THE FUSE

Luke Littler will begin the defence of his PDC world title against Darius Labanauskas.

The English world number one faces the Lithuanian, who was a quarter-finalist in 2020, in the first round at London's Alexandra Palace.

Second seed Luke Humphries, who beat Littler in the 2024 final, takes on 2021 world youth champion Ted Evetts.

Three-time women's world champion Beau Greaves has been drawn to face 22nd seed Daryl Gurney in the expanded 128-player tournament which begins on 11 December at London's Alexandra Palace.

All five players from the Women's World Series face tough opponents, with Women's World Matchplay champion Lisa Ashton up against the 2023 PDC world champion Michael Smith.

Fallon Sherrock, the only woman to have won matches at the Ally Pally tournament – when sealing two victories in 2019 - faces 21st seed Dave Chisnall.

Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who made history as the first transgender player in the tournament last year, will play two-time winner Peter Wright, while Gemma Hayter faces 11th seed Josh Rock.

Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen meets MitsuhikoTatsunami.

Littler became the youngest world champion, aged 17, when he beat Dutchman Van Gerwen in January's final.

The teenager, now 18, has gone on to win five more televised titles in 2025, including the Players' Championship in Minehead on Sunday.

Littler and Humphries are on different sides of the draw and seeded to meet in the final again.

Of his first-round opponent Labanauskas, Littler said: "He's not the quickest player but it's all about getting past that first round

"Gary Anderson was the last player to go back to back (champion in 2015 and 2016) so I'm looking forward to trying to do that."

The top 32 seeds enter in the first round this year, rather than the second, with the final taking place on Saturday, 3 January 2026.

The total of 128 players is up from 96 in 2024-25, with the winner taking home £1m - double what Littler picked up in January. The runner-up wins £400,000 from a total £5m prize fund.

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

First-round matches will take place from Thursday 11 to Friday 19 December,

All second-round matches will take place from 20-23 December, with the third round beginning 27 December and the fourth round on 29-30 December.

The quarter-finals are on New Year's Day, with the semi-finals a day later.