WDF World Darts Championship
| Founded | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Inaugural season | 2022 |
| Country | England |
| Venue(s) | Lakeside Country Club |
| Most recent champion(s) |  Jimmy van Schie (Open) Deta Hedman (Women) Mitchell Lawrie(Youth)  Zehra Gemi(Girls) |
| Tournament format | Sets |
The WDF World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport of darts and is organised by the World Darts Federation. The WDF World Darts Championship began in 2022 after the collapse of the British Darts Organisation in 2020.
History
The original World Darts Championship ran from 1978 to 2020 and was organised by the British Darts Organisation. The 2020 tournament was the last edition to be organised by the BDO before the collapse of the company.[1] In September 2020, World Darts Federation announced the launch of the new WDF World Championship.[2] The first edition took place in 2022, but was delayed until April due to concerns and government restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4][5] In 2023 the tournament started in December.[6] From 2024 onwards the tournament started in November and ended in December. In July 2025, the WDF announced that for all tournaments, cups and ranking tables, the "men's" and "boys" categories were renamed to "open" and "youth" following a change in the WDF's eligibility criteria that saw participation in women's and girls' events restricted to those born as female.[7]
Venue
The first World Darts Championship organised by the BDO was played at the Heart of the Midlands Club in Nottingham in 1978. Between 1979 and 1985 the tournanment was held at Jollees in Stoke-on-Trent. From 1986 to 2019 the tournament was held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey. The last tournament organised by the BDO was played at the Indigo at The O2 in London. Since 2022, the WDF World Darts Championship has been held at the Lakeside Country Club.
List of tournaments
Open (Men's)
| Year | Champion | Av. | Score | Runner-Up | Av. | Prize Money | Venue | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Ch. | R.-Up | ||||||||
| 2022 | .svg.png){kind=small} Neil Duff |
87.73 | 6–5 |  Thibault Tricole |
86.95 | £200,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 | Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey | [8] |
| 2023 | .svg.png){kind=small} Andy Baetens |
93.69 | 6–1 | Chris Landman |
86.47 | £170,000 | £50,000 | £20,000 | [8] | |
| 2024 |  Shane McGuirk |
90.31 | 6–3 |  Paul Lim |
83.76 | £146,000 | £50,000 | £16,000 | [8] | |
| 2025 | Jimmy van Schie |
93.21 | 6–3 | Mitchell Lawrie |
93.18 | £146,000 | £50,000 | £16,000 | [8] | |
Women's
| Year | Champion | Av. | Score | Runner-Up | Av. | Prize Money | Venue | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Ch. | R.-Up | ||||||||
| 2022 | Beau Greaves |
92.05 | 4–0 | Kirsty Hutchinson |
72.53 | £87,500 | £25,000 | £12,500 | Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey | [9] |
| 2023 | Beau Greaves (2) |
84.64 | 4–1 | Aileen de Graaf |
77.69 | £75,000 | £25,000 | £10,000 | [9] | |
| 2024 | Beau Greaves (3) |
83.92 | 4–1 | Sophie McKinlay |
73.81 | £63,000 | £25,000 | £8,000 | [9] | |
| 2025 | Deta Hedman |
72.01 | 4–1 | Lerena Rietbergen |
70.07 | £63,000 | £25,000 | £8,000 | [9] | |
Youth (Boys')
| Year | Champion | Av. | Score | Runner-Up | Av. | Prize Money | Venue | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Ch. | R.-Up | ||||||||
| 2022 | Bradly Roes |
71.34 | 3–1 | Charlie Large |
71.56 | £9,500 | £5,000 | £2,500 | Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey | [10] |
| 2023 | Bradley van der Velden |
69.93 | 3–0 | Adam Dee |
66.68 | £9,000 | £5,000 | £2,000 | [10] | |
| 2024 | Archie Self |
81.34 | 3–2 | Jenson Walker |
84.76 | £8,500 | £3,000 | £1,500 | [10] | |
| 2025 | Mitchell Lawrie |
89.35 | 4–2 |  Florian Preis |
88.45 | £8,500 | £3,000 | £1,500 | [10] | |
Girls'
| Year | Champion | Av. | Score | Runner-Up | Av. | Prize Money | Venue | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Ch. | R.-Up | ||||||||
| 2022 | Eleanor Cairns |
52.45 | 2–0 | Wibke Riemann |
52.22 | £3,000 | £2,000 | £1,000 | Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey | [11] |
| 2023 |  Aurora Fochesato |
59.43 | 2–0 |  Krisztina Turai |
51.07 | £3,000 | £2,000 | £1,000 | [11] | |
| 2024 | Paige Pauling |
73.88 | 2–0 | Sophie McKinlay |
71.92 | £2,500 | £1,500 | £1,000 | [11] | |
| 2025 | Zehra Gemi |
77.07 | 3–0 | Rebecca Allen |
65.54 | £3,500 | £1,500 | £1,000 | [11] | |
Statistics
Finalists
| List of Men's (Open) World Championship finalists. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Winners | Runners-up | Last final won | Last final lost |
| Neil Duff |
1 | 0 | 2022 | |
| Andy Baetens |
1 | 0 | 2023 | |
| Shane McGuirk |
1 | 0 | 2024 | |
| Jimmy van Schie |
1 | 0 | 2025 | |
| Thibault Tricole |
0 | 1 | 2022 | |
| Chris Landman |
0 | 1 | 2023 | |
| Paul Lim |
0 | 1 | 2024 | |
| Mitchell Lawrie |
0 | 1 | 2025 | |
| List of Women's World Championship finalists. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Winners | Runners-up | Last final won | Last final lost |
