When is the 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship Final? Date, start time, rules and how to follow

The 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship will crown its winner during a high stakes showpiece night at Alexandra Palace in the New Year.

Luke Littler returns to the world stage as reigning champion after his 7-3 victory against Michael van Gerwen earlier in 2025.

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Victory in the final saw Littler become the youngest ever darts world champion at 17-years-old.

The World Championship begins its 18th appearance at Ally Pally on Thursday, and this year there’s a record prize fund on offer.

For the first time in the competition’s history, the winner will receive £1million in prize money from a total £5million fund.

But there are six rounds of darts to win before the showdown, which will kick off 2026 in style.

PDC World Darts Championship Final: Date and how to follow

This year’s final will take place in the West Hall at Alexandra Palace on January 3, 2026.

Play is scheduled to begin at 8pm.

talkSPORT will bring you full live coverage of the darts this Christmas, including the final.

Ian Danter, Mark Wilson, Paul Nicholson and Chris Mason all feature in our commentary team.

To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream or find us on DAB digital radio through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Download and listen to all our live commentaries via the talkSPORT app here.

Visit talkSPORT BET for all the latest odds and bet boosts for every big event.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here for news, views and analysis plus our regular goals show and for more, follow us on talkSPORT Facebook and talkSPORT X.

Sky Sports will also broadcast every match on Sky Sports Main Event, with their coverage beginning from 6:30pm on December 11.

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PDC World Darts Championship Final: Rules

As per the usual tournament rules, players must reduce their scores from 501 to 0 to win a leg.

They can only finish on a double or by hitting the bullseye.

World Darts Championship matches are played in a set format, all of which are played as best of five legs, or first to three.

The January 3 final will be played as the best of 13 sets or, as Littler did last year, the first player to seven sets will win.

PDC World Darts Championship Final: Draw and schedule

While the World Darts Championship final is the most exciting match of the lot, there are plenty of mouth-watering contests to be had before then.

The action gets underway on Thursday, December 11, which is when Littler begins his title defence against Darius Labanauskas.

December 11 – 7pm

• Kim Huybrechts vs Arno Merk
• Michael Smith vs Lisa Ashton
• Luke Littler vs Darius Labanauskas
• Madars Razma vs Jamai van den Herik

December 12 – 12:30pm

• Niels Zonneveld vs Haupai Puha
• Ian White vs Mervyn King
• Ryan Searle vs Chris Landman
• Rob Cross vs Cor Dekker

December 12 – 7pm

• Ross Smith vs Andreas Harrysson
• Ricky Evans vs Man Lok Leung
• Gian van Veen vs Cristo Reyes
• Damon Heta vs Steve Lennon

December 13 – 12:30pm

• Mario Vandenbogaerde vs David Davies
• Andrew Gilding vs Cam Crabtree
• Luke Woodhouse vs Boris Krcmar
• Gary Anderson vs Adam Hunt

December 13 – 7pm

• Jeffrey de Graaf vs Paul Lim
• Wessel Nijman vs Karel Sedlacek
• Luke Humphries vs Ted Evetts
• Gabriel Clemens vs Alex Spellman

December 14 – 12:30pm

• Ritchie Edhouse vs Jonny Tata
• Dom Taylor vs Oskar Lukasiak
• Richard Veenstra vs Nitin Kumar
• Joe Cullen vs Bradley Brooks

December 14 – 7pm

• Lukas Wenig vs Wesley Plaisier
• Dimitri Van den Bergh vs Darren Beveridge
• Stephen Bunting vs Sebastian Bialecki
• James Hurrell vs Stowe Buntz

December 15 – 12:30pm

• Brendan Dolan vs Tavis Dudeney
• Cameron Menzies vs Charlie Manby
• Mensur Suljovic vs David Cameron
• Peter Wright vs Noa-Lynn van Leuven

December 15 – 7pm

• Martin Lukeman vs Max Hopp
• Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Andy Baetens
• Jonny Clayton vs Adam Lipscombe
• Connor Scutt vs Simon Whitlock

December 16 – 12:30pm

• Alan Soutar vs Teemu Harju
• Nick Kenny vs Justin Hood
• Scott Williams vs Paolo Nebrida
• Chris Dobey vs Xiaochen Zong

December 16 – 7pm

• Ricardo Pietreczko vs Jose de Sousa
• Danny Noppert vs Jurjen van der Velde
• Gerwyn Price vs Adam Gawlas
• Niko Springer vs Joe Comito

December 17 – 7pm

• Matt Campbell vs Adam Sevada
• Raymond van Barneveld vs Stefan Bellmont
• James Wade vs Ryusei Azemoto
• Martin Schindler vs Stephen Burton

December 18 – 12:30pm

• Callan Rydz vs Patrik Kovacs
• Thibault Tricole vs Motomu Sakai
• Ryan Joyce vs Owen Bates
• Mike De Decker vs David Munyua

December 18 – 7pm

• Jermaine Wattimena vs Dominik Gruellich
• Dave Chisnall vs Fallon Sherrock
• Michael van Gerwen vs Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
• Krzysztof Ratajski vs Alexis Toylo

December 19 – 12:30pm

• Kevin Doets vs Matthew Dennant
• Ryan Meikle vs Jesus Salate
• Mickey Mansell vs Leonard Gates
• Josh Rock vs Gemma Hayter

December 19 – 7pm

• William O’Connor vs Krzysztof Kciuk
• Daryl Gurney vs Beau Greaves
• Nathan Aspinall vs Lourence Ilagan
• Keane Barry vs Tim Pusey

December 20 – 12:30pm

• 4x round two matches

December 20 – 7pm

• 4x round two matches

December 21 – 12:30pm

• 4x round two matches

December 21 – 7pm

• 4x round two matches

December 22 – 12:30pm

• 4x round two matches

December 22 – 7pm

• 4x round two matches

December 23 – 12:30pm

• 4x round two matches

December 23 – 7pm

• 4x round two matches

December 27 – 12:30pm

• 3x round three matches

December 27 – 7pm

• 3x round three matches

December 28 – 12:30pm

• 3x round three matches

December 28 – 7pm

• 3x round three matches

December 29 – 12:30pm

• 3x round three matches

December 29 – 7pm

• 3x round three matches
• 2x round four matches

December 30 – 12:30pm

• 3x round four matches

December 30 – 7pm

• 3x round four matches

January 1 – 12:30pm

• 2x quarter-finals matches

January 1 – 7pm

• 2x quarter-finals matches

January 2 – 7:30pm

• 2x semi-finals matches

January 3 – 8pm

• Final