World Darts Championship draw: Luke Littler could face Fallon Sherrock in opening match

The draw for the PDC’s flagship annual event held over the festive period at Alexandra Palace took place on Monday, with teenage sensation Littler and trailblazer Sherrock set to meet in the second round if the latter makes it to successfully negotiate his opening mission against Ryan Meikle.

Littler’s incredible journey from relatively unknown prospect to global darts phenomenon at last year’s World Championship made headlines around the world as he brushed aside former winners Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross before losing an all-time classic final to Luke Humphries – since when he has become one of the sport’s hottest stars, winning 10 PDC titles so far as well as the entire Premier League, Grand Slam and World Series.

Littler and Sherrock are in the same half of the draw as defending champion and world number one Humphries, who also beat Littler in another thrilling final at the Players Championship at Minehead on Sunday. Humphries will begin his title defense against Frenchman Thibault Tricole or Australian Joe Comito, who will face each other in the first round.

Elsewhere, second seed Michael Smith will face either Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven first, while third seed Michael van Gerwen is expected to face one of James Hurrell or Jim Long. In the meantime, it will be either Scott Williams or Niko Springer who will occupy the top spot for fifth seed Cross. Van Leuven is the first transgender player to participate in the World Championship.

(1) Luke Humphries vs. Thibault Tricole/Joe Comito

(32) Raymond van Barneveld vs. Nick Kenny/Stowe Buntz

(16) James Wade vs. Jermaine Wattimena/Stefan Bellmont

(17) Peter Wright vs. Wesley Plaisier/Ryusei Azemoto

(8) Stephen Bunting vs. Alan Soutar/Kai Gotthardt

(25) Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Madars Razma/Christian Kist

(9) Damon Heta vs. Connor Scutt/Ben Robb

(24) Mike De Decker vs. Luke Woodhouse/Lourence Ilagan

(4) Luke Littler vs. Ryan Meikle/Fallon Sherrock

(29) Ritchie Edhouse vs. Ian White/Sandro Eric Sosing

(13) Danny Noppert vs. Ryan Joyce/Darius Labanauskas

(20) Ryan Searle vs. Mensur Suljovic/Matt Campbell

(5) Rob Cross vs. Scott Williams/Niko Springer

(28) Gian van Veen vs. Ricardo Pietreczko/Xiaochen Zong

(12) Nathan Aspinall vs. Cameron Menzies/Leonard Gates

(21) Andrew Gilding vs. Martin Lukeman/Nitin Kumar

(2) Michael Smith vs. Kevin Doets/Noa-Lynn van Leuven

(31) Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Richard Veenstra/Alexis Toylo

(15) Chris Dobey vs. Stephen Burton/Alexander Merkx

(18) Josh Rock vs. Karel Sedlacek/Rhys Griffin

(7) Jonny Clayton vs. Mickey Mansell/Tomoya Goto

(26) Daryl Gurney vs. Florian Hempel/Jeffrey De Zwaan

(10) Gerwyn Price vs. Kim Huybrechts/Keane Barry

(23) Joe Cullen vs. Wessel Nijman/Cameron Carolissen

(3) Michael van Gerwen vs. James Hurrell/Jim Long

(30) Brendan Dolan vs. Chris Landman/Lok Yin Lee

(14) Gary Anderson vs. Jeffrey de Graaf/Rashad Sweeting

(19) Ross Smith vs. Jim Williams/Paolo Nebrida

(6) Dave Chisnall vs. Ricky Evans/Gordon Mathers

(27) Gabriel Clemens vs. Niels Zonneveld/Robert Owen

(11) Dimitri Van den Bergh vs. William O’Connor/Dylan Slevin

(22) Martin Schindler vs. Callan Rydz/Romeo Grbavac

First round (x3), second round (x1)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

First round (x3), second round (x1)

First round (x2), second round (x2)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Third round (x1), fourth round (x2)

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Wednesday January 1, 2025

Afternoon session (12:30 p.m.)

Thursday January 2 (7:30 p.m.)