LUKE LITTLER will have to win SEVEN games to claim a £1million jackpot – as darts chiefs adopt a Wimbledon-style draw for the next PDC World Championship.
And a minimum of four women will compete on the Alexandra Palace stage this Christmas at the sport’s biggest ever tournament.
GettyLuke Littler will have to battle through a Wimbledon-style format to retain his World Darts Champion title[/caption]
AlamyThe 2025/26 edition of the event will be the biggest ever, with double the prize money and a record 128 players[/caption]
A record 128 darts players will participate in the lucrative flagship event, which starts in December 2025 and runs until the first week of January 2026.
In a landmark move, the Professional Darts Corporation have increased the prize money for the winner of the Sid Waddell Trophy, doubling it from £500,000 to a record £1million.
The total prize fund will top £5million for the first time.
Littler – the sport’s most high-profile figure – became the youngest world champion in history when he lifted the title aged 17 on January 3, beating 7-3 Dutchman Michael van Gerwen in the final at Ally Pally.
In previous editions, when it was a 96-player field, the top names were parachuted into the competition via the second round.
This time, however, it will be a straight 128-player draw with the top 32 in the world being seeded.
This is a similar structure to the men’s and women’s singles draws at Wimbledon.
Players ranked 33-64 will be drawn at random into the left-hand side of the draw against the remaining 64 qualifiers.
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The top 40 players from the PDC Order of Merit following November’s Players Championship Finals at Butlin’s Minehead will qualify automatically.
The top 40 non-qualified players from the ProTour Order of Merit will also feature in this year’s extravaganza – with the remaining 48 places allocated to international qualifiers.
Places will be allocated for the World Youth Champion, Women’s World Matchplay Winner and top performers in Australia, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Japan and Poland.
As the illegal war rages in Ukraine, players from Russia and Belarus may only enter “subject to certain special conditions” – they have to sign statements of neutrality and compete on the oche as neutrals..
Later this year, a historic Sky Sports £125million five-year TV deal will kick-in as more money than ever floods into the sport.
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