THE FIELD for the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship has been confirmed, as reigning champion Luke Humphries prepares to headline a star-studded field in the capital next month.
The sport’s flagship tournament will take place at London’s Alexandra Palace from December 15-January 3, with 96 players competing to win the iconic Sid Waddell Trophy and the £500,000 top prize.
The top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit following Sunday’s Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals qualify by right and will enter the World Darts Championship in the second round stage.
Reigning champion Humphries will make his Alexandra Palace return as the number one seed, as he bids to emulate Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson by becoming only the fourth player to retain the World Championship title.
2023 World Champion Michael Smith will be the number two seed, with three-time winner Michael van Gerwen seeded third, as he bids to repeat his successes from 2014, 2017 and 2019.
Fresh from winning the recent Grand Slam of Darts, last year’s runner-up Luke Littler will begin his second World Championship campaign as the fourth seed, following a stunning 2024 season that has yielded 11 PDC titles and also saw him finish as runner-up at the Players Championship Finals.
2018 World Champion Rob Cross enters this year’s showpiece as the number five seed, with Dave Chisnall, Jonny Clayton and Stephen Bunting making up the top eight PDC Order of Merit qualifiers.
The seeded stars also include two-time World Champions Anderson and Peter Wright, as well as 2007 winner Raymond van Barneveld, who was confirmed as the 32nd seed following Ryan Joyce’s quarter-final exit at the Players Championship Finals on Sunday.
Mike De Decker and Ritchie Edhouse will also be seeded at the World Championship for the first time, after celebrating maiden televised titles at the World Grand Prix and European Championship respectively last month.
Scottish star Cameron Menzies is the leading ProTour Order of Merit Qualifier, with players earning their spots through 13 European Tour events and 30 Players Championships on the PDC circuit throughout 2024.
Development Tour Order of Merit winner Wessel Nijman – a Players Championship event winner in October – will also feature alongside European Championship runner-up Jermaine Wattimena and Grand Slam of Darts finalist Martin Lukeman.
Scott Williams enjoyed a sensational run to the semi-finals of last year’s World Championship, and he will be another notable name featuring in the £2.5m event, while Ricardo Pietreczko, Luke Woodhouse and Joyce all sealed their qualification in convincing fashion.
The list of International Qualifiers includes American duo Stowe Buntz and Leonard Gates, with the latter winning last month’s CDC Continental Cup title.
Fallon Sherrock, who created history by becoming the first female player to win a match at the World Darts Championship in 2019/2020, will make her fifth appearance this year, and she is joined by debutant Noa-Lynn van Leuven from the PDC Women’s Series.
Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont and Bahamian trailblazer Rashad Sweeting will also make history next month, as they become the first players from their homeland to compete in darts’ biggest event.
The 96-player field will be finalised following the Tour Card Holder Qualifier in Wigan on Monday November 25, which will offer the final four places at next month’s event.
The draw for the Paddy Power World Darts Championship will take place at approximately 1630 GMT on Monday November 25, live on Sky Sports News in the UK.
2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship Field
PDC Order of Merit Top 32
1. Luke Humphries (England)
2. Michael Smith (England)
3. Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
4. Luke Littler (England)
5. Rob Cross (England)
6. Dave Chisnall (England)
7. Jonny Clayton (Wales)
8. Stephen Bunting (England)
9. Damon Heta (Australia)
10. Gerwyn Price (Wales)
11. Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)
12. Nathan Aspinall (England)
13. Danny Noppert (Netherlands)
14. Gary Anderson (Scotland)
15. Chris Dobey (England)
16. James Wade (England)
17. Peter Wright (Scotland)
18. Josh Rock (Northern Ireland)
19. Ross Smith (England)
20. Ryan Searle (England)
21. Andrew Gilding (England)
22. Martin Schindler (Germany)
23. Joe Cullen (England)
24. Mike De Decker (Belgium)
25. Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands)
26. Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
27. Gabriel Clemens (Germany)
28. Gian van Veen (Netherlands)
29. Ritchie Edhouse (England)
30. Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)
31. Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland)
32. Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers
Cameron Menzies (Scotland)
Wessel Nijman (Netherlands)
Jermaine Wattimena (Netherlands)
Ricardo Pietreczko (Germany)
Luke Woodhouse (England)
Ryan Joyce (England)
Niels Zonneveld (Netherlands)
Alan Soutar (Scotland)
Madars Razma (Latvia)
Callan Rydz (England)
Wesley Plaisier (Netherlands)
Martin Lukeman (England)
Kevin Doets (Netherlands)
Richard Veenstra (Netherlands)
Scott Williams (England)
Kim Huybrechts (Belgium)
William O’Connor (Ireland)
Karel Sedlacek (Czech Republic)
Stephen Burton (England)
Thibault Tricole (France)
Connor Scutt (England)
Mensur Suljovic (Austria)
Ian White (England)
Jeffrey de Graaf (Sweden)
Jim Williams (Wales)
Florian Hempel (Germany)
Ryan Meikle (England)
Chris Landman (Netherlands)
Nick Kenny (Wales)
James Hurrell (England)
Mickey Mansell (Northern Ireland)
Ricky Evans (England)
International and Tier Tour Qualifiers
Ryusei Azemoto (Japan)
Keane Barry (Ireland)
Stefan Bellmont (Switzerland)
Stowe Buntz (USA)
Cameron Carolissen (South Africa)
Joe Comito (Australia)
Leonard Gates (USA)
Tomoya Goto (Japan)
Kai Gotthardt (Germany)
Romeo Grbavac (Croatia)
Lourence Ilagan (Philippines)
Christian Kist (Netherlands)
Nitin Kumar (India)
Darius Labanauskas (Lithuania)
Lok Yin Lee (Hong Kong)
Jim Long (Canada)
Gordon Mathers (Australia)
Alexander Merkx (Netherlands)
Paolo Nebrida (Philippines)
Robert Owen (Wales)
Ben Robb (New Zealand)
Sandro Eric Sosing (Philippines)
Fallon Sherrock (England)
Niko Springer (Germany)
Rashad Sweeting (Bahamas)
Alexis Toylo (Philippines)
Noa-Lynn van Leuven (Netherlands)
Xiaochen Zong (China)
PDC Tour Card Holder Qualifiers
- Matt Campbell
- Jeffrey de Zwaan,
- Dylan Slevin
- Rhys Griffin
——ENDS—–
