Luke Littler will start the defence of his Paddy Power World Darts Championship title against Darius Labanauskas.

The world number one and pre tournament favourite with title sponsors Paddy Power, who won his maiden Sid Waddell Trophy last year, is expected to headline the opening night of Thursday 11 December.

The Nuke won his fifth PDC TV title of 2025 at the Players Championship Finals this past weekend, the last event before the Worlds. He’s looking to be the first back to back winner of the World Darts Championship since Gary Anderson achieved the feat in 2015 and 2016.

Luke Littler holding the Sid Waddell Trophy, awarded to the winner of the World Darts Championship.
Luke Littler will be looking to win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship for a second straight year. Credit: PDC

The last person to beat Littler at the World Darts Championship was Luke Humphries, in the 2024 showpiece. Cool Hand, also looking for his second title, will face Ted Evetts in round one.

Luke Humphries on the Paddy Power World Darts Championship stage.
Luke Humphries is looking to regain the world number one spot at Alexandra Palace.

Three time former winner Michael van Gerwen, who lost to the Nuke in the final 12 months ago, will begin his quest for his first World title since 2017 against Mitsohiko Tatsunami.

Elsewhere, stand out round one ties include:

  • Daryl Gurney facing World Youth Championship finalist Beau Greaves
  • Fallon Sherrock playing Dave Chisnall
  • Former World Champion Michael Smith taking on Women’s World Matchplay winner Lisa Ashton
  • Lourence Ilagan playing Nathan Aspinall, runner up at the Players Championship Finals

2026 Paddy Power World Darts Championship Draw

Section One

(1) Luke Littler v Darius Labanauskas

Mario Vandebogarde v David Davies

(32) Joe Cullen v Bradley Brooks

Mensur Suljovic v David Cameron

(16) Damon Heta v Steve Lennon

Raymond van Barneveld v Stefan Bellmont

(17) Rob Cross v Cor Dekker

Ian White v Mervyn King

(8) Chris Dobey v Xiaochen Zong

Andrew Gilding v Cam Crabtree

(25) Luke Woodhouse v Boris Krcmar

Martin Lukeman v Max Hopp

(9) Gerwyn Price v Adam Gawlas

Lukas Wenig v Wesley Plaisier

(24) Ryan Joyce v Owen Bates

Krzysztof Ratajski v Alexis Toylo

Section Two

(4) Stephen Bunting v Sebastian Bialecki

Richard Veenstra v Nitin Kumar

(29) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Andy Baetens

James Hurrell v Stowe Buntz

(13) Martin Schindler v Stephen Burton

Keane Barry v Tim Pudsey

(20) Ryan Searle v Chris Landman

Brendan Dolan v Tavis Dudeney

(5) Jonny Clayton v Adam Lipscombe

Dom Taylor v Oskar Lukasiak

(28) Michael Smith v Lisa Ashton

Niels Zonneveld v Haupai Puha

(12) Ross Smith v Andreas Harryson

Thibault Tricole v Motomu Sakai

(21) Dave Chisnall v Fallon Sherrock

Ricardo Pietrezcko v Jose De Sousa

Section Three

(2) Luke Humphries v Ted Evetts

Jeffrey De Graaf v Paul Lim

(31) Wessel Nijman v Karel Sedlacek

Gabriel Clemens v Alex Spellman

(15) Nathan Aspinall v Lourence Ilagan

Mickey Mansell v Leonard Gates

(18) Mike De Decker v David Munyua

Kevin Doets v Matthew Dennant

(7) James Wade v Ryusei Azemoto

Ricky Evans v Man Lok Leung

(26) Cameron Menzies v Charlie Manby

Matt Campbell v Adam Sevada

(10) Gian van Veen v Cristo Reyes

Alan Soutar v Teemu Harju

(23) Dimitri van den Bergh v Darren Beveridge

Jamai van den Herik

Section Four

(3) Michael van Gerwen v Mitsohiko Tatsunami

William O’Connor v Krzysztof Kciuk

(30) Peter Wright v Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Kim Huybrechts v Arno Merk

(14) Gary Anderson v Adam Hunt

Connor Scutt v Simon Whitlock

(19) Jermaine Wattimena v Dominik Gruelich

Scott Williams v Paolo Nebrida

(6) Danny Noppert v Jurjen van der Velde

Nick Kenny v Justin Hood

(27) Ritchie Edhouse v Jonny Tata

Ryan Meikle v Jesus Salate

(11) Josh Rock v Gemma Hayter

Niko Springer v Joe Comito

(22) Daryl Gurney v Beau Greaves

Callan Rydz v Patrick Kovacs

How does the World Darts Championship draw work?

This year, the Paddy Power World Darts Championship field has expanded from 96 players to 128 players. This means that top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit, who previously qualified for round two automatically, now play in round one.

Players ranked 33-40 on the main PDC Order of Merit, as well as the top 40 players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit and 48 international qualifiers also will be involved.

The top 32 seeded players are set in their position in the bracket, with players ranked 33-64 on the PDC Order of Merit drawn at random into the left hand side of the draw. The remaining 64 players are drawn at random.

The winners of each round one match will then play again in round two, with whoever winning those games moving onto round three, where 32 players remain. If all the seeds qualify, then it would be 1 v 32, 2 v 31, and so on.

The first semi final will be the winner of section one v winner of section two. The winners of sections three and four will play in the other semi final.

The two semi final winners will play in the final, with the victor being crowned the World Darts Champion.

What’s the schedule?

The schedule will be confirmed in due course, but the event will take place from Thursday 11 December 2025 – Saturday 3 January 2026.

What’s the prize money?

This year, the prize fund for the Paddy Power World Darts Championship has doubled to £5 million, witht winner receiving a staggering £1m. The full prize structure is:

Winner – £1,000,000

Runner Up – £400,000

Semi Finals – £200,000

Quarter Finals – £100,000

Fourth Round – £60,000

Third Round – £35,000

Second Round – £25,000

First Round – £15,000