Latest news with #PDCWorldDarts
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Major change to PDC World Darts as Luke Littler forced to go through Wimbledon style format to win £1million jackpot
The top 40 stars after one tournament will automatically qualify What a racquet Major change to PDC World Darts as Luke Littler forced to go through Wimbledon style format to win £1million jackpot Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) 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. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Luke Littler will have to battle through a Wimbledon-style format to retain his World Darts Champion title Credit: Getty 2 The 2025/26 edition of the event will be the biggest ever, with double the prize money and a record 128 players Credit: Alamy 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. READ MORE IN DARTS NOT A GOOD LUKE Is Littler and Humphries' friendship a facade? Inside their World Cup fail 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. BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK 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. Luke Littler and Luke Humphries BOOED by German crowd on day they got their MBEs but fans love their 's---house' walk-on 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' – but the PDC have yet to clarify what that entails. Later this year, a historic Sky Sports £125million five-year TV deal will kick-in as more money than ever floods into the sport.
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Heanor darts shop success down to 'Luke Littler boom'
"Darts has historically been an old man's game in a smoky back room of a pub, but it's not like that anymore."That is the view of darts enthusiast Ryan Clarke - from his shop in Heanor, Derbyshire, which he opened in March, he has seen that change first hand. He attributes the massive surge in popularity in part to one man - Luke 'The Nuke' Littler - who became the youngest ever PDC World Darts Champion in January, aged 17."Some days we can't comprehend how busy it has been," Mr Clarke said, "a big part of it is what Littler has done." The 2024 PDC World Darts final - where a then 16-year-old Littler lost 7-4 to Luke Humphries - saw a peak of 3.71 million people tune in to watch. This was up from 1.9 million the year surge in popularity has benefitted Mr Clarke's shop, he described the response in visitors as "absolutely unbelievable"."Personally, I think without the boom of Luke Littler, I don't know if we'd be here 100%."He added that there were "a lot of great players out there at there minute but the things that Luke's done for the sport is great." A roofer by trade, Mr Clarke has played darts for about 15 years and takes part in a local league. The 32-year-old does not drink and wanted to practice and play in an environment without alcohol. "That is part of the reason why we set this up - just for a different environment and space to be playing darts in rather than having to go to the pub and everything that goes with it."He has also seen a change in the clientele."That's the beauty of this sport," he said. "Because everybody can play on a similar sort of level if the practice is put in... it's so inclusive, I think that's why it's also taken off in the way it has."
The Sun
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘It's a business' – Darts icon backs plan to move World Championship from Alexandra Palace and hand £2MILLION to winner
A Darts icon has backed a proposed venue change for the PDC World Darts Championships. Alexandra Palace has been the tournament's home since its 2008 move from the Circus Tavern in Essex. 4 4 4 But the iconic venue's future hosting the annual competition is in doubt as Saudi Arabia has been mooted as a potential new location for the tournament. And retired referee Russ Bray believes a change of venue could make sense given the recent growth of the sport and the potential increase of prize money. During an appearance on talkSPORT, he said: "The PDC's [Professional Darts Corporation] a business, like you say, it is a business. "Barry and Eddie [Hearn, respective chairman and ex-chairman] and Matt [Porter, CEO of PDC], these guys, they'll sit down and talk. "Obviously, if they can pay the players £2million for winning the World Final because we've got to go somewhere else, then I'm pretty certain that's what they will do. It makes sense." Matchroom supremo Barry Hearn has already been approached by the Saudis about bringing the competition to The Kingdom. But he knocked them back after they informed him fans wouldn't be able to drink alcohol at events. The 76-year-old said: "The Saudis asked me for [the] darts about a couple of months ago. JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS List of all-time Darts World Champions BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year. The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions. That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once - Barney also won four BDO titles - and none of Eric Bristow's five BDO titles are included. 1994 - Dennis Priestley 1995 - Phil Taylor 1996 - Phil Taylor (2) 1997 - Phil Taylor (3) 1998 - Phil Taylor (4) 1999 - Phil Taylor (5) 2000 - Phil Taylor (6) 2001 - Phil Taylor (7) 2002 - Phil Taylor (8) 2003 - John Part 2004 - Phil Taylor (9) 2005 - Phil Taylor (10) 2006 - Phil Taylor (11) 2007 - Raymond van Barneveld 2008 - John Part (2) 2009 - Phil Taylor (12) 2010 - Phil Taylor (13) 2011 - Adrian Lewis 2012 - Adrian Lewis (2) 2013 - Phil Taylor (14) 2014 - Michael van Gerwen 2015 - Gary Anderson 2016 - Gary Anderson (2) 2017 - Michael van Gerwen (2) 2018 - Rob Cross 2019 - Michael van Gerwen (3) 2020 - Peter Wright 2021 - Gerwyn Price 2022 - Peter Wright (2) 2023 - Michael Smith 2024 - Luke Humphries 2025 - Luke Littler Most World Titles 14 - Phil Taylor 3 - Michael van Gerwen 2 - John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright 1 - Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler "I asked them a simple question. 'Can we have alcohol?' "And they said no. I said, 'Well then you can't have the darts.'" Luke Littler taunts fans with 'crying' gesture after Man Utd fan suffers abuse at Premier League Darts in Leeds Hearn, however, does believe The Kingdom could make a good home for the World Snooker Championships. The veteran promoter has recently threatened to take the competition away from the Crucible unless the iconic venue is given a major revamp. When asked if snooker's biggest tournament will stay put, Hearn told Radio Snooker with Nick Metcalfe: "I hope so but we've got to live in the real world. "So much of professional sport is about money. "And as much as we want to stay here desperately, it's got to be something that fits into the overall picture of where the game is going. "This is a huge game. We mustn't be parochial in our attitude. "As long as everyone understands that and comes to the party in a reasonable and respectful way, I'm hopeful we can stay here. "We must know by the end of the year. The clock is ticking."
