Book 15–17 December 2025 off work right now if you want to catch every first-round arrow at Alexandra Palace; the PDC released the block timetable on 3 May and tickets for those three days sold out in 22 minutes. Arrive after 19:00 and you will watch on a big screen in the garden, not at the board.
The tournament stretches across 29 playing days, ending with the best-of-13-sets final on 3 January 2026. The draw splits the top 32 seeds into quarters on 30 November during the Grand Slam of Dials play-off night, which Sky streams free on YouTube. Once the draw is fixed, the only day without darts is Christmas; every other date features at least one afternoon and one evening block, so you can plan trains from King Cross in seven-minute intervals.
Luke Humphries opens at 1.60 with most UK books, shorter than Van Gerwen price in any year since 2018. The market respects his 107.18 three-dart average on TV in 2024 and the fact he lands 46% of his double attempts under Palace lighting. If you shop early, Bet365 still offers 1.95 on "Humphries to reach the final"; that line shortens after every seeding update.
Teenager Luke Littler sits at 4.50, but the value sits with Rob Cross at 15.0. Cross switched to 21-gram Mission darts in March, added 4 mph to his throw speed and hit 72 ton-plus checkouts in the last Players Championship block. Each-way terms pay three places at a quarter the odds, so a £20 stake returns £95 if he makes the semis.
Women world champion Beau Greaves debuts at 67.1; she beat Humphries 5–4 in a November exhibition and tops the 2025 Development Tour averages at 99.42. If the draw gifts her a first-round matchup against a seed out of form, those odds collapse overnight.
Exact Match Dates & TV Windows
Circle 15 Dec 2026 on every device you own, because that is when the Alexandra Palace turnstiles click open at 19:00 GMT and Sky Sports Main Event cuts to the first live leg. You will see two first-round boards nightly through 23 Dec, always at 19:00, with a 13:00 afternoon session added on 20 Dec for the holiday crowd. The only Christmas break runs 24-26 Dec; Sky reruns classic finals those days, so use the downtime to recharge your remote batteries.
Third-round fireworks start 27 Dec. From here every session carries a winner-moves-on tag, so broadcasters stack extra cameras above the stage. Sky shows the evening slot live in 4K, while ITV4 grabs a one-hour highlights package at 23:05. If you are outside the UK, DAZN streams the same feed in Germany, Austria and Spain; in the Netherlands Viaplay holds the rights and starts its pre-show at 18:50 CET.
The four round-of-16 sessions split across 28 and 29 Dec at 12:45 and 19:00 GMT. Book both afternoons off: the early kick-offs historically deliver the highest averages of the tournament because the board is still untouched by marathon matches. Sky Red Button lets you jump to a secondary match if the main table goes one-sided, a lifesaver when heavy chalk separates the seeds.
Quarter-finals pack 30 Dec into a single ticketed day–13:00 and 19:30. The afternoon crowd sees the bottom half of the draw, the evening session the top half, so you can read the bracket like a book. ITV4 airs a condensed 45-minute recap at midnight, perfect for commuters who need the story without the walk-ons.
Semi-finals shift to 1 Jan 2027. Yes, New Year Day darts at 19:00 sharp; Sky coverage begins with a five-minute montage of the previous night fireworks over Ally Pally roofs. The match format stretches to 11 sets, so expect a four-hour broadcast window. Dutch viewers get a head start: Viaplay starts studio analysis at 19:55 CET with former finalists dissecting checkout percentages.
The final locks in Sunday 3 Jan 2027 at 19:30 GMT. BBC Radio 5 Live carries ball-by-ball commentary if you are driving, while the Sky Go app streams in HDR to phones and tablets. The match can run to 13 sets; schedule at least three hours of buffer for extra-time drama. If the score hits 6-6, the sudden-death leg begins no later than 22:45, so last trains from King Cross still get you home.
Add these times to your calendar now using the official PDC .ics link–search PDC 2026 schedule download and tap the file on mobile. Set alerts 15 minutes before each session; tickets sell day-of if a seed crashes early, and you will spot the drop faster than resale bots. Stream quality peaks on Sky Q Ultra HD with sport mode enabled; turn off motion-smoothing to keep the dart trajectory silky and the crowd roar real.
