PDC World Championship

PDC World Championship

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The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Paddy Power World Darts Championship, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), is a World Professional Darts Championship held annually in the sport of darts. The PDC world championship begins in December and ends in January and is held at Alexandra Palace in London and has been held there since 2008. It is the most prestigious of the PDC's tournaments, with the winner receiving the Sid Waddell Trophy, named in honour of the darts commentator Sid Waddell, who died in 2012. Along with the Premier League Darts and World Matchplay, it is considered part of the Triple Crown.

The PDC championship began in 1994 as the WDC World Darts Championship as one of the consequences of the split in darts, which saw the World Darts Council break away from the BDO. As a result of the settlement between the BDO and the WDC in 1997, the WDC became the PDC, and players were thenceforth free to choose which world championship to enter (but not both in the same year), as long as they met certain eligibility criteria. Both organisations continued to organize their own world championship until the 2020 editions, after which the BDO folded.

There have been twelve different winners since the tournament's inception. With 14 wins from 25 appearances, Phil Taylor has dominated the competition, last winning it in 2013. The other players to win it more than once are John Part (2003 & 2008), Adrian Lewis (2011 & 2012), Gary Anderson (2015 & 2016), Michael van Gerwen (2014, 2017 & 2019) and Peter Wright (2020 & 2022). The one-time winners are the inaugural champion Dennis Priestley (1994), Raymond van Barneveld (2007), Rob Cross (2018), Gerwyn Price (2021), Michael Smith (2023) and Luke Humphries (2024).

History

A match between Mensur Suljović and Kevin Painter at the 2010 championship

In 1992, some high-profile players, including all previous winners of the BDO World Darts Championship still active in the game, formed the WDC (now PDC), and in 1994, held their first World Championship. Dennis Priestley won the inaugural competition.

The players who broke away were taking a significant gamble – the tournament was broadcast on satellite television rather than terrestrial, and from 1994 to 2001, the prize fund for the players in the WDC/PDC World Championship was lower than the prize fund in the BDO version, although the 1997 PDC World Champion received £45,000 compared to that year's BDO World Champion receiving £38,000. In 2002, the PDC prize fund overtook that of the BDO for the first time, and the PDC event now boasts the largest prize fund of any darts competition. In 2010, the prize fund reached £1 million for the first time, with the World Champion collecting £200,000.

The 2014 and 2015 PDC World Champions collected £250,000 for their respective wins. For the next, winner's share increased to £50,000 each year culminating in a 2018 prize fund of £1.8 million. The current prize fund for the tournament is £2.5 million with £500,000 to the winner, as set since the 2019 edition.

In 2020, the British Darts Organisation — which had held a separate version of the world championship since the split in 1994 — went into liquidation. As a result, the PDC version was briefly the only recognised world championship in darts until the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship was held.

PDC 월드 챔피언십은 전 세계에서 가장 권위 있고 인기 있는 다트 토너먼트입니다. 매년 영국 런던의 알렉산드라 팰리스에서 열리며, 전 세계 최고의 다트 선수들이 우승을 위해 경쟁합니다.

PDC 월드 챔피언십은 1994년에 처음 시작되었으며, 매년 점점 더 인기를 끌고 있습니다. 2023년에는 200만 명 이상의 관중이 토너먼트를 시청했으며, 우승 상금은 50만 파운드에 달했습니다.

PDC 월드 챔피언십은 다트 선수들에게는 가장 명예로운 대회로 여겨집니다. 우승하면 다트계의 세계 챔피언이 되며, 커리어에 있어서 큰 도움이 됩니다.

PDC 월드 챔피언십의 포맷은 다음과 같습니다.

* 토너먼트는 96명의 선수로 구성됩니다.
* 선수들은 32개의 조로 나뉘어 조별 리그를 치릅니다.
* 조별 리그에서 각 조 상위 2명의 선수가 64강에 진출합니다.
* 64강부터는 토너먼트 방식으로 경기를 진행합니다.
* 결승전은 1월 2일에 열립니다.

PDC 월드 챔피언십은 다트계의 가장 중요한 대회이며, 전 세계 다트 팬들이 주목하는 이벤트입니다.