Michael van Gerwen will begin the defence of his William Hill World Darts Championship title against Jelle Klaasen or Kevin Burness.
The draw was made on Monday for the 2019/2020 William Hill World Darts Championship, which will see 96 of the world’s best players competing from December 13 – January 1 for the Sid Waddell Trophy and £2.5 million in prize money.
Three-time World Champion Van Gerwen heads up the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit, who are seeded and will enter at the second round stage.
The first round will feature 32 qualifiers from the ProTour Order of Merit, based on prize money won across 43 non-televised events in 2019, and 32 international qualifiers.
Reigning champion Van Gerwen will begin his bid to retain the title for the first time against either fellow Dutchman Klaasen or Burness, who qualified for the event through the last-chance PDPA Qualifier earlier on Monday.
Departing five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld will bid an emotional farewell at his final event before retirement and he will meet American veteran Darin Young in his opening assignment.
The winner of that tie will play rising Dutch star Jeffrey de Zwaan, a protégé of Van Barneveld in his early career.
Two-time World Champion Gary Anderson will take on Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan or Indian Qualifier Nitin Kumar, while Spain’s Cristo Reyes and Lourence Ilagan of the Philippines will face-off for the right to play two-time winner Adrian Lewis.
Rob Cross, who sensationally won the event on his Alexandra Palace debut two years ago, is set to face either Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts or Dutch youngster Geert Nentjes.
Three-time Lakeside Champion Glen Durrant will face a difficult PDC World Championship debut against either Portuguese number one Jose De Sousa or Brisbane Darts Masters winner Damon Heta, while back-to-back Grand Slam of Darts champion Gerwyn Price will come up against William O’Connor or Marko Kantele.
Japan’s Mikuru Suzuki and England’s Fallon Sherrock are the two women to qualify for this year’s event and they will face James Richardson and Ted Evetts respectively in round one.
The 2019/2020 William Hill World Darts Championship will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and through NOW TV in the UK, on PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers and through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7.
(All images courtesy of Lawrence Lustig, PDC)
2019/2020 WILLIAM HILL WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP
December 13 2019-January 1 2020
Alexandra Palace, London
Draw Bracket
Seeded Players (Enter at Second Round Stage) First Round Tie
(1) Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) v Jelle Klaasen (Netherlands)/Kevin Burness (Northern Ireland)
(32) Ricky Evans (England) v Mark McGeeney (England)/Matt Campbell (Canada)
(16) Jonny Clayton (Wales) v Ryan Joyce (England)/Jan Dekker (Netherlands)
(17) Stephen Bunting (England) v Arron Monk (England)/Jose Justicia (Spain)
(8) James Wade (England) v Ritchie Edhouse (England)/Boris Koltsov (Russia)
(25) Steve Beaton (England) v Kyle Anderson (Australia)/Xiaochen Zong (China)
(9) Ian White (England) v Darius Labanauskas (Lithuania)/Matthew Edgar (England)
(24) Max Hopp (Germany) v Gabriel Clemens (Germany)/Benito van de Pas (Netherlands)
(5) Gary Anderson (Scotland) v Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland)/Nitin Kumar (India)
(28) Steve West (England) v Ryan Searle (England)/Robbie King (Australia)
(12) Nathan Aspinall (England) v Andy Boulton (England)/Danny Baggish (USA)
(21) Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland) v Jamie Hughes (England)/Zoran Lerchbacher (Austria)
(4) Michael Smith (England) v Luke Woodhouse (England)/Paul Lim (Singapore)
(29) Dimitri Van den Bergh (Belgium) v Josh Payne (England)/Diogo Portela (Brazil)
(13) Adrian Lewis (England) v Cristo Reyes (Spain)/Lourence Ilagan (Philippines)
(20) Darren Webster (England) v Ryan Meikle (England)/Yuki Yamada (Japan)
(2) Rob Cross (England) v Kim Huybrechts (Belgium)/Geert Nentjes (Netherlands)
(31) Danny Noppert (Netherlands) v Steve Lennon (Ireland)/Callan Rydz (England)
(15) Joe Cullen (England) v James Wilson (England)/Nico Kurz (Germany)
(18) Jermaine Wattimena (Netherlands) v Luke Humphries (England)/Devon Petersen (South Africa)
(7) Peter Wright (Scotland) v Rowby-John Rodriguez (Austria)/Noel Malicdem (Philippines)
(26) Keegan Brown (England) v Mickey Mansell (Northern Ireland)/Seigo Asada (Japan)
(10) Dave Chisnall (England) v Vincent van der Voort (Netherlands)/Keane Barry (Ireland)
(23) Jeffrey de Zwaan (Netherlands) v Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)/Darin Young (USA)
(6) Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland) v Justin Pipe (England)/Benjamin Pratnamer (Slovenia)
(27) Glen Durrant (England) v Jose De Sousa (Portugal)/Damon Heta (Australia)
(11) Mensur Suljovic (Austria) v Ted Evetts (England)/Fallon Sherrock (England)
(22) Chris Dobey (England) v Ron Meulenkamp (Netherlands)/Ben Robb (New Zealand)
(3) Gerwyn Price (Wales) v William O’Connor (Ireland)/Marko Kantele (Finland)
(30) John Henderson (Scotland) v James Richardson (England)/Mikuru Suzuki (Japan)
(14) Simon Whitlock (Australia) v Harry Ward (England)/Madars Razma (Latvia)
(19) Mervyn King (England) v Ross Smith (England)/Ciaran Teehan (Ireland)
Format
First Round Best of five sets (no tie-break)
Second Round Best of five sets
Third Round Best of seven sets
Fourth Round Best of seven sets
Quarter-Finals Best of nine sets
Semi-Finals Best of 11 sets
Final Best of 13 sets
A tie-break will be in operation in all round from the second round onwards, where the final set must be won by two clear legs. If the score reaches five-all, the 11th leg will be a sudden-death leg.
