At least four women in expanded World Darts Championship

A minimum of four women will compete at the 2025-26 World Darts Championship after the Professional Darts Corporation announced a new qualifying structure.

This year’s event will have an expanded field of 128 players, up from 96 in 2024-25, with the winner taking home £1m of a £5m prize pot.

A further change will mean seeded players – such as defending champion Luke Littler and Premier League winner Luke Humphries – enter the tournament in the first round, rather than the second.

The 32 seeds will be joined by players ranked 33-64, and drawn at random into the left side of the draw against the remaining 64 qualifiers.

“The expansion of the tournament will provide players from the PDC’s global affiliate tours and secondary tours with further opportunities to compete on the sport’s biggest stage,” the PDC said.

“This will include a minimum of four women in the 128-player field.”

They will be the winner of the PDC Women’s World Matchplay, plus the PDC Women’s Series winner, runner-up and third-place player.

Previously the most women to compete in a single year at darts’ most prestigious event was three when Lisa Ashton, Fallon Sherrock and Beau Greaves all played in 2022-23.

Gayl King was the first woman to play at the World Championship in 2000-01, while Sherrock made history as the first female to win a match at the tournament in 2019-20.