England’s Michael Smith will defend his title as the World Darts Championship gets underway in December. Smith won last year’s tournament, beating Michael van Gerwen 7-4 in the final to lift the trophy for the first time and he’ll be keen to repeat that success this year.
That won’t be an easy task as 96 players take part in the prestigious championship hoping for their shot at glory. As runner-up back in January, Van Gerwen is seeded second - behind Smith - for this competition with Luke Humphries third and two-time World Champion Peter Wright the fourth seed.
Other big names to compete are 2021 winner Gerwyn Price and World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall who will enter the tournament in the second round due to their protected rankings.
Meanwhile, Fallon Sherrock, who became the first female player to win a match at the World Darts Championship in 2019/2020, comes into the tournament as a first round international qualifier.
Here’s everthing you need to know about the World Darts Championship:
When is the World Darts Championship?
The World Darts Championship will be held from December 15, 2023 to January 3, 2024 at Alexandra Palace in London.
What is the prize money?
As well as the Sid Waddell Trophy, there is £2.5m in prize money on offer for the World Darts Championship with the champion netting £500,000.
The runner-up earns a cool £200,000 while semi-finalist will pocket £100,000 each and those that reach the quarter-finals winning £50,000.
Fourth round and third round losers earn themselves £35,000 and £25,000 respectively while there is £15,000 on offer for the 32 players knocked out in the second round and the 32 first round losers will take away £7,500.
How to watch the tournament on tv
The World Darts Championship will air on Sky Sports’ dedicated Darts channel with coverage beginning on the December 15 and running through to the final in January.
What is the format for each round?
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
Who is playing at the tournament?
Top 32 seeded players
- Michael Smith (England)
- Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
- Luke Humphries (England)
- Peter Wright (Scotland)
- Gerwyn Price (Wales)
- Nathan Aspinall (England)
- Danny Noppert (Netherlands)
- Rob Cross (England)
- Jonny Clayton (Wales)
- Damon Heta (Australia)
- Dave Chisnall (England)
- Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands)
- James Wade (England)
- Joe Cullen (England)
- Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium)
- Ross Smith (England)
- Chris Dobey (England)
- Stephen Bunting (England)
- Ryan Searle (England)
- Andrew Gilding (England)
- Gary Anderson (Scotland)
- Gabriel Clemens (Germany)
- Josh Rock (Northern Ireland)
- Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland)
- Jose de Sousa (Portugal)
- Martin Schindler (Germany)
- Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland)
- Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)
- Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
- Callan Rydz (England)
- Kim Huybrechts (Belgium)
- Madars Razma (Latvia)
ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers
- Ricardo Pietreczko (Germany)
- Gian van Veen (Netherlands)
- Ryan Joyce (England)
- Luke Woodhouse (England)
- Mike De Decker (Belgium)
- Ian White (England)
- Jim Williams (Wales)
- Mario Vandenbogaerde (Belgium)
- Radek Szaganski (Poland)
- Richard Veenstra (Netherlands)
- Steve Beaton (England)
- Keane Barry (Ireland)
- Simon Whitlock (Australia)
- Kevin Doets (Netherlands)
- Matt Campbell (Canada)
- Connor Scutt (England)
- Martin Lukeman (England)
- Mickey Mansell (Northern Ireland)
- Dylan Slevin (Ireland)
- Steve Lennon (Ireland)
- William O’Connor (Ireland)
- Scott Williams (England)
- Christian Kist (Netherlands)
- Ricky Evans (England)
- Cameron Menzies (Scotland)
- Lee Evans (England)
- Ritchie Edhouse (England)
- Jermaine Wattimena (Netherlands)
- Jules van Dongen (USA)
- Jamie Hughes (England)
- Niels Zonneveld (Netherlands)
- Keegan Brown (England)
International Qualifiers
- Luke Littler (England)
- Wessel Nijman (Netherlands)
- Berry van Peer (Netherlands)
- Owen Bates (England)
- Fallon Sherrock (England)
- Mikuru Suzuki (Japan)
- Marko Kantele (Finland)
- Jeffrey de Graaf (Sweden)
- Haruki Muramatsu (Japan)
- Sandro Eric Sosing (Philippines)
- Lourence Ilagan (Philippines)
- Tomoya Goto (Japan)
- Paolo Nebrida (Philippines)
- Reynaldo Rivera (Philippines)
- Man Lok Leung (Hong Kong)
- Darren Penhall (Australia)
- Ben Robb (New Zealand)
- Haupai Puha (New Zealand)
- Alex Spellman (USA)
- David Cameron (Canada)
- Stowe Buntz (USA)
- Thibault Tricole (France)
- Krzysztof Kciuk (Poland)
- Dragutin Horvat (Germany)
- Simon Adams (South Africa)
- Xiaochen Zong (China)
- Norman Madhoo (Guyana)
- Bhav Patel (India)
- Florian Hempel (Germany)
- Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (Austria)
- Darren Webster (England)
- Boris Krcmar (Croatia)
