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.
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Luke Littler will have to battle through a Wimbledon-style format to retain his World Darts Champion title
Credit: Getty
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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.
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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.
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,
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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.
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