PDC World Darts Championship Draw: First round draw, bracket, schedule & routes to the final

Check out the draw and schedule for the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship as the sporting spotlight gets set to fall upon London's historic Alexandra Palace over the festive period.

Reigning world champion Luke Humphries will top the bill on the opening night of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship as he begins his quest for a second Alexandra Palace crown against either Thibaut Tricole or Joe Comito.

'Cool Hand' reigned supreme in North London 12 months ago, prevailing 7-3 in a thrilling final against Luke Littler, and will toe the oche in December bidding to become only the third player in history to successfully defend their maiden world title.

The world number one will head to London in buoyant spirits after overcoming Littler for a second time in a major ranking final at the Players Championship Finals on Sunday evening.

Despite 'The Nuke' being installed as the pre-match favourite, it was Humphries who secured an 11-7 success at Butlin's, Minehead, to retain the title he captured for the first time 12 months earlier, and tee things up perfectly for the upcoming 2025 Ally Pally showpiece.

PDC World Darts Championship - Draw & Bracket

What's the draw for the World Darts Championship?

Top Half:

[1] Luke Humphries v Thibaut Tricole or Joe Comito
[32] Raymond van Barneveld v Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
[16] James Wade v Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
[17] Peter Wright v Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
[8] Stephen Bunting v Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
[25] Dirk van Duijvenbode v Madars Razma or Christian Kist
[9] Damon Heta v Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
[24] Mike De Decker v Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan

[4] Luke Littler v Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
[29] Ritchie Edhouse v Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
[13] Danny Noppert v Ryan Joyce or Dariusz Labernauskas
[20] Ryan Searle v Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
[5] Rob Cross v Scott Williams or Niko Springer
[28] Gian van Veen v Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
[12] Nathan Aspinall v Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
[21] Andrew Gilding v Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar

Bottom Half:

[2] Michael Smith v Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
[31] Krzysztof Ratajski v Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
[15] Chris Dobey v Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
[18] Josh Rock v Karel Sadlecek or Rhys Griffin
[7] Jonny Clayton v Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
[26] Daryl Gurney v Florian Hempel or Jeffrey De Zwaan
[10] Gerwyn Price v Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
[23] Joe Cullen v Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen

[3] Michael van Gerwen v James Hurrel or Jim Long
[30] Brendan Dolan v Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
[14] Gary Anderson v Jeffrey De Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
[19] Ross Smith v Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
[6] Dave Chisnall v Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
[27] Gabriel Clemens v Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
[11] Dimitri Van den Bergh v William O'Connor or Dylan Slevin
[22] Martin Schindler v Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavic

Luke Humphries route to the PDC World Darts Championship final

Luke Humphries opening 2025 PDC World Darts Championship clash will see him tackle Thibaut Tricole or Joe Comito on Sunday 15th December.

As the number one seed, 'Cool Hand' features in the first quarter of the draw, meaning a potential last 32 showdown with Raymond van Barneveld is in the pipeline providing he avoids a potential opening round banana skin.

James Wade or Peter Wright likely lie in wait in the last 16 following the Christmas break, whilst eighth seed Stephen Bunting could be Humphries' quarter-final opposition.

A passage through to the semi-finals could see him line-up against nemesis Luke Littler in a repeat of the 2024 World Final.

Luke Littler's route to the PDC World Darts Championship final

Luke Littler will take on either Ryan Meikle or 'Queen of the Palace' Fallon Sherrock in his opening match at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship.

'The Nuke', who has elevated himself up into fourth position on the PDC's Order of Merit, is then likely to take on number 29 seed Ritchie Edhouse in the last 32, before a potential last 16 clash with world number 13 Danny Noppert.

Providing Littler comes through those three matches, he could then meet former world champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals, before a potential blockbuster Ally Pally semi-final clash with Luke Humphries.

PDC World Darts Championship - Schedule

What's the schedule for the World Darts Championship?

Confirmed match schedule for Rounds 1 and 2 to be confirmed on Thursday 28th November.

Sunday 15th December
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Monday 16th December
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Tuesday 17th December
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Wednesday 18th December
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Thursday 19th December
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Friday 20th December
3x First Round, 1x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
2x First Round, 2x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Saturday 21st December
4x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
4x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Sunday 22nd December
4x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
4x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Monday 23rd December
4x Second Round (12:30 GMT)
4x Second Round (19:00 GMT)

Friday 27th December
3x Third Round (12:30 GMT)
3x Third Round (19:00 GMT)

Saturday 28th December
3x Third Round (12:30 GMT)
3x Third Round (19:00 GMT)

Sunday 29th December
3x Third Round (12:30 GMT)
1x Third Round & 2x Fourth Round (19:00 GMT)

Monday 30th December
3x Fourth Round (12:30 GMT)
3x Fourth Round (19:00 GMT)

Wednesday 1st January
2x Quarter-Finals (12:30 GMT)
2x Quarter-Finals (19:00 GMT)

Thursday 2nd January
2x Semi-Finals (19:30 GMT)

Friday 3rd January
Final (20:00 GMT)

No matches to be played on 24th, 25th and 26th and 31st December.