Luke Littler begins his World Darts Championship defense against Darius Labanauskas on Thursday 11th December, live on Sky Sports.
As is customary, the defending champions are set to play on opening night in an intriguing showdown between 2023 World Champion Michael Smith and Lisa Ashton in what is set to be another big Thursday match.
Lithuanian Rabanauskas will be the first player to try to disrupt Littler’s defense. This is something no fighter has been able to accomplish in the opening round since 2009, when champion John Peart lost to Bill Davis.
Beau Greaves will take on Darryl Gurney in the evening session from 7pm on Friday 19th December, while last year’s finalist Michael Van Gerwen begins his campaign alongside a mouth-watering clash between Fallon Sherlock and Dave Chisnall on 18th December.
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Beau Greaves defeated Nico Springer in five consecutive legs in the group stage of the Grand Slam of Darts.
2024 World Champion Luke Humphries will begin his quest to regain the title against Ted Evetts in the evening session on Saturday December 13th, with Gary Anderson playing in the afternoon session.
Gerwyn Price begins his campaign on Tuesday 16th December, Peter Wright takes on Noah-Lynn van Leuven on Monday 15th December and Stephen Bunting will aim for glory from Sunday 14th December.
Alexandra Palace will feature a luxurious £5m prize pot, with the winner receiving £1m. This is the biggest payday in darts history.
The expanded 2026 tournament will see 128 players compete for the top of the darts world, with everyone joining the competition from the first round.
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Luke Humphries says arch-rival Luke Littler is in his own league as the world’s number one and two darts players prepare for December’s World Championships.
Full schedule at Alexandra Palace from December 11th to January 3rd
Thursday, December 11th (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Kim Heubrecht v Arno Merck
Michael Smith v Lisa Ashton
Luke Littler v Darius Labanaskas
Madas Razma v Jamai van den Herik
Friday, December 12th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Niels Sonnefeld v Haupai Puha
Ian White v Mervyn King
Ryan Searle vs Chris Landman
Rob Cross v Coe Decker
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Ross Smith v Andreas Harrison
Ricky Evans v Man Rok Leung
Jan van Veen vs Cristo Reyes
Damon Heta v Steve Lennon
Saturday, December 13th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Mario Vandenbogaarde v David Davis
Andrew Gilding v Cam Crabtree
Luke Woodhouse v Boris Krutschmar
Gary Anderson v Adam Hunt
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Jeffrey de Graaf v Paul Lim
Wessel Nyman v Karel Sedlacek
Luke Humphries v Ted Ebbets
Gabriel Clemens v Alex Spellman
Sunday, December 14th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Richie Edhouse v Johnny Tata
Dom Taylor v Oscar Lukasiak
Richard Veenstra v Nitin Kumar
Joe Cullen v Bradley Brooks
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Lukas Wenig v Wesley Plazier
Dimitri van den Bergh v Darren Beveridge
Stephen Bunting v Sebastian Bialecki
James Harrell v Stow Bunts
Monday, December 15th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Brendan Dolan v Tavis Dewdney
Cameron Menzies v Charlie Manby
Mensur Suljovic v David Cameron
Peter Wright v Noah-Lynn van Leuven
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Martin Lukeman v Max Hopp
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Andy Baetens
Johnny Clayton v Adam Lipscomb
Connor Scutt v Simon Whitlock
Tuesday, December 16th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Alan Sarter v Teemu Hadju
Nick Kenny v Justin Hood
Scott Williams v Paolo Nebrida
Chris Dobey v Xiaochen Zhong
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Ricardo Pietrezko v Jose de Sousa
Danny Knoppert v Jurgen van der Velde
Gerwyn Price v Adam Gaulas
Nico Springer v Joe Comito
Wednesday, December 17th (7pm GMT)
Round one x 4
Matt Campbell v Adam Sebada
Raymond van Barneveld v Stefan Belmont
James Wade vs Ryusei Kemoto
Martin Schindler v Stephen Burton
Thursday, December 18th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Callan Riz v Patrick Kovacs
Thibault Trichole v Motomu Sakai
Ryan Joyce v Owen Bates
Mike Decker vs David Munyua
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
Germaine Wattimena v Dominik Gurlich
Dave Chisnall v Fallon Sherlock
Michael van Gerwen vs Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
Krzysztof Ratajski v Alexis Toiro
Friday, December 19th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round one x 4
Kevin Deutz v Matthew Dennant
Ryan Meikle v Jesus Zarate
Mickey Mansell v Leonard Gates
Josh Locke v Gemma Hayter
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round one x 4
William O’Connor v Krzysztof Kicuk
Darryl Gurney v Beau Greaves
Nathan Aspinall v Lawrence Ilagan
Keene Barry v Tim Pusey
Saturday, December 20th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
round 2 x4
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
round 2 x4
Sunday, December 21st
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
round 2 x4
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
round 2 x4
Monday, December 22nd
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
round 2 x4
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
round 2 x4
Tuesday, December 23rd
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
round 2 x4
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
round 2 x4
Saturday, December 27th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round 3 x3
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round 3 x3
Sunday, December 28th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round 3 x3
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Round 3 x3
Monday, December 29th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Round 3 x3
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
3rd round x1, 4th round x2
Tuesday, December 30th
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
round 4 x3
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
round 4 x3
Thursday, January 1st
Afternoon session (1230 GMT)
Quarterfinals x 2
Evening session (19:00 GMT)
Quarterfinals x 2
Friday, January 2nd (19:30 GMT)
Semi-final
Saturday, January 3rd (2000 JST)
final
World darts championship format
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On Love The Darts, Abigail Davis and Chris Murphy discuss Luke Ritter’s rise to world number one and who could challenge him for the world championship.
Ahead of this year’s contest, the format has changed and all players will now enter the tournament from the first round, instead of previously receiving byes for seeded players.
The World Championship uses a set format, with each set consisting of legs 1 through 3. A deciding set must be won by at least two legs, so if the final set is 2-2, a player must win 4-2 or 5-3. At 5-5, the sudden death leg is made without a bull throw, so the change of who threw first simply continues.
How much is the prize?
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Luke Humphries declared he intended to fight Luke Littler in the World Darts Championship when the two exchanged a friendly word after Littler won the Darts Grand Slam.
Well, you’ve probably heard by now that there’s all sorts of prize money on offer at this World Darts Championship, with the winner taking home a whopping £1 million.
Runners-up will win £400,000, semi-finalists £200,000 and quarter-finalists £100,000.
If you make it through round four, your salary will be £60,000, round three £35,000, round two £25,000 and round one £15,000.
That’s a total of £5 million.
prize fund
Winner: 1,000,000 pounds
Runner-up: £400,000
Semi-finalist: £200,000
Quarter-finalists: £100,000
Round 4 Loser: £60,000
Round 3 Loser: £35,000
Second round loser: £25,000
Round 1 Loser: £15,000
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel from December 11th to January 3rd (Sky channel 407 from December 10th). Stream darts and other top sports now.