Schedule of Play
Match Schedule TBC in due course
Prize Fund
Winner £500,000
Runner-Up £200,000
Semi-Finalists £100,000
Quarter-Finalists £50,000
Fourth Round Losers £35,000
Third Round Losers £25,000
Second Round Losers £15,000
First Round Losers £7,500
Total £2,500,000
Roll of Honour
1994 Dennis Priestley def Phil Taylor 6-1
1995 Phil Taylor def Rod Harrington 6-2
1996 Phil Taylor def Dennis Priestley 6-4
1997 Phil Taylor def Dennis Priestley 6-3
1998 Phil Taylor def Dennis Priestley 6-0
1999 Phil Taylor def Peter Manley 6-2
2000 Phil Taylor def Dennis Priestley 7-3
2001 Phil Taylor def John Part 7-0
2002 Phil Taylor def Peter Manley 7-0
2003 John Part def Phil Taylor 7-6
2004 Phil Taylor def Kevin Painter 7-6
2005 Phil Taylor def Mark Dudbridge 7-4
2006 Phil Taylor def Peter Manley 7-0
2007 Raymond van Barneveld def Phil Taylor 7-6
2008 John Part def Kirk Shepherd 7-2
2009 Phil Taylor def Raymond van Barneveld 7-1
2010 Phil Taylor def Simon Whitlock 7-3
2011 Adrian Lewis def Gary Anderson 7-5
2012 Adrian Lewis def Andy Hamilton 7-3
2013 Phil Taylor def Michael van Gerwen 7-4
2014 Michael van Gerwen def Peter Wright 7-4
2015 Gary Anderson def Phil Taylor 7-6
2016 Gary Anderson def Adrian Lewis 7-5
2017 Michael van Gerwen def Gary Anderson 7-3
2018 Rob Cross def Phil Taylor 7-2
2019 Michael van Gerwen def Michael Smith 7-3
Nine-Darters
2009 Raymond van Barneveld v Jelle Klaasen (Quarter-Finals)
2010 Raymond van Barneveld v Brendan Dolan (Second Round)
2011 Adrian Lewis v Gary Anderson (Final)
2013 Dean Winstanley v Vincent van der Voort (Second Round)
2013 Michael van Gerwen v James Wade (Semi-Finals)
2014 Terry Jenkins v Per Laursen (First Round)
2014 Kyle Anderson v Ian White (First Round)
2015 Adrian Lewis v Raymond van Barneveld (Third Round)
2016 Gary Anderson v Jelle Klaasen (Semi-Finals)
Session Times
Friday December 13 (1900 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Saturday December 14
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Sunday December 15
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Monday December 16 (1900 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Tuesday December 17
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Wednesday December 18
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Thursday December 19
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
2x First Round, 2x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
4x Second Round
Friday December 20
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
4x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
4x Second Round
Saturday December 21
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
4x Second Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
4x Second Round
Sunday December 22
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x Third Round
Evening Session (1900)
3x Third Round
Monday December 23
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x Third Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
3x Third Round
Friday December 27
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x Third Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round
Saturday December 28
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
3x Fourth Round
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
3x Fourth Round
Sunday December 29
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
2x Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
2x Quarter-Finals
Monday December 30 (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Wednesday January 1 (1900 GMT)
Final
— — —
Darts Betting Odds
Tournament Winner
5/4 Michael van Gerwen
5/1 Gerwyn Price
14/1 Peter Wright
16/1 Rob Cross
22/1 Michael Smith
25/1 Gary Anderson
28/1 Dave Chisnall
40/1 Nathan Aspinall, Glen Durrant
50/1 Daryl Gurney, James Wade
66/1 Krzysztof Ratajski, Mensur Suljovic, Ian White
80/1 Chris Dobey
100/1 Adrian Lewis, Gabriel Clemens, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Dimitri Van den Bergh
125/1 Stephen Bunting, Jose De Sousa, Jamie Hughes
150/1 Jonny Clayton, Joe Cullen, Luke Humphries, Raymond van Barneveld,
Simon Whitlock
250/1 John Henderson, Mervyn King, Noel Malicdem, Danny Noppert, William O’Connor, Jermaine Wattimena, Darren Webster
300/1 Kyle Anderson, Keegan Brown, Brendan Dolan, Ricky Evans, Ted Evetts, Damon Heta, Max Hopp, Kim Huybrechts, Steve Lennon, Vincent van der Voort, Steve West
400/1 Ryan Joyce, Ryan Searle
500/1 Daniel Baggish, Steve Beaton, Robbie King, Jelle Klaasen, Darius Labanbauskas, Mark McGeeney, Ron Meulenkamp, Josh Payne, Devon Petersen, Justin Pipe, Cristo Reyes, Ross Smith, Benito van de Pas, James Wilson
750/1 Lourence Ilagan, Luke Woodhouse
1000/1 Seigo Asada, Keane Barry, Andy Boulton, Kevin Burness, Jan Dekker, Ritchie Edhouse, Jose Justicia, Boris Koltsov, Nico Kurz, Paul Lim, Ryan Meikle, Arron Monk, Geert Nentjes, Madars Razma, James Richardson, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Callan Rydz, Ciaran Teehan, Harry Ward
1500/1 Matthew Edgar, Zoran Lerchbacher, Mickey Mansell, Diogo Portela
2000/1 Marko Kantele, Ben Robb, Fallon Sherrock, Mikuru Suzuki, Darin Young
2500/1 Matt Campbell, Nitin Kumar, Benjamin Pratnemer, Yuki Yamada, Xiaochen Zong
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