World Darts Championship schedule confirmed as Luke Littler first game date set

Luke Littler is set to get his World Darts Championship bid underway against either Fallon Sherrock or Ryan Meikle on Saturday, December 21. The Runcorn-born sensation, who finished as runner-up to Luke Humphries in an 11-leg thriller at Alexandra Palace back in January, has enjoyed a fine debut season.

Litter, 17, lifted the Premier League in May and followed that up with victories in the World Series and Grand Slam. Despite his lack of experience and time on tour, Littler is ranked fourth in the world going into the Ally Pally tournament and will be looking to add the Sid Waddell Trophy to the list of titles he has won in 2024.

After the draw was made on Monday, the fixtures for the first and second round of the World Championship, which is due to start on Sunday, December 15, have now been released. And Littler's first game of the tournament will be on December 21, with the tie taking place in the evening session - a 7pm start.

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Sherrock and Meilke are set to go head-to-head on Tuesday, December 17 in the evening session to determine Littler's opponent in the second round. Littler went up against Christian Kist in the first round at the 2024 World Championship before beating Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan, Rob Cross en route to losing in the final against Luke Humphries.

Elsewhere, Humphries will begin his defence of the World Championship with a tie against Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito on Sunday, December 15. Humphries won the Players Championship on Sunday to add to his collection and will be hoping to become the first back-to-back world champion since Gary Anderson in 2016.

Meanwhile, world no.2 Michael Smith is set to go up against the winner of Kevin Doets and Noa-Lynn van Leuven on Thursday, December 19. Michael Van Gerwen will pit his wits against either James Hurrell or Jim Long on Friday, December 20, while fifth-seed Rob Cross is up against Scott Williams or Niko Springer on Monday, December 23. There are 32 first round ties in full, with 32 second round ties to follow.

With this in mind, below is the World Championship fixture schedule in full. The tournament is set to get underway on Sunday, December 15 and will run to Friday, January 3.

Sunday December 15 (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Thibault Tricole v Joe Comito R1

• Jermaine Wattimena v Stefan Bellmont R1

• Kim Huybrechts v Keane Barry R1

• Luke Humphries v Tricole/Comito R2

Monday December 16
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Wesley Plaisier v Ryusei Azemoto R1

• Luke Woodhouse v Lourence Ilagan R1

• Alan Soutar v Kai Gotthardt R1

• James Wade v Wattimena/Bellmont R2

Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Niels Zonneveld v Robert Owen R1

• Connor Scutt v Ben Robb R1

• Cameron Menzies v Leonard Gates R1

• Gerwyn Price v Huybrechts/Barry R2

Tuesday December 17
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• James Hurrell v Jim Long R1

• Kevin Doets v Noa-Lynn van Leuven R1

• Ryan Joyce v Darius Labanauskas R1

• Mike De Decker v Woodhouse/Ilagan R2

Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Jeffrey de Graaf v Rashad Sweeting R1

• Ricardo Pietreczko v Xiaochen Zong R1

• Ryan Meikle v Fallon Sherrock R1

• Peter Wright v Plaisier/Azemoto R2

Wednesday December 18 (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Jim Williams v Paolo Nebrida R1

• Madars Razma v Christian Kist R1

• Ricky Evans v Gordon Mathers R1

• Nathan Aspinall v Menzies/Gates R2

Thursday December 19
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Chris Landman v Lok Yin Lee R1

• Callan Rydz v Romeo Grbavac R1 x

• Martin Lukeman v Nitin Kumar R1

• Gabriel Clemens v Zonneveld/Owen R2

Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Nick Kenny v Stowe Buntz R1

• Mensur Suljovic v Matt Campbell R1

• Scott Williams v Niko Springer R1

• Michael Smith v Doets/Van Leuven R2

Friday December 20
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Stephen Burton v Alexander Merkx R1

• Wessel Nijman v Cameron Carolissen R1

• Ian White v Sandro Eric Sosing R1

• Stephen Bunting v Soutar/Gotthardt R2

Evening Session (7pm)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round

• Mickey Mansell v Tomoya Goto R1

• Florian Hempel v Jeffrey De Zwaan R1

• William O'Connor v Dylan Slevin R1

• Michael van Gerwen v Hurrell/Long R2

Saturday December 21
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
4x Second Round

• Karel Sedlacek v Rhys Griffin R1

• Richard Veenstra v Alexis Toylo R1

• Brendan Dolan v Landman/Lee R2

• Chris Dobey v Burton/Merkx R2

Evening Session (7pm)
4x Second Round

• Danny Noppert v Joyce/Labanauskas R2

• Raymond van Barneveld v Kenny/Buntz R2

• Luke Littler v Meikle/Sherrock R2

• Damon Heta v Scutt/Robb R2

Sunday December 22
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
4x Second Round

• Ryan Searle v Suljovic/Campbell R2

• Dirk van Duijvenbode v Razma/Kist R2

• Joe Cullen v Nijman/Carolissen R2

• Ritchie Edhouse v White/Sosing R2

Evening Session (7pm)
4x Second Round

• Martin Schindler v Rydz/Grbavac R2

• Ross Smith v J Williams/Nebrida R2

• Gary Anderson v De Graaf/Sweeting R2

• Dimitri Van den Bergh v O'Connor/Slevin R2

Monday December 23
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
4x Second Round

• Krzysztof Ratajski v Veenstra/Toylo R2

• Andrew Gilding v Lukeman/Kumar R2

• Josh Rock v Sedlacek/Griffin R2

• Jonny Clayton v Mansell/Goto R2

Evening Session (7pm)
4x Second Round

• Gian van Veen v Pietreczko/Zong R2

• Daryl Gurney v Hempel/De Zwaan R2

• Dave Chisnall v Evans/Mathers R2

• Rob Cross v S Williams/Springer R2

Friday December 27
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Third Round

Evening Session (7pm)
3x Third Round

Saturday December 28
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Third Round

Evening Session (7pm)
3x Third Round

Sunday December 29
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Third Round

Evening Session (7pm)
1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round

Monday December 30
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
3x Fourth Round

Evening Session (7pm)
3x Fourth Round

Wednesday January 1
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
2x Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (7pm)
2x Quarter-Finals

Thursday January 2 (7.30pm)
Semi-Finals

Friday January 3 (8pm)
Final