Luke Humphries will start the defence of his Paddy Power World Darts Championship against either Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito.

The world number one, who won his maiden Sid Waddell Trophy last year, is expected to headline the opening night of Sunday 15 December. The first round match between Tricole and Comito will be the opening match of the tournament, with the winner to face Cool Hand later in the evening.

The Newbury ace also successfully defended his Players Championship Finals title at the 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 Humphries kisses the Paddy Power World Darts Championship trophy.
Luke Humphries will be looking to win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship for a second straight time. Credit: PDC

The man who Humphries beat in the final last year, Luke Littler, will be looking to go one better on his second appearance at Alexandra Palace. The 17 year old, who’s won 10 titles this year including the Premier League and Grand Slam, will face the winner of Ryan Meikle and Fallon Sherrock. He comes into this event as the favourite to win with title sponsors Paddy Power.

Luke Littler on the walk on area at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship. Credit: PDC
Can Luke Littler cap off a sensational first year on tour by winning the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Credit: PDC

World number two Michael Smith, who’s defending the £500,000 he accrued two years ago by winning the event, will face either Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven. If he were to lose his round two, he would drop as a minimum to world number 15.

James Hurrell and Jim Long meet in round one, with the prize a shot at three time World champion and world number three Michael van Gerwen. MvG is looking to take home the Sid Waddell Trophy for the first time since 2017, having lost the previous two finals he’s been in at Alexandra Palace.

Elsewhere, stand out ties in round one include:

  • Alan Soutar vs Kai gotthardt
  • Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
  • Cameron Menzies vs Leonard Gates

 

2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship Draw

Section One

(1) Luke Humphries v Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito

(32) Raymond van Barneveld v Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz

(16) James Wade v Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont

(17) Peter Wright v Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto

(8) Stephen Bunting v Alan Soutar or Kait Gotthardt

(25) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Madars Razma or Christian Kist

(9) Damon Heta v Connor Scutt or Ben Robb

(24) Mike De Decker v Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan

Section Two

(4) Luke Littler v Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock

(29) Ritchie Edhouse v Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing

(13) Danny Noppert v Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas

(20) Ryan Searle v Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell

(5) Rob Cross v Scott Williams or Niko Springer

(28) Gian van Veen v Ricardo Pietreczko or XiaoChen Zong

(12) Nathan Aspinall v Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates

(21) Andrew Gilding v Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar

Section Three

(2) Michael Smith v Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven

(31) Krzysztof Ratajski v Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo

(15) Chris Dobey v Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx

(18) Josh Rock v Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin

(7) Jonny Clayton v Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto

(26) Daryl Gurney v Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan

(10) Gerwyn Price v Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry

(23) Joe Cullen v Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen

Section Four

(3) Michael van Gerwen v James Hurrell or Jim Long

(30) Brendan Dolan v Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee

(14) Gary Anderson v Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting

(19) Ross Smith v Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida

(6) Dave Chisnall v Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers

(27) Gabriel Clemens v Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen

(11) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Willie O’Connor or Dylan Slevin

(22) Martin Schindler v Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac

How does the World Darts Championship draw work?

The draw for the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship sees the top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit qualify for round two automatically. They make up the 32 seeds for the event.

The top 32 players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit, who are not already on the main Order of Merit, qualify for round one, as do 32 international qualifiers. The Pro Tour players and the qualifiers play each other to take on a seed in round two.

The seeded player then faces the winner of a round one game. Whoever wins that moves 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 Sunday 15 December 2024 – Friday 3 January 2025.

What’s the prize money?

Once again, there will be £2.5 million in prize money up for grabs. Here’s how it’s broken down:

Winner – £500,000

Runner Up – £200,000

Semi Finals – £100,000

Quarter Finals – £50,000

Fourth Round – £35,000

Third Round – £25,000

Second Round – £15,000

First Round – £7,500