PDC World Championship

The PDC World Championship is played since 1994.
It always starts in the weeks before Christmas and is played with a break over the holidays into the New Year, so that the final usually overlaps with the early rounds of the BDO World Championship.
As the final is always played in the New Year the New Year counts for the name. So the tournament which started before Christmas in 2010 will be the World Championship 2011.
The World Championship is the biggest and most important tournament of the PDC.
From 1994 to 2007 it was hold in the Circus Tavern in Purfleet in front of around 800 spectators. It was rather cramped so the PDC changed to the Alexandra Palace where already the"News of the World" took place and now more then 2500 spectators can follow the tournament live.
From the first year the tournament is televised by Sky Sports and the production is sold to several other television transmitters. In Holland it is televised by SBS6, Sports1 is it inGermany, Fox Sports in USA and Australia, TSN in Canada, SuperSport in South Africa), Ten Sports in India, CCTV in China, Showtime in the Middle East, Ukraine TV in Ukraine, Sky in New Zealand, IKO in Poland, Starhub in Singapore, Sport1 in Hungary, Meersat in Malaysia, 7TV in Russia, Measat in Indonesia and J Sports in Japan though it is often not televised live.

64 players participate in the main tournament, 2011 that will be the top 32 of the Order of Merit(as always), 20 players are invited who are qualified by a qualifier outside the UK or through the PDPA qualifier. The Top 4 of the European Order of Merit not qualified in another way will take part and the top 16 of the Players Championship order of Merit not yet qualified.

In 2019 the number of participants was increased to 96:
Top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit
Top 32 of the PD Pro Tour Order of Merit
32 international qualifiers including two women.


The international qualifiers and the top 32 of the Pro Tour Order of Merit play the First Round. The winners play in the Second Round against the Top 32 of the Order of Merit. The Preliminary Round doesn't exist any longer.

The format of the preliminary round best of seven is legs. The rest of the tournament is played in sets, first round best of five, second and third round best of seven, quarterfinals best of nine, semi-finals best of 11 und finale best of 13.

In 2019 there will be no preliminary round but the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit will enter the tournament in the second round. First and second round will be Best of five Sets, third and fourth round Best of seven sets, quarterfinals Best of nine sets, semi-finals Best of 11 sets and final Best of 13 sets.

The price money increased more and more, the winner in 2014 will get 250 000 pound and the runner-up 100 000 pound. In 2019 it will be 500 000 pound for the winner and 200 000 pound for the runner-up.
There were changing sponsors at first but no since 2003 the tournament was sponsored by Ladbrokes com - a betting company. By now it is sponsored by william Hill - another betting company.

In the first 16 year of the tournament there were only four different winners. Dennis Priestley could win the inaugural Championship, Raymond van Barneveld was the winner in 2007 - his first year in the PDC. John Part till won two times in 2003 and 2008.
The dominant player of the tournament was Phil Taylor with all in all 16 titles. Michael van Gerwen won it three times so far, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson won the tournament twice. The newcomer Rob Cross won the title in his first year on the PDC circuit in 2018, Peter Wright won in 2020 and Gerwyn Price 2021.

The PDC always tries to liven the tournament up. It introduced Walk-on girls some years ago who accompanied the players during their walk-on's . During the World Championship 2010 there was a group of cheerleaders, who danced during the walk-on and while the players warmed up on stage. While the walk-on-girls disappeared due to the metoo campaign the dancers still dance.






PDC World Champions
1994Dennis Priestley6:1Phil Taylor
1995Phil Taylor6:2Rod Harrington
1996Phil Taylor6:4Dennis Priestley
1997Phil Taylor6:3Rod Harrington
1998Phil Taylor6:0Dennis Priestley
1999Phil Taylor6:2Peter Manley
2000Phil Taylor7:3Dennis Priestley
2001Phil Taylor7:0John Part
2002Phil Taylor7:0Peter Manley
2003John Part7:6Phil Taylor
2004Phil Taylor7:6Kevin Painter
2005Phil Taylor7:4Mark Dudbridge
2006Phil Taylor7:0Peter Manley
2007Raymond van Barneveld7:6Phil Taylor
2008John Part7:2Kirk Sheperd
2009Phil Taylor7:1Raymond van Barneveld
2010Phil Taylor7:3Simon Whitlock
2011Adrian Lewis7:5Gary Anderson
2012Adrian Lewis7:3Andy Hamilton
2013Phil Taylor7:4Michael van Gerwen
2014Michael van Gerwen7:4Peter Wright
2015Gary Anderson7:6Phil Taylor
2016Gary Anderson7:5Adrian Lewis
2017Michael van Gerwen7:3Gary Anderson
2018Rob Cross7:2Phil Taylor
2019Michael van Gerwen7:3Michael Smith
2020Peter Wright7:3Michael van Gerwen
2021Gerwyn Price7:3Gary Anderson
2022Peter Wright7:5Michael Smith
2023Michael Smith7:4Michael van Gerwen
2024Luke Humphries7:4Luke Littler



Price Money 2019- 2024
WinnerRunner-UpSemifinalsQuarterfinalsFourth RoundThird RoundSecond RoundFirst Round
2019-2024500 000 Pound200 000 Pound100 000 Pound50 000 Pound35 000 Pound25 000 Pound15 000 Pound7500 Pound



Price Money
WinnerRunner-UpSemifinalsQuarterfinalsLast 16Last 32Last 64Preliminary
2012200 000 Pound100 000 Pound50 000 Pound25 000 Pound15 000 Pound10 000 Pound6000 Pound3500 Pound
2013200 000 Pound100 000 Pound50 000 Pound25 000 Pound15 000 Pound10 000 Pound6000 Pound3500 Pound
2014250 000 Pound100 000 Pound50 000 Pound25 000 Pound15 000 Pound10 000 Pound6000 Pound3500 Pound
2015250 000 Pound120 000 Pound60 000 Pound35 000 Pound18 000 Pound12 000 Pound8000 Pound3500 Pound
2016300 000 Pound150 000 Pound70 000 Pound35 000 Pound22 000 Pound15 000 Pound10 000 Pound4250 Pound
2017350 000 Pound160 000 Pound80 000 Pound38 000 Pound25 000 Pound17 000 Pound10 000 Pound4500 Pound









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