| Beau Greaves |
3 | 0 | 2024 | |
| Deta Hedman |
1 | 0 | 2025 | |
| Kirsty Hutchinson |
0 | 1 | 2022 | |
| Aileen de Graaf |
0 | 1 | 2023 | |
| Sophie McKinlay |
0 | 1 | 2024 | |
| Lerena Rietbergen |
0 | 1 | 2025 | |
| List of Boys (Youth) World Championship finalists. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Winners | Runners-up | Last final won | Last final lost |
| Bradly Roes |
1 | 0 | 2022 | |
| Bradley van der Velden |
1 | 0 | 2023 | |
| Archie Self |
1 | 0 | 2024 | |
| Mitchell Lawrie |
1 | 0 | 2025 | |
| Charlie Large |
0 | 1 | 2022 | |
| Adam Dee |
0 | 1 | 2023 | |
| Jenson Walker |
0 | 1 | 2024 | |
| Florian Preis |
0 | 1 | 2025 | |
| List of Girls World Championship finalists. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Winners | Runners-up | Last final won | Last final lost |
| Eleanor Cairns |
1 | 0 | 2022 | |
| Aurora Fochesato |
1 | 0 | 2023 | |
| Paige Pauling |
1 | 0 | 2024 | |
| Zehra Gemi |
1 | 0 | 2025 | |
| Wibke Riemann |
0 | 1 | 2022 | |
| Krisztina Turai |
0 | 1 | 2023 | |
| Sophie McKinlay |
0 | 1 | 2024 | |
| Rebecca Allen |
0 | 1 | 2025 | |
Averages
| Ten highest Men's (Open) World Championship one-match averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year & Round | Opponent | Result |
| 104.91 | Richard Veenstra | 2022, Third round | Luke Littler |
3–0 |
| 102.79 | Andy Baetens | 2022, Third round | Scott Marsh |
3–0 |
| 101.32 | Jim McEwan | 2022, First round |  Landon Gardiner |
2–0 |
| 98.98 | Jimmy van Schie | 2024, Second round |  Björn Lejon |
3–0 |
| 97.47 | Brian Raman | 2022, Third round | Jarred Cole |
3–0 |
| 97.44 | Dennis Nilsson | 2023, Quarter-final | Wesley Plaisier |
4–1 |
| 97.36 | Jimmy van Schie | 2025, Quarter-final | Shane McGuirk |
4–1 |
| 97.21 | Mitchell Lawrie | 2025, Second round |  Jason Brandon |
3–0 |
| 96.33 | Mitchell Lawrie | 2025, Semi-final | Jenson Walker |
5–2 |
| 96.29 | Ben Robb | 2025, Second round | Neil Duff |
3–1 |
| Ten highest Women's World Championship one-match averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year & Round | Opponent | Result |
| 92.05 | Beau Greaves | 2022, Final | Kirsty Hutchinson |
4–0 |
| 90.77 | Beau Greaves | 2023, Semi-final |  Rhian O'Sullivan |
3–0 |
| 89.21 | Rhian O'Sullivan | 2022, Quarter-final | Maria O'Brien |
2–0 |
| 88.79 | Beau Greaves | 2023, Second round | Lorraine Hyde |
2–0 |
| 88.41 | Beau Greaves | 2023, Quarter-final | Paula Murphy |
2–0 |
| 86.16 | Beau Greaves | 2024, Semi-final | Deta Hedman |
3–0 |
| 85.89 | Rhian O'Sullivan | 2022, First round | Paula Jacklin |
2–0 |
| 85.84 | Beau Greaves | 2022, Quarter-final | Aileen de Graaf |
2–0 |
| 84.64 | Beau Greaves | 2023, Final | Aileen de Graaf |
4–1 |
| 84.06 | Beau Greaves | 2022, Semi-final | Lorraine Winstanley |
3–0 |
Television coverage
| Period | Rights holder | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Eurosport, Discovery+, Quest | [12][13] |
| 2023 | Ayozat, WDF YouTube, Winmau YouTube, Tungsten Tales YouTube | [14] |
| 2024 | Blaze (Semi-finals and Final), GREAT! game YouTube | [15] |
| 2025 | S4C (Online, YouTube & TV) | [16] |
References
- ↑ "BDO era comes to an end as counties join UKDA". dartsnews.com. 8 September 2020.
- ↑ "Development of World Rankings Criteria For 2021 – WDF". World Darts Federation. 15 September 2020.
- ↑ "WDF World Darts Championships: When is the event? How can I watch on TV? Who is playing? How do I buy tickets?". tntsports.co.uk. TNT Sports. 28 February 2022.
- ↑ "Lakeside WDF World Championships 2022 - Rescheduled". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 15 December 2021.
- ↑ "WDF World Darts Championship postponed: 2022 Lakeside tournament pushed back to April". Sky Sports. 15 December 2021.
- ↑ "WDF announce Lakeside World Championship to take place in early December from 2023 onwards". dartsnews.com. 23 December 2022.
- ↑ "WDF Eligibility Criteria Announcement". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 28 July 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "World Championship". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation.
- 1 2 3 4 "World Championship Women". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation.
- 1 2 3 4 "World Championship Open Youth". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation.
- 1 2 3 4 "World Championship Girls". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation.
- ↑ "Darts is Coming Home! Lakeside World Championship 2022". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 6 June 2021.
- ↑ "Discovery UK Add Live Free-To-Air Lakeside Coverage On Quest". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 28 March 2022.
- ↑ "2023 CT1 WDF Lakeside World Championships - How to Watch". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 29 November 2023.
- ↑ "2024 WDF World Championship - How to Watch". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 26 November 2024.
- ↑ "S4C to broadcast coverage of 2025 WDF World Championship". dartswdf.com. World Darts Federation. 16 October 2025.