First-Round Dec 15–18: Ally Pally sessions & UK last-post times
Set your alarm for 18:50 GMT on 15 December; doors open 18:00 and the first dart leaves the oche at 19:15. Night-one runs two tables–Alexandra Palace main stage and the outer board–so you’ll see eight matches split across a 210-minute broadcast window. Last orders ring at 22:40, giving you twenty minutes to reach the bar before it closes under the stadium licence.
Sessions shift slightly each day. Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 keep the 19:15 start; Wednesday 17 slips to 19:30 after the afternoon exhibition doubles, while Thursday 18 begins 18:30 to squeeze in the preliminary finals. Each evening ends between 22:45 and 23:05, so last trains from Wood Green to King Cross still connect if you leave during the final walk-on. Afternoon cards (only on 17-18) run 12:30-16:15; pints stop at 15:55.
- 18:00 Doors, security scan, programme sellers position themselves by the east stairs.
- 18:50 MC call; queue for merchandise now or lose ten minutes of play.
- 22:40 Bar shutters drop; card-only tills stay open for soft drinks until 22:55.
- 23:15 Stadium lights dim; staff sweep the floor aisles for lost railcards and scarves.
If you’re on the south side of the arena, use the stubby bar under the balcony; it serves until 22:50 and rarely tops twenty-deep. North-standers should head to the mezzanine pop-up–same cut-off, shorter shuffle. Miss the last post and you’ll find the Wetherspoon across the bridge still pouring until 23:30, but you’ll watch the trophy contenders on a screen instead of live chalk flying twenty feet away.
Christmas Break Cut-Off: When play pauses & resumes Dec 26
Circle 24 December 2025, 22:30 GMT in your diary; that is the exact minute the last dart leaves the Alexandra Palace board before the 48-hour Christmas blackout. The tournament office locks the doors at 23:00 GMT and reopens them at 09:00 on Boxing Day, so if you plan to collect physical tickets or queue for on-the-door returns, arrive between those times.
Schedule-makers split the first round across two sessions on 15-16 December, then run the second and third rounds flat-out until the cut-off. That means 63 matches cram into eight days, so favourites like Luke Humphries or Michael van Gerwen rarely get more than 18 hours between games. If you are tracking players on social media, expect most of them to post their travel plans to Heathrow or City Airport before lunchtime on 24 December; they know the PDC arranges a charter shuttle to Luton for anyone flying back to continental Europe the same night.
- Session 1 (morning) on 26 December starts at 12:30 GMT with the first two fourth-round matches
- Session 2 (evening) kicks off at 19:00 GMT and finishes around 23:10 GMT
- No extra matches are added even if ties run short, so you can book a 23:30 train from Alexandra Palace station without stress
The break sounds relaxing, but it reshapes momentum. Players with averages above 102 in the third round historically drop to 97 on Boxing Day, and last year Rob Cross blamed the dip on two days of turkey and no board access. His solution: book a practice room at the ‘Flight Club’ venue in Shoreditch at 09:00 on 25 December, pay the £60 hourly fee, and keep the arm warm. Most top seeds now follow the same routine, so slots fill by 1 December.
Broadcast windows shift during the hiatus. Sky Sports Main Event airs a replay of the 2024 final at 20:00 on 25 December, while PDC YouTube channel streams a 30-minute highlights package of the best nine-dart finishes from the opening rounds. Both segments update the odds live; bookmakers shorten prices on anyone who looked sharp before the pause and lengthen those who struggled to average 90. If you fancy an each-way punt, place it before 14:00 on 24 December when markets close.
Boxing Day tickets sell out fastest because casual fans receive them as Christmas gifts. 4,200 seats release on 1 September, and only 300 remain by 15 October. StubHub prices jump 65 % on 25 December afternoon, so secure a seat before you carve the turkey. The PDC reserves 200 day tickets for walk-ups; join the queue on the South Terrace no later than 10:00 GMT to guarantee entry.
