WDF World Darts Championship

The BDO World Darts Championship was a world championship in the sport of darts organised by the British Darts Organisation (BDO). The tournament was first held in 1978 and was the only form of the World Professional Darts Championship until the 1993 split in darts, when top players broke away from the BDO to set up the rival World Darts Council (WDC), now the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which began hosting its own World Championship. The Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey, England, served as the host venue for the BDO tournament from 1986 to 2019, with the event being moved to the Indigo at The O2 for the 2020 event. The 2020 event ended up being the last edition of the BDO World Championship, as the organisation went into liquidation in September 2020 following a series of financial issues relating to poor ticket sales and prize money. Following the collapse of the BDO, the World Darts Federation (WDF), a darts tournament organiser and governing body, announced its intention to launch its own World Championship. Returning to the Lakeside Country Club and initially scheduled to take place in January 2022, the inaugural edition of the WDF World Championship took place in April 2022 after being postponed due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The event saw the introduction of a separate girls' tournament, which joined the men's tournament, women's tournament and boys' tournament in the schedule. The PDC granted permission for its new Tour Card holders to compete at the WDF World Championship if they qualified for the tournament before the event's postponement. At the event, Richard Veenstra produced the highest three-dart average in Lakeside history (104.91) in his 3–0 third-round victory over Luke Littler, breaking an 18-year record held by Raymond van Barneveld. The WDF moved the World Championship to December for the 2023 edition, taking place right before the 2024 PDC World Championship. As a result, the PDC ruled against allowing players to compete in both events. This rule prevented three-time women's world champion Beau Greaves from competing in the PDC World Championship, rejecting her place at the tournament in order to defend her world title at Lakeside in 2023 and 2024, before she made a full switch to the PDC ahead of the 2026 PDC World Championship. Since 2024, the WDF World Championship has run from late November to early December. ==Tournament finals==

Open , the reigning WDF world champion Neil Duff was the first WDF world champion, defeating Thibault Tricole in a deciding set in the 2022 final. Andy Baetens won the tournament in 2023 by beating Chris Landman 6–1. In 2024, 70-year-old Paul Lim, who hit the first world championship nine-dart finish at the 1990 BDO World Darts Championship, reached the final of the tournament, becoming the oldest player to reach a darts world championship final. He missed out on the title, losing 6–3 to Shane McGuirk. In contrast, 15-year-old Mitchell Lawrie reached the final in 2025 to become the tournament's first teenage finalist. He lost to Jimmy van Schie by the same scoreline. Duff, Baetens and McGuirk were the first senior world champions from Northern Ireland, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland respectively. Women's , the reigning WDF women's world champion At age 18, Beau Greaves won the 2022 women's final by defeating Kirsty Hutchinson 4–0, becoming the then-youngest player to win a senior world championship. Greaves defended her title at the next two editions, beating Aileen de Graaf and Sophie McKinlay in the 2023 and 2024 finals. McKinlay was the first player to compete in the final of the women's and girls' tournaments. With Greaves absent from 2025 edition, Deta Hedman, the runner-up in three BDO World Championship finals, won her first world title with a 4–1 victory over Lerena Rietbergen. Hedman became the oldest darts world champion, aged 66. Youth Bradly Roes defeated Charlie Large 3–1 in the first WDF boys' final in 2022, becoming the third Lakeside youth world champion from the Netherlands. His compatriot Bradley van der Velden won the 2023 title by beating Adam Dee 3–0. Archie Self became champion in 2023 with a 3–2 win over Jenson Walker in an all-English final. Mitchell Lawrie was the first Scottish winner of the tournament, beating Florian Preis 4–2 in the 2025 final. Aurora Fochesato won the 2023 final 2–0 against Krisztina Turai to become Italy's first world champion. Paige Pauling won the third edition by beating Sophie McKinlay 2–0, while Zehra Gemi became the first Turkish world champion with a 3–0 win over Rebecca Allen in the 2025 final. ==See also==