2026 IDF World Darts Championship

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2026 IDF World Darts Championship
Tournament information
DatesDecember 10, 2025 – January 7, 2026
VenueWinter Gardens
LocationBlackpool, England
Organisation(s)International Darts Federation (IDF)
FormatSets
Prize fund$5,000,000
Winner's share$1,000,000
«2025

The 2026 IDF World Darts Championship is an upcoming professional darts tournament that will be held from 10 December 2025 to 7 January 2026 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It will be the 4th World Darts Championship to be organised by the International Darts Federation and the 4th to be held at Alexandra Palace. The winner will receive $1,000,000 from a total prize fund of $5,000,000.

The tournament will feature a 48 player field, with the top 16 players on the IDF Order of Merit being seeded into the second round. Alex Brow is the defending champion, having defeated Logan White 7–4 in the 2025 final to win his first world title.

Overview

Alex Brow will enter the tournament as the defending champion after winning the 2025 event.

The International Darts Federation (IDF) was founded in 2022 to provide greater opportunities for players outside the established Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) system, particularly in Australia, where many competitors identified as casual or semi-professional sought access to major events with comparable prize funds. The federation staged its inaugural IDF World Darts Championship in 2023, with Alexandra Palace in London serving as the host venue since the beginning.

The upcoming 2026 IDF World Darts Championship will be the fourth edition of the tournament and the fourth consecutive to be held at Alexandra Palace, running from 10 December 2025 to 7 January 2026. A record field of 128 players, including 32 seeds, will compete following the IDF’s March 2025 decision to expand the draw from 96 to 128 entrants. Alex Brow will return as defending champion after defeating Logan White 7–4 in the 2025 final to claim his first world title.

Format

Under the new format, all players – including the 32 seeds – will enter the tournament in the first round, a change from previous years where seeds entered in the second round. The 32 seeds will be the top 32 players on the IDF Order of Merit heading into the tournament. The seeded players, plus players ranked 33–64 drawn at random, will be placed on the left hand side of the draw, and will be matched up against the remaining 64 qualifiers drawn at random.

All matches will consist of games of 501, where players are required to reduce their score from 501 to zero in order to win a leg, finishing on a double or the bullseye. The matches are played in set format, with the amount of sets required to win a match increasing as the tournament progresses. All sets will be played to the best of five legs in the first round, and also in non-deciding sets of subsequent rounds. In the deciding set of all but the first round, the first player to win at least three legs and be leading by two or more will win the set and the match. If the set reaches a 5–5 tie without a winner, it will be decided by a sudden death leg.

Round Best of (sets) First to (sets)
First & second 5 3
Third & fourth 7 4
Quarter-finals 9 5
Semi-finals 11 6
Final 13 7

Ranking

The IDF's main world ranking system, the IDF Order of Merit, is calculated on a two-year cycle. Prize money won by players in ranking tournaments are removed from their ranking after 104 weeks, meaning players who participated in the 2024 World Championship, who did not lose their IDF Tour Card during the two-year period, will be 'defending' their prize money from that event. At the end of the tournament, the prize money won at the 2026 tournament will be added and the prize money won at the 2024 tournament will be removed. After the tournament, the top 64 players in the IDF Order of Merit will receive a one-year extension on their Tour Card, joined by the players who earned two-year Tour Cards in 2025 who will enter their second year in 2026. Players with two or more years on their Tour Card, who finish outside of the top 64, will lose their Tour Card and see their ranking reset to $0, along with all other players who earned prize money in ranking tournaments without holding a Tour Card.

Prize money

On 31 March 2025, the IDF announced the biggest prize money increase in the organisation's history, starting from the 2026 season onward. Coinciding with the expansion of the field to 128 players, the World Championship's total prize money and winner's share doubled from $2,500,000 to $5,000,000 and from $500,000 to $1,000,000 respectively; this was the first time the tournament's prize money increased. The winner will also receive the IDF World Trophy. The prize money breakdown is shown below:

Position (no. of players) Prize money

(Total: $5,000,000)

Winner (1) $1,000,000
Runner-up (1) $400,000
Semi-finalists (2) $200,000
Quarter-finalists (4) $100,000
Fourth round losers (8) $60,000
Third round losers (16) $35,000
Second round losers (32) $25,000
First round losers (64) $15,000

Qualification

The 128-player field will comprise three sets of qualification routes. The top 40 players on the two-year IDF Order of Merit after the 2025 Players Championship Finals will qualify automatically, followed by the next 40 highest-ranked players on the one-year IDF Pro Tour Order of Merit. The remaining 48 places will go to various international qualifiers.

List of confirmed international qualifiers

Seeded (1–32):

Schedule

The event will consist of 36 sessions held across 20 days from 10 December 2025 until the date of the final on Saturday, 7 January 2026.

