HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the
darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...
calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split in the game. Each organisation, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the
Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...
(PDC) then arranged their own World Championships, the former in January the latter in December. As a result, there was no longer was an unified world champion in the sport for nearly three decades. The BDO version dated back to 1978, when it was held at the Heart of the Midlands nightclub,
Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
. The following year it moved to the
Jollees Cabaret Club Jollees was a live music and cabaret venue in Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. The venue was re-established in March 2016, after having closed in 1992. The original venue was opened in October 1973 and was the la ...
, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From then until 2019 it was held at the Lakeside Leisure Complex at Frimley Green,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
. In 2020 the tournament was held at
The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the ...
in London. The BDO went into liquidation in 2020 and the
World Darts Federation The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body and (along with the PDC) a tournament organiser for the game of darts. It was formed in 1974 by representatives of the original fourteen founding members. Membership is open to the nati ...
announced later that they would be creating their own version of a World Championship, returning to the Lakeside Leisure Complex. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, their version didn't get underway until 2022. Since qualification for the BDO version was always based on WDF rankings, most of the player pool and legacy of this new version of the World Championship is based on the old BDO system. The PDC version has been running since 1994 after " the split", with a field of players containing all active previous World Champions from the BDO. It was originally staged at
Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lon ...
's Circus Tavern,
Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, before moving to its current home
Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, for the 2008 World Championship.


Men's winners

British Darts Organisation World Darts Federation Professional Darts Corporation


By player

The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 April 2022).


Highest average progression


Women's winners

British Darts Organisation (current sponsors: Lakeside) Professional Darts Corporation (sponsors: Unicorn) World Darts Federation


By player

The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 April 2022).


Youth winners

World Darts Federation (boys) World Darts Federation (girls) Professional Darts Corporation (current sponsors: Winmau)


References

{{Main world championships Darts tournaments Recurring sporting events established in 1978