Latest news with #SidWaddellTrophy
The Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Major change to PDC World Darts as Luke Littler forced to go through Wimbledon style format to win £1million jackpot
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. 2 2 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. 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. 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.
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.
The Irish Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Major change to PDC World Darts as Luke Littler forced to go through Wimbledon style format to win £1million jackpot
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. Advertisement 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. history when he lifted the title aged 17 on January 3, beating 7-3 Dutchman Michael van Gerwen in the final at Ally Pally. Advertisement READ MORE IN DARTS 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. Advertisement Most read in Darts Latest Exclusive 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, Advertisement 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.
Scottish Sun
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
‘There are so many in the making' – Nathan Aspinall reveals there's an army of Luke Littlers ready to take over darts
NATHAN ASPINALL reckons darts has boomed so much these past two years that 'footballers and actors' are all obsessed with what is happening on the oche. But he claims the next generation of tungsten throwers will be groomed in sports academies rather than unearthed on building sites. 4 Nathan Aspinall believes there's an army of Luke Littlers ready to take over darts 4 Aspinall was part of the celebrity cohort invited to James Maddison's golf invitational 4 The darts ace said everyone was talking darts on the golf meet The 17-week Premier League Darts reached its climax last Thursday night with Luke Humphries beating Luke Littler in the O2 Arena final. Two days before that, Prem semi-finalist Aspinall was a guest at Tottenham playmaker James Maddison's golf day at The Centurion Club with darts pal Joe Cullen. The annual invitational golf tournament – which raises funds for different causes – was attended by ex-footballers John Terry, Jimmy Bullard, Wes Morgan, Gareth Barry and comedian Michael McIntyre. And Aspinall – a two-time major winner – claims everybody was talking to him about Littler and Co. READ MORE DARTS CALL IT A DAY Darts icon retires from Premier League straight after Littler vs Humphries Stockport's world No.9 said: 'Everyone is obsessed with darts. I was at this golf day and everyone wanted to talk to me about the darts. 'I'm looking around, all these footballers and actors and stuff. Everyone was speaking to me. 'Everyone loves darts. Whatever you're a celebrity, own a company, from a council estate. Whether you're a kid. A woman. A Man. 'We all know we owe a lot of it to Luke. But also the rest of the guys that turn out week-in, week-out. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'Oh my god, John Terry shot four under gross. And he plays off five. 'Joe Cullen played as well. He was a bit worse for wear the next morning, shall we say. Luke Humphries apologises to fans after hilarious nine-darter fail leaves even rival Nathan Aspinall laughing 'Humphries was asked to play in it but he didn't want to risk injuring himself before the finals. Whereas I couldn't give a s***.' Littler emerged on the senior scene in December 2023 aged 16 and raced all the way to the World Darts final where he lost to Humphries. A year later, he went one step further and lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy at the age of 17. It is a far cry from previous world champions like Phil Taylor (ceramic factory), Gary Anderson (grate builder), Peter Wright (tyre fitter) and Rob Cross (electrician) who had other jobs before throwing darts. Yet Aspinall – who runs a darts academy in the North West – reckons there is an army of wannabe Littlers set to appear in the coming years. 4 Luke Humphries beat Littler in the Premier League Darts final on Thursday Credit: PA Aspinall, a father of two, said: 'There are so many more Luke Littlers in the making at the moment. It's mental. 'I might be 33 but I'm an old boy compared to what's coming through. 'If the money gets to like golf levels, there's no way people are doing this for 25 years. 'Guys in their early to mid-30s are the last of a generation and after us it's going to be all these kids coming through, who're fearless. 'Then it will go from this pub game, which everyone still calls it, even though it is not. And it will finally be called a sport in 5-10 years. 'But the problem you're going to have is: Where are the characters? 'You see it with footballers when they do their interviews, they are robots. They get told what to say. And they are all the same answers all the time. 'I think people like myself, I just say it as it is. It gets me in trouble a lot of time. I've had no media training in my career. 'I was thrown into the deep end. I don't want darts to get that to level. Because you do need those characters in the game. 'If everyone turns up and they are all the same, they all throw the same, no-one celebrates, does the interviews the same, it would get boring. Hopefully that doesn't happen.'
The Irish Sun
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘There are so many in the making' – Nathan Aspinall reveals there's an army of Luke Littlers ready to take over darts
NATHAN ASPINALL reckons darts has boomed so much these past two years that 'footballers and actors' are all obsessed with what is happening on the oche. But he claims the next generation of tungsten throwers will be groomed in sports academies rather than unearthed on building sites. 4 Nathan Aspinall believes there's an army of Luke Littlers ready to take over darts 4 Aspinall was part of the celebrity cohort invited to James Maddison's golf invitational 4 The darts ace said everyone was talking darts on the golf meet The 17-week Premier League Darts reached its climax last Thursday night with Luke Humphries beating Luke Littler in the O2 Arena final. Two days before that, Prem semi-finalist Aspinall was a guest at Tottenham playmaker James Maddison's golf day at The Centurion Club with darts pal Joe Cullen. The annual invitational golf tournament – which raises funds for different causes – was attended by ex-footballers John Terry, Jimmy Bullard, Wes Morgan, Gareth Barry and comedian Michael McIntyre. And Aspinall – a two-time major winner – claims everybody was talking to him about Littler and Co. READ MORE DARTS Stockport's world No.9 said: 'Everyone is obsessed with darts . I was at this golf day and everyone wanted to talk to me about the darts . 'I'm looking around, all these footballers and actors and stuff. Everyone was speaking to me. 'Everyone loves darts . Whatever you're a celebrity , own a company, from a council estate. Whether you're a kid. A woman. A Man. 'We all know we owe a lot of it to Luke. But also the rest of the guys that turn out week-in, week-out. Most read in Darts CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'Oh my god, John Terry shot four under gross. And he plays off five. 'Joe Cullen played as well. He was a bit worse for wear the next morning, shall we say. Luke Humphries apologises to fans after hilarious nine-darter fail leaves even rival Nathan Aspinall laughing 'Humphries was asked to play in it but he didn't want to risk injuring himself before the finals. Whereas I couldn't give a s***.' Littler emerged on the senior scene in December 2023 aged 16 and raced all the way to the World Darts final where he lost to Humphries. A year later, he went one step further and lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy at the age of 17. It is a far cry from previous world champions like Phil Taylor (ceramic factory), Gary Anderson (grate builder), jobs before throwing darts. Yet Aspinall – who runs a darts academy in the army of wannabe Littlers set to appear in the coming years. 4 Luke Humphries beat Littler in the Premier League Darts final on Thursday Credit: PA Aspinall, a father of two, said: 'There are so many more Luke Littlers in the making at the moment. It's mental. 'I might be 33 but I'm an old boy compared to what's coming through. 'If the money gets to like golf levels, there's no way people are doing this for 25 years. 'Guys in their early to mid-30s are the last of a generation and after us it's going to be all these kids coming through, who're fearless. 'Then it will go from this pub game, which everyone still calls it, even though it is not. And it will finally be called a sport in 5-10 years. 'But the problem you're going to have is: Where are the characters? 'You see it with footballers when they do their interviews , they are robots . They get told what to say. And they are all the same answers all the time. 'I think people like myself, I just say it as it is. It gets me in trouble a lot of time. I've had no media training in my career. 'I was thrown into the deep end. I don't want darts to get that to level. Because you do need those characters in the game. 'If everyone turns up and they are all the same, they all throw the same, no-one celebrates, does the interviews the same, it would get boring. Hopefully that doesn't happen.'
