World Darts Championship 2025/26 Draw | Confirmed First Round ties at Ally Pally
The draw for the 2025/26 World Darts Championship has been confirmed, with Luke Littler set to launch his title defence against Darius Labanauskas at Alexandra Palace.
The biggest-ever PDC World Championship will feature an expanded field of 128 players competing for a record £1 million top prize from December 11 to January 3.
The top 40 players from both the PDC Order of Merit and the ProTour Order of Merit are joined in the sport’s showpiece event by 48 International Qualifiers.
Littler made history in 2025 by becoming the sport’s youngest-ever World Champion aged just 17 and is bidding to become only the fourth player in the 32-year history of the tournament to successfully retain the title.
The world number one has been drawn to face Lithuanian number one Labanauskas in the opening round, with the match set to take place on the opening night on Thursday December 11.
Elsewhere, 2024 champion Luke Humphries will start his quest to regain the Sid Waddell Trophy with a showdown against multiple Development Tour event winner Ted Evetts.
Michael van Gerwen, the second most successfully player in PDC World Championship history with three titles and runner-up last year, opens up against debutant Mitsohiko Tatsanami.
Ninth seed Gerwyn Price, the 2021 World Champion, meets Czech thrower Adam Gawlas, while 2023 World Champion Michael Smith faces Women’s World Matchplay champion Lisa Ashton.
Gary Anderson, back-to-back World Champion in 2015 and 2016, takes on Adam Hunt in Round One, while fellow two-time World Champion Peter Wright faces Noa-Lynn van Leuven.
Rob Cross, World Champion in his debut appearance at Ally Pally in 2017/28, plays Norway’s Cor Dekker, while fourth seed Stephen Bunting, semi-finalist in last year’s tournament, faces Polish youngster Sebastian Bialecki.
James Wade, runner-up in the UK Open and the World Matchplay this year, starts out against Japan’s Ryusei Azomoto, while fifth seed Jonny Clayton meets debutant Adam Lipscombe.
World Cup of Darts winner Josh Rock takes on Women’s Series debutant Gemma Hayter, while European Champion Gian van Veen plays returning Spaniard Cristo Reyes.
Multiple major finalist Dave Chisnall has been drawn to face former Women’s World Matchplay champion and Ally Pally history-maker Fallon Sherrock in another of the stand-out ties.
The full schedule of play is expected to be confirmed later this week.
Paddy Power World Darts Championship 2025/26 Draw
First Round
Luke Littler (1) v Darius Labanauskas
Luke Humphries (2) v Ted Evetts
Michael van Gerwen (3) v Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
Stephen Bunting (4) v Sebastian Bialecki
Jonny Clayton (5) v Adam Lipscombe
Danny Noppert (6) v Jurjen van der Velde
James Wade (7) v Ryusei Azomoto
Chris Dobey (8) v Xiachen Zong
Gerwyn Price (9) v Adam Gawlas
Gian van Veen (10) v Cristo Reyes
Josh Rock (11) v Gemma Hayter
Ross Smith (12) v Andreas Harrysson
Martin Schindler (13) v Stephen Burton
Gary Anderson (14) v Adam Hunt
Nathan Aspinall (15) v Lourence Ilagan
Damon Heta (16) v Steve Lennon
Rob Cross (17) v Cor Dekker
Mike De Decker (18) v David Munyua
Jermaine Wattimena (19) v Dominik Gruellich
Ryan Searle (20) v Chris Landman
Dave Chisnall (21) v Fallon Sherrock
Daryl Gurney (22) v Beau Greaves
Dimitri Van den Bergh (23) v Darren Beveridge
Ryan Joyce (24) v Owen Bates
Luke Woodhouse (25) v Boris Krcmar
Cameron Menzies (26) v Charlie Manby
Ritchie Edhouse (27) v Jonny Tata
Michael Smith (28) v Lisa Ashton
Dirk van Duijvenbode (29) v Andy Baetens
Peter Wright (30) v Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Wessel Nijman (31) v Karel Sedlacek
Joe Cullen (32) v Bradley Brooks
Ricardo Pietreczko v Jose De Sousa
Andrew Gilding v Cam Crabtree
Raymond van Barneveld v Stefan Bellmont
Scott Williams v Paolo Nebrida
Krzysztof Ratajski v Alexis Toylo
Martin Lukeman v Max Hopp
Brendan Dolan v Tavis Dudeney
Ricky Evans v Man Lok Leung
Niko Springer v Joe Comito
William O’Connor v Krzysztof Kciuk
Niels Zonneveld v Haupai Puha
Kevin Doets v Matthew Dennant
Jeffrey de Graaf v Paul Lim
Mickey Mansell v Leonard Gates
Mario Vandenbogaerde v David Davies
Callan Rydz v Patrik Kovacs
Ian White v Mervyn King
Dom Taylor v Oskar Lukasiak
Richard Veenstra v Nitin Kumar
Madars Razma v Jamai van den Herik
Alan Soutar v Teemu Harju
Lukas Wenig v Wesley Plaisier
Kim Huybrechts v Arno Merk
Mensur Suljovic v David Cameron
Gabriel Clemens v Alex Spellman
Thibault Tricole v Motomu Sakai
Ryan Meikle v Jesus Salate
James Hurrell v Stowe Buntz
Nick Kenny v Justin Hood
Matt Campbell v Adam Sevada
Keane Barry v Tim Pusey
Connor Scutt v Simon Whitlock
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