‘Awful lot of competition’ – Barry Hearn warns fans of early upsets in wide open World Darts Championship

Barry Hearn believes the PDC World Darts Championship could bring some shock early results amid the strong competition.

Darts fans will have rejoiced in the fact that the Worlds will return to their screens later on Thursday evening – with live commentary of every match on the talkSPORT network.

AFP

Reigning champion Luke Littler beat Darius Labanauskas 3-0 in his first round match on the opening night at Alexandra Palace.

The 18-year-old is one of the favourites to go all the way this year and win back-to-back World Darts Championship titles.

However, when speaking to talkSPORT Breakfast, Matchroom Sport president Hearn hinted that he might not have an easy ride early on.

“There’s half a dozen players that on their day can give Littler not only just a good game, but possibly a beating,” said the darts supremo.

“Although Littler is the short price favourite with the bookmakers, this is a sort of tournament that… it doesn’t give too many shots late on when the duration of the matches are longer.

“But in the first and second rounds, sometimes you get upsets. It would be a colossal upset for Littler to get beat early on, his draw is quite kind to him, I think. But there’s an awful lot of competition.

“You’re talking Luke Humphries, on his day he’s unbeatable. [Michael] Van Gerwen is coming back to his best, you’ve got people out there… Gian van Veen won the European Championship, dangerous.

“You’ve got other Dutch players, I mean, the world’s playing darts, they’re coming at us from all angles and it’s just brilliant news for the sport and the fans that come to watch the best of the best.”

Prize money births ‘new world of darts‘

One of the biggest headlines surrounding the 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship is the huge increase in prize money.

The total prize pot stands at £5million, and the winner will bank £1m from the record-breaking sum.

Getty

Getty

Darts’ huge rise in popularity has helped bring such a lucrative figures to the Worlds, and signal a prosperous new era in the sport’s history.

“It’s been £2.5m [total prize pot] for a number of years,” Hearn said.

“Last year, obviously, we did a new Sky contract, we got a load more money out of Sky which we gratefully received.

“So, it’s only fair that that drifts down. We increased prize money by an extra, I think, £8m from this year.

“And the new world of darts, if you like, starts with this World Championship, with £5m in the pot.

“Obviously, darts has never seen money like this, and £1m to the winner gets the attention of the media and the public alike.”

Rex

Who played on night one and who is in action on day two?

Littler opened his title defence with a 3-0 win over Labanauskas, and the Ally Pally wasp made a cheeky appearance during his interview.

Michael Smith won by the same scoreline against Lisa Ashton after Arno Merk beat Kim Huybrechts 3-1, with the opening day’s action rounded off by Madars Razma’s 3-1 win over Jamai van den Herik.

Friday’s action begins in the afternoon session at 12:30pm with four more matches.

Niels Zonneveld vs Haupai Puha, Ian White vs Mervyn King, Ryan Searle vs Chris Landman and Rob Cross vs Cor Dekker are scheduled.

In the evening, it’s Ross Smith vs Andreas Harrysson, Ricky Evans vs Man Lok Leung, Gian van Veen vs Cristo Reyes and Damon Heta vs Steve Lennon.

For the first time ever, talkSPORT will bring you live commentary of every match at the PDC World Darts Championship – download the talkSPORT app and go to ‘Live Games’ or visit the talkSPORT Darts YouTube channel to follow all the action from Ally Pally.

2026 PDC World Championship Odds and Offer

2026 PDC World Darts Championship Winner Odds:

• Luke Littler – 1/1
• Luke Humphries – 7/2
• Gian van Veen – 12/1
• Gerwyn Price – 14/1
• Josh Rock – 14/1
• Michael van Gerwen – 16/1
• Nathan Aspinall – 40/1
• Stephen Bunting – 40/1

Visit talkSPORT BET for all PDC Darts World Championship odds

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