14/1
• Josh Rock – 14/1
• Michael van Gerwen – 20/1
• Nathan Aspinall – 35/1
• Stephen Bunting – 40/1

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