World Professional Darts Championship
The World Professional Darts Championship was one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split in the game. Each organisation, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) since organised their own World Championship, the former in January the latter in December. As a result, there no longer was an unified world champion in the sport for nearly three decades. This ended when the BDO ceased to exist in 2020, leaving the PDC as the sole organisation crowning a world professional darts champion.
The BDO organised their version dating back to 1978, when it was held at the Heart of the Midlands nightclub, Nottingham. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. From then until 2019 it was held at the Lakeside Leisure Complex at Frimley Green, Surrey. In 2020 the tournament was held at The O2 Arena in London. The BDO went into liquidation in 2020 and the World Darts Federation announced later that that they would be creating their own version, though amateur, of a World Championship, returning to the Lakeside Leisure Complex.[1]
The PDC version started in 1994 after "the split", with a field of players containing all active previous World Champions from the BDO. It was originally staged at Purfleet's Circus Tavern, Essex, before moving to Alexandra Palace, London, for the 2008 World Championship.
Men's winners
By player
The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 10 April 2022).
| Player | Total | BDO | PDC |
|---|---|---|---|
 Phil Taylor | 16 | 2 | 14 |
 Raymond van Barneveld | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Eric Bristow | 5 | 5 | – |
| Martin Adams | 3 | 3 | – |
| John Lowe | 3 | 3 | – |
| Michael van Gerwen | 3 | – | 3 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} John Part | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Glen Durrant | 3 | 3 | – |
 Gary Anderson | 2 | – | 2 |
| Peter Wright | 2 | – | 2 |
| Ted Hankey | 2 | 2 | – |
| Adrian Lewis | 2 | – | 2 |
| Dennis Priestley | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Scott Waites | 2 | 2 | – |
| Jocky Wilson | 2 | 2 | – |
| Bob Anderson | 1 | 1 | – |
| Steve Beaton | 1 | 1 | – |
| Stephen Bunting | 1 | 1 | – |
 Richie Burnett | 1 | 1 | – |
| Rob Cross | 1 | – | 1 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Tony David | 1 | 1 | – |
| Keith Deller | 1 | 1 | – |
| Andy Fordham | 1 | 1 | – |
| Christian Kist | 1 | 1 | – |
| Jelle Klaasen | 1 | 1 | – |
| Scott Mitchell | 1 | 1 | – |
| Gerwyn Price | 1 | – | 1 |
| Leighton Rees | 1 | 1 | – |
| Les Wallace | 1 | 1 | – |
| John Walton | 1 | 1 | – |
| Wayne Warren | 1 | 1 | – |
| Mark Webster | 1 | 1 | – |
Highest average progression
| Average | Seed | Player | Score | Opponent | Stage | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97.49 | 3 | Leighton Rees |
6–3 | Alan Evans |
QF | 1978 |
| 99.00 | 5 | John Lowe |
2–0 | Tony Brown |
1st | 1984 |
| 100.29 | unseeded | Keith Deller |
2–4 | John Lowe |
QF | 1985 |
| 100.80 | unseeded | Phil Taylor |
5–0 | Cliff Lazarenko |
SF | 1990 |
| 102.63 | 1 | Dennis Priestley |
3–0 | Jocky Wilson |
1st | 1993 |
| 103.98 | 1 | Phil Taylor |
6–0 | Dennis Priestley |
F | 1998 |
| 105.03 | 3 | Phil Taylor |
3–0 | Reg Harding |
1st | 1999 |
| 105.87 | 2 | Phil Taylor |
6–0 | Alan Warriner |
QF | 2000 |
| 107.46 | 2 | Phil Taylor |
7–0 | John Part |
F | 2001 |
| 111.21 | 2 | Phil Taylor |
6–1 | Shayne Burgess |
2nd | 2002 |
| 114.05 | 1 | Michael van Gerwen |
6–2 | Raymond van Barneveld |
SF | 2017 |
Women's winners
|
British Darts Organisation (current sponsors: Lakeside)
|
Professional Darts Corporation (sponsors: Unicorn)
|
By player
The following sortable table lists all winners of both versions of the World Championship (correct as of 11 January 2020).
| Player | Total | BDO | PDC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trina Gulliver | 10 | 10 | – |
| Lisa Ashton | 4 | 4 | – |
 Anastasia Dobromyslova | 3 | 3 | – |
 Mikuru Suzuki | 2 | 2 | – |
| Francis Hoenselaar | 1 | 1 | – |
 Stacy Bromberg | 1 | – | 1 |
Youth winners
|
British Darts Organisation (current sponsors: Lakeside)
|
Professional Darts Corporation (current sponsors: Winmau)
|
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References
- "Darts is Coming Home! Lakeside World Championship 2022". DartsWDF. World Darts Federation. 6 June 2021.
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