The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts 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 (PDC) then arranged their own World Championships, the former in January the latter in December. As a result, there was no longer a 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. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From then until 2019 it was held at the Lakeside Leisure Complex at Frimley Green, Surrey. In 2020 the tournament was held at The O2 Arena in London. The BDO went into liquidation in 2020 and the World Darts Federation announced later that they would be creating their own version of a World Championship, returning to the Lakeside Leisure Complex. [1] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their version didn't get underway until 2022.[2] 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's Circus Tavern, Essex, before moving to its current home Alexandra Palace, London, for the 2008 World Championship.
Men's winners
By player
The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 5 January 2024).
| Player | Total | WDF
(BDO) |
PDC |
|---|---|---|---|
 Phil Taylor | 16 | 2 | 14 |
 Raymond van Barneveld | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Eric Bristow | 5 | 5 | – |
| Martin Adams | 3 | 3 | – |
| John Lowe | 3 | 3 | – |
| Michael van Gerwen | 3 | – | 3 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} John Part | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Glen Durrant | 3 | 3 | – |
 Gary Anderson | 2 | – | 2 |
| Peter Wright | 2 | – | 2 |
| Ted Hankey | 2 | 2 | – |
| Adrian Lewis | 2 | – | 2 |
| Dennis Priestley | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Scott Waites | 2 | 2 | – |
| Jocky Wilson | 2 | 2 | – |
| Bob Anderson | 1 | 1 | – |
| Steve Beaton | 1 | 1 | – |
| Stephen Bunting | 1 | 1 | – |
 Richie Burnett | 1 | 1 | – |
| Rob Cross | 1 | – | 1 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Tony David | 1 | 1 | – |
| Keith Deller | 1 | 1 | – |
| Andy Fordham | 1 | 1 | – |
| Christian Kist | 1 | 1 | – |
| Jelle Klaasen | 1 | 1 | – |
| Scott Mitchell | 1 | 1 | – |
| Gerwyn Price | 1 | – | 1 |
| Leighton Rees | 1 | 1 | – |
| Michael Smith | 1 | – | 1 |
| Les Wallace | 1 | 1 | – |
| John Walton | 1 | 1 | – |
| Wayne Warren | 1 | 1 | – |
| Mark Webster | 1 | 1 | – |
| Luke Humphries | 1 | – | 1 |
By country
The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 3 January 2023).
| Player | Total | WDF
(BDO) |
PDC |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 47 | 28 | 19 |
| Netherlands | 10 | 6 | 4 |
| Scotland | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| Wales | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Canada | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | 1 | – |
Highest average progression
| Average | Seed | Player | Score | Opponent | Stage | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97.49 | 3 | Leighton Rees |
6–3 | Alan Evans |
QF | 1978 |
| 99.00 | 5 | John Lowe |
2–0 | Tony Brown |
1st | 1984 |
| 100.29 | unseeded | Keith Deller |
2–4 | John Lowe |
QF | 1985 |
| 100.80 | unseeded | Phil Taylor |
5–0 | Cliff Lazarenko |
SF | 1990 |
| 102.63 | 1 | Dennis Priestley |
3–0 | Jocky Wilson |
1st | 1993 |
| 103.98 | 1 | Phil Taylor |
6–0 | Dennis Priestley |
F | 1998 |
| 105.03 | 3 | Phil Taylor |
3–0 | Reg Harding |
1st | 1999 |
| 105.87 | 2 | Phil Taylor |
6–0 | Alan Warriner |
QF | 2000 |
| 107.46 | 2 | Phil Taylor |
7–0 | John Part |
F | 2001 |
| 111.21 | 2 | Phil Taylor |
6–1 | Shayne Burgess |
2nd | 2002 |
| 114.05 | 1 | Michael van Gerwen |
6–2 | Raymond van Barneveld |
SF | 2017 |
Women's winners
|
World Darts Federation (formerly British Darts Organisation)
|
Professional Darts Corporation
|
By player
The following sortable table lists all winners of all versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 December 2023).
| Player | Total | WDF
(BDO) |
PDC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trina Gulliver | 10 | 10 | – |
| Lisa Ashton | 4 | 4 | – |
 Anastasia Dobromyslova | 3 | 3 | – |
 Mikuru Suzuki | 2 | 2 | – |
| Beau Greaves | 2 | 2 | – |
| Francis Hoenselaar | 1 | 1 | – |
 Stacy Bromberg | 1 | – | 1 |
By country
The following sortable table lists all winners of all versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 December 2023).
| Player | Total | WDF
(BDO) |
PDC |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 16 | 16 | – |
| Russia | 3 | 3 | – |
| Japan | 2 | 2 | – |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | – |
| United States | 1 | – | 1 |
Youth winners
The British Darts Organisation scores are sets, while the Professional Darts Corporation scores are legs.
|
British Darts Organisation
|
Professional Darts Corporation (current sponsors: Winmau)
|
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}
References
- ↑ "Darts is Coming Home! Lakeside World Championship 2022". DartsWDF. World Darts Federation. 6 June 2021.
- ↑ "Lakeside WDF World Championships 2022 - Rescheduled". World Darts Federation. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.