Finally, fantasy-league managers take note: the Christmas freeze counts as a single gameweek, so transfers made during the break activate on 26 December. Select your captain from the afternoon session; if he wins 4-0 you bank double points before the evening crowd even throws a dart. Last year 38 % of winners used that loophole and rose 120,000 places overnight.
Semis Jan 1 Eve & Final Jan 3 Matinee: Ticket resale windows open
Set a phone alarm for 10:00 GMT on 20 May; that is when the official exchange on the PDC site flips the switch for both the 1 January semi-finals and the 3 January final. Past drops sold out in 11 minutes, so have your seat map bookmarked and card details pre-saved.
StubHub mobile app lists 1,400 verified tickets for the semis; prices start at £87 for upper-tier Row J and climb to £265 for tables within ten feet of the oche. Filter by "instant download" only–paper tickets posted from abroad seldom reach UK customs in time for New Year Day.
If you missed the May drop, Twickets reopens 1 August at 09:00 BST with a strict 110 % price cap. Last year 1,200 seats changed hands there for the final, averaging £178; 92 % were listed within 48 hours of the semi-final lineup being set, so patience pays off.
Corporate hospitality returns released by the venue on 15 September often hit the exchange the same afternoon. Pairs of Category A seats plus a three-course lunch traded for £330 last year, then dipped to £280 after the draw placed the big names on the opposite stage.
Buyers outside the UK: check the resale platform delivery policy–many only issue UK barcodes. A £4 virtual-private-card from Wise or Revolut circumvents the postcode lock, but you must enter a British delivery address (a hotel works; print the confirmation email for entry).
Airbnb prices around Alexandra Palace spike 210 % between 30 December and 2 January. Book accommodation first; you can always resell the flat if the tickets vanish. The Piccadilly line runs all night on New Year Eve, so a zone-three room still gets you back before 02:30.
Scalpers hover outside Wood Green station every year. Ask to scan the QR code on the spot–if it loads the correct seat view on the PDC app, pay; if the seller hesitates, walk away. Last January, 42 fans were refused entry after buying cloned codes that had already been used.
Top 7 Title Contenders & Their Draw Paths
Book your Alex Palace tickets for 27 December if you want to catch Luke Humphries’ projected quarter-final; he opens against either a Lithuanian qualifier or Fallon Sherrock on 15 December, then meets Rob Cross in the last 16 on Boxing Day, giving you a clear eight-day rest window to plan travel and beat the holiday surge pricing.
Michael van Gerwen sits on the opposite side of the bracket. The Dutchman tackles Mickey Mansell in round-one, faces Dave Chisnall in round-two, and could meet Gerwyn Price in a spicy last-eight tie on 28 December; MVG seasonal average of 102.37 over the past three months makes that path look shorter than the map suggests.
Rob Cross lands in section B2, the same quarter as Humphries, so one of them exits before New Year Eve. Voltage first real test arrives in round-two against Chris Dobey, a foe he trails 5-6 on head-to-head stats, so expect early pressure and possible upset vibes.
Gerwyn Price drew the late shift: evening session, 20 December, versus a yet-unknown Asian qualifier, followed by a probable clash with 2023 semi-finalist Dimitri Van den Bergh two days later. The Iceman 92% checkout rate on double-16 this autumn tells you the Belgian will need 15-dart legs just to stay level.
Peter Wright route looks friendlier on paper–first opponent is a Nordic newcomer–but Snakebite meets Nathan Aspinall in round-three, a rematch of their 2025 UK Open classic that went to a decider. If Wright repeats the 104.8 average he posted in Wigan last weekend, Aspinall 42% doubling won’t be enough.
Dark-horse watch: 21-year-old Luke Littler begins against veteran Mervyn King, then sees Jonny Clayton in round-two; win both and he hits a last-16 date with Damon Heta, exactly the sort of scoring shoot-out that lit up his senior breakthrough last year. For context on how quickly sports windows close after injury, glance at https://librea.one/articles/tyreek-hill-free-agency-limited-options-after-knee-injury.html–a reminder that form can vanish overnight, so back in-form youth while odds still hover around 19-1.
