Live Darts on Tuesday | World Darts Championship 2025/26 Day Six Preview and Order of Play

An array of in-form contenders open their World Darts Championship campaigns at Alexandra Palace on Tuesday.

Day Six of the sport’s showpiece event features a quartet of former major champions amongst a truly global line-up in London.

The afternoon session features a clash between last year’s semi-finalist Chris Dobey and Chinese star Xiaochen Zong.

Dobey broke new ground with his run to the Last Four 12 months ago, defeating the likes of Josh Rock and Gerwyn Price along the way and effectively sealing a return to the Premier League line-up in 2025.

The former Masters champion has stormed to three Players Championship titles this season as well as a European Tour semi-final, but has reached just one major ranking quarter-final – which came at last month’s Players Championship Finals in Minehead.

The number eight seed opens up against 27-year-old Zong – China’s most exciting darting prospect who returns for a fifth crack at Ally Pally after winning the PDC China Championship.

Scott Williams, semi-finalist in 2023/24 faces a tough opening assignment against Filipino star Paolo Nebrida.

Williams enjoyed a remarkable run to the Last Four two years ago and is bidding to defend the £100,000 from that occasion against his Order of Merit tally after what has been a testing season for the flamboyant Lincolnshire thrower.

Williams reached the final of Players Championship 19 but qualified for just one European Tour event in 2025 and faced struggles with his throwing action towards the backend of the ProTour season.

The 35-year-old dumped out Niko Springer and Rob Cross en route to the third round here last year and will be wary of the threat posed by the methodical Nebrida.

Nebrida also enjoyed a fine run to the third round in his third World Championship appearance last year, overcoming Jim Williams 3-2 before knocking out 19th seed Ross Smith in straight sets.

He also became the first Filipino player to win a match on the World Series of Darts when he defeated Rob Cross 6-3 in the opening round of the Bahrain Masters in January.

Scottish star Alan Soutar marks his fourth PDC World Championship appearance with a tie against Finland’s Teemu Harju.

Soutar reached the Last 16 in each of his first two Ally Pally outings before suffering a first round exit at the hands of Kai Gotthardt in 2024.

Harju sealed his debut in the event by winning the PDC Nordic & Baltic Championship in addition to a further two Nordic & Baltic ProTour titles during the season.

Welsh ace Nick Kenny opens up against dangerous left-hander Justin Hood.

Kenny broke new ground by reaching the third round for the first time 12 months ago with victory over five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld along the way, and has since reached a Players Championship semi-final.

Hood, a former Challenge Tour event winner, defeated Damon Heta to reach the second round of the recent Players Championship Finals and heads into his debut World Championship campaign in a fine vein of form.

Evening Session

Gerwyn Price, the 2021 World Champion, takes centre stage as he launches his quest for a second world title with a tie against Czechia’s Adam Gawlas.

Price triumphed behind closed doors at Ally Pally five years ago but has suffered three quarter-final exits in his four subsequent appearances.

The seven-time major winner, whose last televised ranking title came in 2021, has enjoyed his best results away from the big stage in 2025, racking up four Players Championship titles and a European Tour triumph.

Poland Masters champion in July, Price heads into the World Championship on the back of successive semi-final runs at the Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals, losing out to Luke Humphries and Luke Littler respectively.

The Welsh talisman, who finished runner-up alongside Jonny Clayton at this year’s World Cup, looks to press home his vast experience against methodical 23-year-old Gawlas – who lost his Tour Card at the end of 2024 but has qualified courtesy of winning the Czechia Qualifier.

Former UK Open champion Danny Noppert faces a tricky opening test against his young Dutch compatriot Jurjen van der Velde.

Noppert comes into the event in his highest-ever seeded position (6) after a magnificent year of consistency in major televised tournaments.

Although ‘The Freeze’ has not picked up a title on the tour this season, he has reached the semi-finals of four of the seven ranked majors, including the World Grand Prix and Grand Slam.

However, his World Championship record makes for ominous reading, with opening round exits in each of his last two appearances and no runs beyond the third round in any of his seven previous attempts.

Hoping to subject Noppert to another early exit is 23-year-old Van der Velde – last year’s World Youth Championship runner-up who recently reached the knockout stages on his Grand Slam debut.

Another of this year’s most in-form marksmen bidding to avoid a potential banana skin is European Tour event winner Niko Springer  – who faces Aussie qualifier Joe Comito.

Springer arrives as the highest-ranked ProTour qualifier following a ground-breaking campaign which saw him follow up his runner-up spot at the Dutch Darts Championship by clinching the Hungarian Darts Trophy title.

Provisionally ranked inside the world’s top 50 in his first year as a Tour Card holder, Springer made his debut in the World Grand Prix, European Championship and Grand Slam – where he reached the knockout phase.

Springer is out to atone for last year’s debut defeat to Scott Williams when he faces DPA ProTour winner Joe Comito – who was beaten by France’s Thibault Tricole in the opening match of last year’s tournament.

Former German Championship winner Ricardo Pietreczko takes on former Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa.

Pietreczko reached his second major quarter-final at the European Championship on home soil in October and was a semi-finalist alongside Martin Schindler at the World Cup of Darts, defeating England’s Humphries and Littler along the way.

Pikachu progressed to the Last 16 of last year’s World Championship before being whitewashed in four sets by Nathan Aspinall.

De Sousa, meanwhile, returns to Ally Pally for the first time in two years after battling through the last-chance Tour Card holder qualifier a fortnight ago.

The 2021 Premier League runner-up has endured a torrid year on the ProTour and comes into the event as world number 73, requiring a Christmas miracle run in order to save his Tour Card.

The action gets under way from 12.30pm GMT, with first round ties to be contested over the best of five sets.

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World Darts Championship 2025/26 Day Six Schedule

Tuesday December 16

First Round

Afternoon Session (12.30pm-5pm)
Alan Soutar v Teemu Harju
Nick Kenny v Justin Hood
Scott Williams v Paolo Nebrida
Chris Dobey v Xiaochen Zong

Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Ricardo Pietreczko v Jose de Sousa
Danny Noppert v Jurjen van der Velde
Gerwyn Price v Adam Gawlas
Niko Springer v Joe Comito