The short Christmas break at the Darts World Championship 2025 is history. The pros return to the Ally Pally on Friday. Six third round matches are on the program. One question will take center stage:
How many seeded players will be eliminated this time? Because in the first two rounds of the competition, 14 players from the top 32 seeded players have already fallen by the wayside. This is a new record for the PDC World Championship.
As a result, the circle of favorites for the 2025 World Championship title is getting smaller and smaller.
Darts World Championship 2025 – 27.12. Preview of Day 11
On Day 11 of the PDC World Championship, five professionals from the top 10 seedings – Luke Humphries (1), Jonny Clayton (7), Stephen Bunting (8), Damon Heta (9) and Gerwyn Price (10) – will have to compete.
Two-time World Champion Peter Wright, who is currently only ranked 17th in the PDC Order of Merit, will also try to reach the third round. The day also has one new feature to offer.
From now on, it will be played in “Best of 7 Sets” mode. This means that victory goes to the player who is the first to win four sets.
Darts WM today broadcast: Where are the matches on 27.12.?
As in previous years, the World Darts Championship 2025 will once again be broadcast on Sport1 and DAZN. DAZN will show all matches of the World Championship live and in HD. The matches will be commentated by Elmar Paulke.
He will be assisted by various experts. However, the streaming service is subject to a fee. Sport1 will also be broadcasting the action live for the 21st time on free-to-air TV and streaming on Sport1.de and in the Sport1 app as well as on YouTube.
The stream can also be viewed on the Joyn platform. Commentator Basti Schwele will accompany the broadcasts with three-time World Cup participant Robert Marijanovic at the microphone. The two will also be supported by other experts.
Sport1 will show all 28 World Championship sessions with over 122 live hours on 19 days. As there will again be an afternoon and an evening session on the program on day 11, darts fans should gather in front of their TV, PC, tablet or cell phone from 1 p.m. for the first four matches of the day.
The evening session will then begin with the preliminary reports at 19:10 as usual.
Darts World Championship today 27.12.: Damon Heta – Luke Woodhouse (13:45)
Damon Heta has played his way into the top 10 of the world rankings thanks to a good season. The Australian has two floor titles to his name in 2024. “The Heat” was ranked 8th in the annual average.
And the season double rate of 45.07 percent even meant 1st place in the PDC. The world number 9 was able to build on these performances in his opening match. The professional from Down Under won 3:1 against his practice partner Connor Scutt.
Heta was just behind with an average of 97.96 to 98.47, but was clearly ahead in the doubles with 11 out of 21. Scutt only hit five out of 20 attempts here.
Luke Woodhouse just missed out on the seeding for the World Championship as the world number 35. However, “Woody” got off to a good start in round 1 with a smooth 3:0 against Lourence Ilagan. The Englishman only conceded two legs to his opponent.
And in round 2, the 36-year-old even went one better. Woodhouse was up against Mike de Decker, who was declared one of the favorites at the World Championship after his victory at the World Grand Prix
. But the English pro from Brewdly felt comfortable in the underdog role and won the duel against the Dutchman 3:1. Here too, “Woody” only dropped two legs and was stronger on the doubles (9/22 to 5/17).
Our expert tip: at Interwetten “Sieg Heta HC -1,5” with odds of 1,60
Darts World Championship today 27.12.: Jonny Clayton – Daryl Gurney (15:00)
Jonny Clayton entered the PDC World Championship as the Welsh number one. Nevertheless, “The Ferret” is not really one of the favorites at the Ally Pally. This is mainly due to a mixed season.
The 50-year-old is only ranked 19th in the annual rankings and Clayton has not made it past the quarter-finals in any of the major tournaments. And the Welshman also had major problems in his opening match against Mickey Mansell.
“The Ferret” repeatedly brought his opponent back into the match through his own mistakes. The match only went 3-2 to Clayton in a sudden-death leg, who averaged 92.45 and had a double rate of around 35 percent.
Daryl Gurney was up against German pro Florian Hempel in the second round. A high-level duel developed between the two men, as the averages of 98.31 for “Superchin” and 96.44 for Flo showed.
In the end, the Northern Irishman was more ruthless in the few decisive moments and brought the match home 3:2. In 2024, Gurney recorded 88 wins and 51 defeats.
That is the second-best record since the 2017 season. The 38-year-old’s best result at the PDC World Championship was reaching the quarter-finals twice (2017, 2021). Gurney has been without a title on the tour since 2019.
Our expert tip: at Bet365 “Over 5.5 sets” with odds of 1.58
Darts World Championship today 27.12.: Stephen Bunting – Madars Razma (16:15)
Stephen Bunting was able to confirm his place in the top 10 of the world rankings this season with a Major title and high averages. With an average of 96.83 (7th place in the PDC) and 110 wins (with 51 defeats), “The Bullet” can even hope for Premier League.
