The PDC World Darts Championship 2025/26 – Who will hit the bullseye?

The 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship takes flight on Thursday 11th December 2025, with the best of the best stepping up to the oche to fight it out to be named World Darts Champion. In this article, we will provide an overview of the tournament and its history and discuss the players to watch in the competition. We’ll round things off by sharing where you can watch the competition, and giving our PDC World Darts Championship prediction.

The PDC World Darts Championship started life in 1994 as the WDC World Darts Championship, before the WDC became the PDC in 1997. It has been held at Alexandra Palace, affectionately known as Ally Pally, since 2008. The Championship starts in December 2025 and ends in January 2026, with an expanded field of 128 players competing for a share of the £2,500,000 prize fund, with the winner taking home £500,000.

Who are the PDC World Darts Championship players to watch out for?

With an expanded field of 128 players for the 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship, there are plenty of talented players to choose from. But who should we be keeping a close eye on when making our PDC World Darts Championship prediction? Let’s take a look.

Luke Littler

• PDC World Ranking: 2
• PDC World Championship Record: Won 2025

18 year old Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler is the current reigning champion at the Ally Pally. As well as becoming the youngest ever PDC World Darts Champion when he won last year, he’s currently World number 2 and aiming for the top spot. This year so far, he has won the Belgian Darts Open, and the UK Open. He’s no doubt hoping to replicate his success for a second World Championship title. With the way he stormed into the PDC circuit last year, Littler can’t be overlooked as a contender for our PDC World Darts Championship prediction.

Luke Humphries

• PDC World Ranking: 1
• PDC World Championship Record: Won 2024

Luke ‘Cool Hand’ Humphries is the current World number one – but only just. Luke Littler is hot on his tail, so Humphries will be keen to snatch this win – along with the £500,000 prize money – in order to retain his spot at the top of the rankings. So far this year, he’s won the World Masters, Premier League and US Darts Masters, as well as finishing runner up at the European Championship, World Grand Prix and New Zealand Darts Masters. In the latter two tournaments, he lost in the final to none other than Luke Littler, so we had to include Humphries when considering our PDC World Darts Championship predictions.

Michael van Gerwen

• PDC World Ranking: 3
• PDC World Championship Record: 2014, 2017 & 2019

‘Mighty Mike’ Michael Van Gerwen is currently sitting at number three in the PDC World Darts Ranking. He lost to Luke Littler in the final of the last World Championship, but beat Luke to win the World Series of Darts later in 2025. It would come as no surprise to us if Michael van Gerwen took home a chunk of the prize pot this time around.

Stephen Bunting

• PDC World Ranking: 4
• PDC World Championship Record: Semi-finalist 2021 & 2025

Stephen ‘The Bullet’ Bunting has had a strong 2025 thus far. He reached the semi-finals of the last PDC World Championship, and won the Bahrain Darts Masters, Nordic Darts Masters, the International Darts Open and the Swiss Darts Trophy. Because of this, we consider him one of the top players to watch at this competition.

James Wade

• PDC World Ranking: 5
• PDC World Championship Record: Semi-finalist 2009, 2012, 2013 & 2022

While James Wade may not have set the PDC World Championship alight since he reached the semi-finals in 2022, he is having a strong year which has elevated him to fifth position in the PDC World Ranking. He reached the final of the UK Open, only to lose to world champion Luke Littler, and went on to win the PDC Players Championship in October, so he is in good form going into this competition and shouldn’t be discounted from our PDC World Darts Championship predictions.

Where to watch the PDC World Darts Championship 2025/26

The PDC World Darts Championship 2025/26 is available to watch live in various countries around the world. In the UK and Ireland, the streaming rights are owned by Sky Sports, so viewers with an appropriate subscription can watch the tournament live on the Sky Sports Darts channel.

Darts fans in other countries may be able to watch via the following channels:

• Viaplay – Netherlands, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Bulgaria & Baltic States
• DAZN – Germany, Austria, Switzerland
• Sport1 – Germany
• Fox Sports – Australia
• Sky – New Zealand
• Nova – Czech Republic & Slovakia
• Prago Sport – Hungary
• VTM – Belgium

Prediction for the PDC World Darts Championship 2025/26

It’s clear to see that there is a very strong field of players going into the 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship. And with an even larger field of 128 players versus last year’s 96, there is even more potential for a wild card to cause an upset this year. While all five of the players we’ve named above stand a great chance of winning, we’ve chosen Luke Littler as our PDC World Darts Championship prediction. Luke is in great form again this year, and as he’s within spitting distance of being crowned World number one in the PDC World Darts Rankings, he’s got more than just a second World Darts Champion title to play for this year. We are looking forward to tuning in on Thursday 11th December 2025 to watch Luke begin his journey to the title.

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