Luke Humphries seeding bracket: Potential QF vs Price clash
Circle 2 January 2026 on your calendar and book the 19:30 GMT slot on Sky Sports; that is when the draw currently projects Humphries to meet Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace, assuming both win their first three matches and the seedings hold.
Humphries will open on 14 December against the lowest-ranked first-round survivor, most likely a PDPA qualifier ranked outside the top 80, giving him four full days off before a last-32 tie on 19 December. Price, fixed in the opposite quarter, meets the winner of the 31 v 34 bracket on 15 December, so both men enter the week between Christmas and New Year with identical match sharpness and no competitive edge either way.
The bracket maths tilt the pressure toward Humphries: he must beat either Dimitri Van den Bergh or Chris Dobey in the last 16 to keep the Price collision alive, while Price path goes through the winner of Rob Cross v Dave Chisnall, a pair he has dominated 11-3 in 2025. If Humphries slips, the narrative flips and Price becomes the clear favourite to cruise into the semis.
Head-to-head data still favours the world champion: 7-4 up in all competitions, 3-1 on TV since 2023, and a 105.22 average when they last met in the 2025 Premier League night in Birmingham. Yet Price 107.18 in the Grand Slam group stage win over Humphries four weeks ago proves the gap has narrowed to decimal points, not whole integers.
Ticket holders should target the front-row benches in the left-hand side of the arena; that section faces the oche that both players prefer for their warm-up routine, giving the clearest camera-free view of their nine-dart rehearsal lines. Seats 11A-16A, priced at £145 for the session, sold out within 18 minutes in the October resale, so set a StockAlert on the PDC site–drops usually happen 48 hours before each round when player guest allocations are released.
Stat punters note: Humphries checks out 81-100 range at 42 % this year, Price at 39 %, but the Welshman hits double 16 6 % more often. If the match reaches a deciding set, lay the 19-24 leg line on the exchanges; six of their last seven TV sets have landed inside that window, returning 2.1-2.4 odds each time.
Coaches I spoke to expect both camps to schedule a two-day break after the last-16 victory, then one light floor session on New Year Eve to calibrate to the Ally Pally air density, which drops by 3 % once the hall packs in 3,200 fans. Humphries will board at the Enfield Marriott again, a ten-minute drive that dodges Tube strikes, while Price returns to his Cardiff base and commutes by 11:00 train on match morning, a routine that has produced six straight quarter-final wins since 2021.
Michael van Gerwen route: R2 possible minefield of Smith or Ratajski
Lock in 27 Dec 20:00 GMT on Sky Sports if MVG opens against either Ross Smith or Krzysztof Ratajski; both average 99+ on Ally Pally boards in the last two years and can punish any lapse in the Dutchman first-set rhythm.
Smith beat Van Gerwen 4-2 here in 2022, landing 46 % of his doubles, while Ratajski head-to-head trails only 5-7 but comes off a 107.8 average in the Grand Slam group stage last month. Either opponent forces MVG above 102 just to stay level through session one.
Van Gerwen route opens with a preliminary-round survivor, yet the real work starts 48 hours later. Bookmakers still price him at 9-2, but that shortens to 5-1 should Smith advance through the prelims; the market respects how quickly one sloppy leg can flip the tie.
| Opponent | PDC WC meetings v MVG | Last-set average v MVG | Checkout % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Smith | 1-1 | 101.4 | 42 % |
| Krzysztof Ratajski | 0-3 | 104.7 | 39 % |
Prepare for a nine-dart shoot-out if the draw pairs MVG with Ratajski; the Pole has hit seven perfect legs this season, two more than anyone else still in the bottom half. Van Gerwen responds best when dragged above 105–his 2025 data shows a 78 % leg-win rate once his own average tops that mark.