December 10, 2025 – Session 1
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
01 1 Xander Young 1–3 Spencer Taylor 2–3 3–2 2–3 1–3
02 Reed Hamilton 3–2 Oliver Scott 3–2 2–3 3–2 2–3 3–0
03 Brody Clarke 2–3 Caleb Daniels 2–3 3–2 0–3 3–2 2–3
04 Felix Grant Toby Underwood
December 11, 2025 – Session 2
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
05 1 Alec Baker Zane Adams
06 Bryan Matthews Trevor Kane
07 Corey Allen Dominic Flynn
08 Nathan Reeves Eli Fletcher
December 13, 2025 – Session 3
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
09 1 Parker Reeves Wesley Adams
10 Shane Douglas Cole Bennett
11 Grant Hayes Hayden Ingram
12 Alex Harris Nolan Price
December 15, 2025 – Session 4
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
13 1 Isaac Johnson Jordan Knight
14 Damian Frost Eric Lawson
15 Jett Pearson Connor Black
16 Elias Carter Brandon Fox
December 17, 2025 – Session 5
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
17 2 Max Mad Winner of Match 01
18 Nate Parker Winner of Match 08
19 Logan White Winner of Match 05
20 Victor Vaughn Winner of Match 16
December 19, 2025 – Session 6
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
21 2 Lukas Parker Winner of Match 02
22 Aiden Brooks Winner of Match 11
23 Wyatt Walker Winner of Match 12
24 Damon Edwards Winner of Match 03
December 22, 2025 – Session 7
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
25 2 Mason Owens Winner of Match 06
26 Ryan Thomas Winner of Match 09
27 Quinn Sanders Winner of Match 15
28 Blake Carter Winner of Match 14
December 23, 2025 – Session 8
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
29 2 Alex Brow Winner of Match 10
30 Kai Mitchell Winner of Match 07
31 Zion Carte Winner of Match 13
32 Jason Brandon Winner of Match 04
January 2, 2026 – Session 9 (Round 3)
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
33 3 Winner of Match 17 Winner of Match 18
34 Winner of Match 19 Winner of Match 20
35 Winner of Match 21 Winner of Match 22
36 Winner of Match 23 Winner of Match 24
January 3, 2026 – Session 10 (Round 3)
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
37 3 Winner of Match 25 Winner of Match 26
38 Winner of Match 27 Winner of Match 28
39 Winner of Match 29 Winner of Match 30
40 Winner of Match 31 Winner of Match 32
January 5, 2026 – Quarter-finals
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
41 QF Winner of Match 33 Winner of Match 34
42 QF Winner of Match 35 Winner of Match 36
43 QF Winner of Match 37 Winner of Match 38
44 QF Winner of Match 39 Winner of Match 40
January 6, 2026 – Semi-finals
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
45 SF Winner of Match 41 Winner of Match 42
46 SF Winner of Match 43 Winner of Match 44
January 7, 2026 – Final
Match Round Player 1 Score Player 2 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
47 F Winner of Match 45 Winner of Match 46

Draw

First round
(best of 5 sets)
28–30 November		Second round
(best of 5 sets)
29 November–3 December		Third round
(best of 5 sets)
4 December		Quarter-finals
(best of 7 sets)
5 December		Semi-finals
(best of 9 sets)
6 December		Final
(best of 11 sets)
7 December
Xander Young 64.211Max Mad
Spencer Taylor 66.73Spencer Taylor
Alec Baker 61.3216Damon Edwards
Zane Adams 63.93Zane Adams
Brody Clarke 60.118Aiden Brooks
Caleb Daniels 65.53Caleb Daniels
Eli Fletcher 58.409Nate Parker
Nathan Reeves 66.33Nathan Reeves
Felix Grant 62.424Lukas Parker
Toby Underwood 64.73Toby Underwood
Parker Reeves 59.3113Quinn Sanders
Wesley Adams 65.23Wesley Adams
Grant Hayes 58.805Mason Owens
Hayden Ingram 67.23Hayden Ingram
Isaac Johnson 63.1212Owen Quinn
Jordan Knight 64.93Jordan Knight
Corey Allen 66.132Alex Brow
Dominic Flynn 60.21Corey Allen
Reed Hamilton 66.8315Wyatt Walker
Oliver Scott 62.72Reed Hamilton
Bryan Matthews 61.027Logan White
Trevor Kane 63.43Trevor Kane
Shane Douglas 58.7110Zion Carte
Cole Bennett 65.03Cole Bennett
Damian Frost 59.103Blake Carter
Eric Lawson 66.43Eric Lawson
Jett Pearson 64.8314Victor Vaughn
Connor Black 58.91Jett Pearson
Alex Harris 63.836Ryan Thomas
Nolan Price 59.40Alex Harris
Elias Carter 65.9311Kai Mitchell
Brandon Fox 61.21Elias Carter

Final

References

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