2027 World Darts Championship: Start date, venue, draw, format, prize money breakdown, history & more

The PDC's annual showpiece takes place over the festive period with the world’s best arrowsmiths competing for the Sid Waddell trophy, and we've got everything you need to know about the great sporting spectacle.

Dates

Start Date

It's expected that the 2027 staging of the World Darts Championship will begin on Thursday 10th December 2026 and culminate with the final on Saturday 2nd January 2027.

Christmas break

Providing the same format of the 2026 event is carried over into 2027, the tournament will undertake a three-day break over Christmas, with the action getting back underway after Boxing Day.

There will be no play between Thursday 24th and Saturday 26th December, whilst there is also a break on Thursday 31st December, ahead of the semi-finals.

Prize Money

Winner (1):	£1,000,000
Runner-Up (1):	£400,000
Semi-Final losers (2):	£200,000
Quarter-Final losers (4):	£100,000
Fourth Round losers (8):	£60,000
Third Round losers (16):	£35,000
Second Round losers (32):	£25,000
First Round losers (64):	£15,000

Prize money for the 2027 World Darts Championship is expected to remain the same as 2026, with a bumper £1,000,000 top prize available for the winner.

A total prize pot of £5,000,000 is likely to be up for grabs including £400,000 for the runner-up.

Venue and Location

London’s Alexandra Palace has played host to the competition for the past 17 years, with the 2026 edition being the 19th staging of the competition at the iconic venue.

Prior to 2008, the World Darts Championship was held at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, with the venue then being deemed too small given the growing popularity and booming commercial aspects of the tournament. 

However, for the first time, the 2027 World Darts Championship will take place inside the larger Great Hall, meaning around 2,000 extra spectators across each session of play will be able to take the action in live.

Previously, the West Hall has hosted the annual event.

Draw

The draw for the 2027 World Darts Championship will take place in November 2026 following the conclusion of the Players Championship Finals.

An exact date will be announced closer to the time.

Format and Rules

There are expected to be 128 players competing at the 2027 World Darts Championship with the 32 highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit (the PDC world rankings) taking the seeded positions.

The format of the competition sees players battling out best-of-five sets games in the first and second rounds, with that increasing as the tournament progresses until the final which could stretch across a total of 13 sets.

If a set culminates in a tie, then a sudden death leg will be used to determine the winner of the set.

First round	Best-of-five sets
Second round	Best-of-five sets
Third round	Best-of-seven sets
Fourth round	Best-of-seven sets
Quarter-finals	Best-of-nine sets
Semi-finals	Best-of-11 sets
Final	Best-of-13 sets

History

The tournament, which has been running since 1994, was previously known as the WDC World Darts Championship prior to the World Darts Council voting to break away from the BDO to form the PDC in 1997.

For the first 13 years of its existence, the fabled Circus Tavern played host to the World Darts Championship before it was switched to London's Alexandra Palace, amidst huge growth in the sport, in 2008.

Phil Taylor, recognised as the best darts player in the sport’s history, notched a remarkable 16 world titles, with his most recent success coming back in 2013, almost a quarter of a century after his maiden triumph.

Luke Littler heads into the 2026 edition of the tournament as the title-holder, after overcoming Michael van Gerwen in the 2025 final to capture his maiden world crown.