WDF Lakeside World Darts Championship 2024: Prize money, format, favourites, how to watch
The ‘other’ darts world championship gets underway this week.
Starting on Sunday, December 15, 2024, the New Year-spanning PDC World Championships is the most sought after trophy in world darts - with a cash prize of a cool £500,000
This year’s tournament is the 31st organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, but until 2020 there were two competing world championships, with the other running for 43 years.
The rival – and original – tournament organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO) made dart players household names in the 1970s and 1980s as the sport became big business, with the likes of Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson, Phil Taylor and John Lowe lifting the trophy while millions of fans watched on television.
The World Darts Council (WDC) was created in 1993 after a dispute between many of the top players and the BDO governing body about their inability to reverse declining television audiences in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The 16 top players from the BDO - including every fomer world champion still playing - broke away from the BDO to form the WDC (later renamed the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
After years of struggles, including reduced prize money and loss of television revenue, in September 2020 the BDO went into liquidation, bringing an end to 47 years of their World Championships.
But now a new world championship is being held in the sports spiritual home of the Lakeside Country Club by the World Darts Federation (WDF), with the third tournament in a row taking place this month.
When is the WDF Lakeside World Darts Championship 2024?
The competition takes place from November 29–December 8 at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey.
There’s a men’s tournament, as well as women’s, boy’s and girl’s contests.
Who is playing in the WDF Lakeside World Darts Championship 2024?
The top 16 players who go straight into the second round are as follows:
- Danny Porter
- Jimmy van Schie
- Neil Duff
- Brandon Weening
- Peter Machin
- Liam Maendl-Lawrance
- Kai Fan Leung
- Benjamin Pratnemer
- Thomas Junghans
- Gary Stone
- Jason Brandon
- Cliff Prior
- Edwin Torbjörnsson
- Barry Copeland
- Ryan Hogarth
- Martyn Turner
They will play the winners of the 16 first round matches, between those ranked 17-48, who are:
- Carl Wilkinson
- Moreno Blom
- Darren Johnson
- Matthew Edgar
- Patrik Kovács
- François Schweyen
- Dennis Nilsson
- László Kádár
- Mark Barilli
- Scott Walters
- Jordan Brooks
- Mike Gillet
- James Beeton
- Brian Raman
- Sybren Gijbels
- Aaron Turner
- Hannes Schnier
- Kevin Luke
- Björn Lejon
- Howard Jones
- Michael Cassar
- Jarno Bottenberg
- Reece Colley
- Corné Groeneveld
- Ky Smith
- Craig Brown
- Bradley Kirk
- Shane McGuirk
- Jacob Taylor
- Paul Lim
- Jun Matsuda
- Jeff Springer
What is the prize money at the WDF Lakeside World Darts Championship 2024?
In the men’s tournament, the winner will get £50,000, the runner up £16,000 and the semi-finalists £8,000. The quarter-finalists get £5,000, last 16 £2,000, last 32 £1,250 and last 64 £750.
In the women’s competition the prize money is exactly half that of the men’s, with the winnner getting a cheque for £25,000.
The winner of ther boy’s tournament gets £3,000 and the winner of the girl’s competition £1,500.
Can I watch the WDF Lakeside World Darts Championship 2024 on television?
Every dart of the competition will be streamed live on on the GREAT! game YouTube channel for free, while the semi-finals and finals of the Girls, Boys, Women's and Men's WDF World Championships on Saturday, December 7, and Sunday, December 8, will be broadcast on BLAZE (Freeview 64/Sky HD 164/Freesat 161/Virgin 174/Sky Glass 169/BLAZE App).
Who is favourite to win the WDF Lakeside World Darts Championship 2024?
Jimmy van Schie is the 3/1 favourite to win, followed by Gary Stone (6/1), Neil Duff (7/1), Thomas Junghans (8/1) and Shane McGuirk (9/1).
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