Bunting’s best result at the PDC World Championship in 2021 was a semi-final appearance. At the start of the current tournament, the Englishman was up against German Kai Gotthardt in Round 2.
After the world number 8 had lost the first round 1-3, the match turned at the end of the second set. The Englishman won seven legs in a row, played an average of 92.12 and won 3:1.
Madars Razma, world number 44 and after a rather mediocre 2024 season, was not necessarily on the cards for the PDC World Championship. But the only full-time darts pro from Latvia is on hand at the Ally Pally.
In Round 1, “Razmatazz” prevailed 3:1 against Christian Kist – even though his opponent hit a 9-darter on the board. And in the second round, too, Razma ended up with a 3:1 win.
Here, the Latvian had even prevailed against Dirk van Duijvenbode, the number 25 seed. However, the Dutchman was probably also hampered by illness.
Our expert tip: at Merkur Bets “Over 9.5 180s” with odds of 1.53
Darts World Championship today 27.12.: Gerwyn Price – Joe Cullen (20:15)
Gerwyn Price actually thrives on his aggressive and combative style on the darts stage. But in the 2024 season, the Welshman often struggled to find the right attitude on the oche.
The “Iceman” only made it to 30th place in the calendar rankings, while the 2021 World Champion also failed to reach a major final for the first time since 2016. His season average of around 97 points (6th place in the PDC) was actually quite respectable.
At the start of the World Championship, Price showed his old body language again and won 3:0 against Keane Barry. The Welshman only lost two legs and profited from his opponent’s mistakes.
Joe Cullen had not played a particularly good season. A win-loss record of 44.83 percent (39/48) was the weakest for the “Rockstar” since 2009, and the bookmakers and experts did not make a good judgment on the Englishman.
Cullen was often at the top of the list of seeded players most likely to be knocked out in Round 1. But the number 23 in the world rankings drew a very special motivation from this.
In round 2, Cullen swept Dutchman Wessel Nijman, who was declared one of the secret favorites at the 2025 World Championships, off the field with a 3:0 win. The “rock star” showed the best stage performance of his season with an average of 98.18.
Our expert tip: at Leo Vegas “Victory Cullen HC +1.5” with odds of 1.91
Darts World Championship today 27.12.: Jermaine Wattimena – Peter Wright (21:30)
Jermaine Wattimena entered the World Championship as number 36 in the world as a particularly unpleasant opponent that nobody wants to draw. After all, the Dutchman had played a good season and had reached the final of the European Darts Championship 2024, for example.
And “The Machine Gun” lived up to his reputation in Round 1 against Stefan Bellmont from Switzerland. Wattimena made no mistakes and won 3:0 in the end.
In round 2, the professional from the Netherlands then faced James Wade, the number 16 seed. And Wattimena was in top form here too with an average of 99.17 and a 3-0 win.
Peter Wright had won the 2022 World Championship. As the defending champion, “Snakebite” then lost 4:1 to Kim Huybrechts in round 3. At the 2024 World Championship, he even lost to Jim Williams in the opening round.
This year, the Scot at least successfully survived his first match. Against Wesley Plaisier, number 73 on the PDC Order of Merit, Wright won 3-1 in the end.
The 54-year-old, who has a negative record in 2024 for the first time since 2008 with 62 wins and 66 defeats, only played an average of 89.63. However, Wright benefited from his opponent’s many missed darts on the doubles.
Our expert tip: at NEO.bet “Victory Wattimena HC -1.5” with odds of 1.66
Darts World Championship today 27.12.: Luke Humphries – Nick Kenny (22:45)
And to round off the day, the reigning world champion and world number one will do the honors. And rightly so, “Cool Hand Luke” is once again one of the absolute favorites this year.
Luke Humphries is by far the most successful player of recent years and has won six major titles in the last 14 months. Never before has a darts player collected so much ranking money within two years.
In Round 1, the Englishman won 3:0 against Frenchman Thibault Tricole with ease. Humphries didn’t miss a single leg here. The PDC number 1 even managed a 90 average.
In round 3, Humphries will face Nick Kenny, number 76 on the PDC Order of Merit. The Welshman played the first 170 finish of the World Championship this year and advanced to Round 2 with a clear 3:0 win over Stowe Buntz.
There Kenny was up against the former champion Raymond van Barneveld. But “Barney” was far from his best with a weak performance and ultimately suffered a clear 3:1 defeat.
The Welshman could even afford an average of 86.39 and eight missed match darts to progress. Kenny is taking part in the PDC World Championship for the third time this year. He has reached round 3 for the first time.
Our expert tip: at Oddset “Under 4.5 sets” with odds of 1.95
