Luke Littler faces a potential showdown against Fallon Sherrock at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship, while Luke Humphries will begin his title defence against Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito.
Humphries returns as defending champion after last year’s 7-4 victory over Littler, with the pair heading the betting for this year’s tournament which gets under way at Alexandra Palace on December 15 – live on Sky Sports.
World No 1 Humphries has already defended his Players Championship Finals title in 2024, adding to the Betfred World Matchplay success and three runner-up finishes in PDC majors this year, while Littler has won the Premier League and the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts during a remarkable debut season.
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Highlights of the 2024 World Darts Championship final between world No 1 Humphries and teenage sensation Luke Littler
They are among the 96 players who will be competing to win the iconic Sid Waddell Trophy and £500,000 top prize, with Littler – the fourth seed – and top seed Humphries in the same half of the draw and on course for a potential semi-final showdown.
The top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit following Sunday’s Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals enter at the second-round stage, with the first round seeing 32 players from the ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers playing one of the International Qualifiers.
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Littler reflects on an impressive 2024 and reveals how he plans to prepare for this year’s World Darts Championship
Littler has been handed an intriguing draw against Suffolk’s Ryan Meikle or Sherrock, who was dubbed ‘Queen of the Palace’ during her run to the third round in 2020 and returns to make her fifth appearance in six years.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who will be the first trans player to appear at the World Championship, could face a last-64 meeting with 2023 world champion Michael Smith if she can get past Kevin Doets in the opening round.
Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen will play James Hurrell or Jim Long, while another notable potential second-round match is 2018 champion Rob Cross playing either Niko Springer or last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams.
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Michael Van Gerwen is still confident of his chances at the World Darts Championship despite underperforming this year
The schedule of play is set to be confirmed later this week.
Full second-round draw
Seeds in brackets; Best-of-five sets
Opening quarter
Luke Humphries (1) vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
Raymond van Barneveld (32) vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
James Wade (16) vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
Peter Wright (17) vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
Stephen Bunting (8) vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
Dirk van Duijvenbode (25) vs Madars Razma or Christian Kist
Damon Heta (9) vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
Mike De Decker (24) vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
Second quarter
Luke Littler (4) vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
Littler will be aiming to win the World Darts Championship for the first time
Ritchie Edhouse (29) vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
Danny Noppert (13) vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
Ryan Searle (20) vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
Rob Cross (5) vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
Gian van Veen (28) vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
Nathan Aspinall (12) vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
Andrew Gilding (21) vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
Third quarter
Michael Smith (2) vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Noa-Lynn van Leuven will make her World Darts Championship debut this December
Krzysztof Ratajski (31) vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
Chris Dobey (15) vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
Josh Rock (18) vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
Jonny Clayton (7) vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
Daryl Gurney (26) vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
Gerwyn Price (10) vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
Joe Cullen (23) vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
Bottom quarter
Michael van Gerwen (3) vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
Brendan Dolan (30) vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
Gary Anderson (14) vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
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A look back at how the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts played out
Ross Smith (19) vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
Dave Chisnall (6) vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
Gabriel Clemens (27) vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
Dimitri Van den Bergh (11) vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
Martin Schindler (22) vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac
When will the World Darts Championship take place?
The tournament gets under way at the Alexandra Palace on Sunday December 15, with three first-round matches and one second-round match on the opening evening.
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Speaking on Love The Darts, Michael Bridge and Polly James debate which players are still to be feared when playing against them
There will be live darts over each of the following eight days, including seven afternoon sessions, with the usual three-day break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day before returning with the third round and a double session on December 27.
The third and fourth rounds will be completed by December 30 before a night off on New Year’s Eve, with the quarter-finals held across two sessions on New Year’s Day ahead of the semi-finals on January 2 and the final on Friday January 3.
The full day-by-day schedule for this year’s tournament can be found here.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from December 15-January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
