The latest print issue of Darts World Magazine is OUT NOW! Available online and with our distributors in time for the early days of Ally Pally 2026.
This issue sees DW suggest that it could be an All CHANGE period across our sport and the showcases figureheads who are making today’s remarkable period possible.
An exclusive interview from a totemic figure in Michael Van Gerwen get the issue off to a fine start as Paul Mason asks MVG about this year’s struggles and the future.
Columns from : Luke Humphries, Gian Van Veen, Huw Ware, Natalie Gilbert, Colin Osborne and John Fowler, as well as a special Going Dutch features from Wim Blokpoel, intersperse the feature pieces
Features wise its a packed edition with the ‘Cover Story’ looking at the step change that seems to be happening in our game and industry.
Lakeside reflection focus on the remarkable triumph of Deta Hedman who claimed her first WDF World crown at a the fine age of 66. Jayeff gives us an ‘Official View’ of this years events. We acknowledge Deta’s outstanding contribution with a special rear cover:
The Women’s game also features in our special middle supplement: From Flowers to Fallon showcases 50 years of development through the focus of ‘6 of the Best’ over the decades.
As ever the issue begins with:
On The Oche
Autumn into Winter has long been darts’ annual peak period, with the levels of action and attention increasing steadily since the formation of the PDC. The double boost, provided first by Fallon Sherrock and now by Luke Littler, has poured high octane fuel on an already sizzling product.
Back in the early 1990s when the breakaway code launched its World Championship during the Christmas festivities few would have imagined how it would eclipse its Lakeside rival, expand to 128 players, commence in early December and need part of a fourth playing week as a result. Very soon the crowd attendance will again double as a move into Ally Pally’s Great Hall takes place in the coming years.
At the same time the Amateur game has seen a major restructure and resurgence over the past 24 months and remarkably they have added a third Global Championship. The ADC’s event aims at giving amateur players the chance to compete for major prize money but with less travelling and expenditure than is often the case.
For an extended period DW has been chronicling the ongoing battle between at least three generations of players with the Old Guard, Middults and Latest Generation slugging it out in almost every event, circumstance and context within our game.
It seems to us that we have been witnessing the final chapter in 2025 and this year’s £1million Alexandra Palace showdown may be the grand finale. Could old guard Anderson, Wright and Wade et al. raise one last hurrah or will Littler, Rock and GVV dominate?
Darts World will also need to change and update its timetable in order to cover this period as widely as possible. Hence this, our first, Winter/Worlds Special.
The time also seemed right to mark the development of Women’s Darts. Our dedicated supplement in the middle pages is a snapshot of their impressive progress and highlights a few who have contributed so much or continue to do so.
On a more sombre note we have included an ‘In Memoriam’ type section toward the end of the issue as several well loved darts folk, including trailblazers for the game, left us during 2025.
DW wishes you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and successful 2026!
——ENDS——
Images: Darts World Ltd.