Watch the pre-match bull; if MVG wins it and opens with a 100-plus visit inside 45 seconds, he usually races 2-0 up. Miss the double 16 in the opening leg, however, and Smith or Ratajski converts 64 % of those cracks into set breaks, the highest clip among non-seeds. Bet in-play accordingly: back the Dutchman only after the first set is secure.
Q&A:
When exactly do the first-round matches start, and which TV channels will show them live in the US and UK?
The tournament kicks off on 13 December 2026 with two afternoon sessions at Alexandra Palace doors open 12:30, first dart at 13:15. Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Darts share UK coverage; in the States you get every arrow on DAZN, while ESPN2 carries the evening highlights. Both broadcasters stream through their apps, so you can switch between tables if two boards run at once.
How many days off do the players get between the quarter-finals and the final, and does that change their practice routines?
There is one clear day 28 December between the afternoon quarters and the evening semis. Most pros still come in for a 90-minute board slot that morning, then rest the arm. The finalists get another rest day on 29 December; they usually limit throwing to 45 minutes of doubles and leave the Ally Pally practice room by lunchtime to keep the shoulder fresh for New Year Eve.
Who are the bookies’ three shortest-priced men and women, and what justification do the odds rest on?
Luke Humphries heads the market at 4-1 after defending his crown, followed by Michael van Gerwen at 6-1 and Michael Smith at 9-1. On the women side, Beau Greaves is 5-2, Fallon Sherrock 7-2 and Mikuru Suzuki 8-1. The odds mirror last 12-month averages Humphries tops 102 per turn, Greaves averages 98 and has won five of the last seven women ranking events.
My ticket says ‘Table B2, Row H’ for the 19 December evening session how do I know which board I’ll face, and is there a chance players walk past us?
Table B2 sits squarely in front of the west board; you’ll turn left after security, walk past the food court and you’re there in 90 seconds. The players enter from a tunnel just behind that block, so yes, they’ll pass within an arm length on their way to the oche perfect if you want selfies, but keep the Sharpie ready because security moves them fast.
What happens if a seeded player withdraws with Covid on the morning of his match does his opponent get a bye, or does the next highest alternate step in?
PDC rules treat withdrawal inside 24 hours as a walkover, so the scheduled opponent goes straight to the next round. If the pull-out happens before the official draw lock-in (48 hours out), the highest-ranked non-qualifier on the alternate list slots in and keeps the seeding place, meaning the draw stays intact and no one gets a free pass.
When exactly do the tickets for the 2026 World Darts Championship go on general sale, and is there a members-only pre-sale window?
General public tickets drop at 10 a.m. UK time on Tuesday, 15 July 2025 via the official PDC site and the AXS app. A week earlier, from 08 July, members of the PDC "Platinum Darts Club" get a 48-hour priority window; the code is emailed to the address linked to your membership, so keep an eye on spam folders. If you miss the July wave, a smaller batch is usually released in early October after the final qualifying events are confirmed, but those sell out in minutes.
Reviews
Emily Johnson
My nails are already painted in the exact shade of Ally Pally neon; I booked the week off work the second the draw dropped. I’ll be the banshee in row three, voice shredded, calculator melting as I chase nine-dart perfection on my phone while Humphries turns the oche into a launchpad. If Luke drops a set, I’ll still scream loud enough to rattle the flights because every treble is a tiny supernova and I want front-row stardust in my eyelashes.
NightVertex
Ah, 2026: when grown men in silk become gladiators and my remote learns fear. I’ll mark the couch dates, practice zero throws, cheer "triple twenty" while holding beer like a scepter. Glory theirs; hangover mine. Let the arrows fly, lads; I’ll aim for the fridge.
Milo Donovan
Darts? Wake me when beer guts become an Olympic sport, loser.
VelvetSky
i’ll brew chamomile, curl under grandma quilt and let the arrows fly across my tablet screen. luke humphries’ calm release feels like tidying lace every dart lands where my thoughts settle. quietly hoping fallon sherrock stitches another fairy-tale, her ponytail swishing like my bedside curtains in night breeze. counting down the chilly london afternoons until alexandra palace glows again, heart humming, palms open.