Live Darts on December 30th | World Darts Championship 2025/26 Day 17 Preview and Order of Play

The curtain comes down on the darting year as the Fourth Round culminates at the World Darts Championship on Tuesday.

The final day of darts in 2025 features the remaining six Fourth Round ties taking place across two sessions at Alexandra Palace as a number of decorated stars aim to keep their world title hopes alive.

The afternoon’s line-up includes a clash between World Cup of Darts winner Josh Rock and world number 86 Justin Hood.

Eleventh seed Rock has charged into the Last 16 for the second time in four World Championship appearances and is now bidding to break new ground.

The Northern Irishman produced a professional performance to defeat Women’s Series star Gemma Hayter 3-1 in the first round before safely seeing off Australia’s Joe Comito in straight sets with a 101 average.

He then powered past an emotional Callan Rydz, recovering from a set down to reel off four in a row and prevail with a 99 average.

Bidding to cause another major upset and continue his fairy-tale run is debutant Hood – whose exploits over the past fortnight have already earned him a spot in the world’s top 64 inside 12 months as a Tour Card holder.

The popular left-hander followed up a straight sets win over Nick Kenny in Round One with a breath-taking tie break scalp of Danny Noppert with a 103 average, before going on to dispatch Ryan Meikle 4-1 on Monday.

Fifth seed Jonny Clayton looks to continue his serene progress by ending the dream debut run of Sweden’s Andreas Harrysson.

Clayton is appearing in the Last 16 for the fifth consecutive year at Ally Pally, but has played a game less in doing so, having received a bye in the second round following Dom Taylor’s failed drugs test.

Following a 3-1 victory over Adam Lipscombe, the Welsh number one then held firm in a seven-set epic to edge out Niels Zonneveld and is now eyeing a place in only a second World Championship quarter-final.

Nordic & Baltic qualifier Harrysson has proved age is just a number by storming into the Last 16 on debut at the age of 50 courtesy of impressive wins over 12th seed Ross Smith, Japan’s Motomu Sakai and German star Andreas Harrysson.

The opening match of the afternoon sees 25th seed Luke Woodhouse face Polish number one Krzysztof Ratajski.

Woodhouse, runner-up on the European Tour and ProTour this season, has progressed to the Last 16 for the second successive year courtesy of comfortable wins over Boris Krcmar, Max Hopp and Andrew Gilding.

He now comes up against former World Master Ratajski – who is vying to reach his first quarter-final here since 2020/21 after overcoming Alexis Toylo, Ryan Joyce and Wesley Plaisier en route to this stage.

Evening Session

A box office showdown sees multiple World Champions Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson renew their rivalry on the sport’s biggest stage.

The duo have contested a number of classic contests over the past two decades, including the 2015 semi-final and 2017 final at Ally Pally.

Anderson has recaptured his brilliant best on this iconic stage, atoning for last year’s shock opening round exit by battling back from 2-1 down to edge out his former protégé Adam Hunt, before recovering from dropping the first set to reel off three in a row for victory over Connor Scutt with a 105.4 average.

The Flying Scotsman then came through a tie break epic to deny Jermaine Wattimena two days ago with a 102.2 average, firing in 14 maximums and missing double 12 for a nine-darter in the process.

Anderson, who defeated Phil Taylor in the 2015 final and landed a nine-darter a year later before overcoming Adrian Lewis in the final, is one of only six multiple PDC World Champions.

Having celebrated his 55th birthday on Monday, Anderson remains firmly among the sport’s elite but has enjoyed his best results away from the major stages this season, claiming both a European Tour and Players Championship title.

Van Gerwen, meanwhile, has continued his superb record of consistency in the capital which has seen him reach seven World Championship finals since 2013, including two of the last three.

The reigning World Series Finals champion survived an early scare from Japan’s Mitsuhiko Tatsunami to prevail 3-1, before averaging 100.2 in an impressive 3-1 win over William O’Connor.

He then swept aside German debutant Arno Merk 4-1 with a 99 average and has exited this tournament prior to the quarter-final stage on just one occasion over the past decade.

Second seed Luke Humphries continues his quest to regain the Sid Waddell Trophy when he meets Dutch ace Kevin Doets.

World Champion two years ago, Humphries is defending £500,000 in prize money against his Order of Merit tally and began in commanding fashion by defeating Ted Evetts 3-1 with a 98.5 average.

The reigning Premier League champion then powered past 71-year-old Paul Lim for the loss of just one leg and remains on a collision course for a dream final meeting with rival Luke Littler after fending off a gallant test from a resurgent Gabriel Clemens to prevail 4-2 with a 100 average 48 hours ago.

Doets has equalled last year’s landmark run to the Last 16 having overcome Matthew Dennant in Round One before thrashing Kenya’s David Munyua in straight sets and going on to dump out two-time major winner Nathan Aspinall in a deciding-set thriller on Monday with a 97.5 average.

The opening match of the night sees reigning European Champion Gian van Veen face emerging star Charlie Manby.

Van Veen registered the highest average of the tournament so far (108.28) in a 3-1 win over Alan Soutar to back up a 98.3 average in his opening round win over Spain’s Cristo Reyes by the same scoreline.

The tenth seed is appearing at this stage of the World Championship for the first time after powering past Latvia’s Madars Razma 4-1 and victory here could see him provisionally climb into the world number four spot depending on Clayton’s earlier result.

Manby has enjoyed a dream debut at Ally Pally, coming through a deciding-set epic against Cameron Menzies in Round One before blitzing past USA’s Adam Sevada.

The 20-year-old, a Development Tour event winner this year who set a record three-dart average of 130.7, punished a late capitulation from Ricky Evans to seal a memorable 4-2 win on Monday and a famous win over Van Veen would secure him an automatic Tour Card.

The action gets under way from 12.30pm GMT, with Last 16 ties to be contested over the best of seven sets and a tie break in operation if the score reaches 2-2 in the final set.

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World Darts Championship 2025/26 Day 17 Schedule of Play

Tuesday December 30

Fourth Round

Afternoon Session (12.30pm-4.30pm)
Luke Woodhouse v Krzysztof Ratajski
Jonny Clayton v Andreas Harrysson
Justin Hood v Josh Rock

Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Charlie Manby v Gian van Veen
Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson
Luke Humphries v Kevin Doets