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WORLD GRAND PRIX 2025

What, When and Where is the 2025 World Grand Prix?

The 2025 World Grand Prix will take place from the 6th to the 12th of October at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, England.

 

The event is a ranked set-play major, which has the distinction of being the only PDC event to use the double in, double out format. This unique rule favours brilliant double-hitters, who can use their favourite doubles to get going quickly in legs.

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This will be the 28th staging of the World Grand Prix and the fifth since the 2021 move to Leicester, which has filled the void left by the unavailability of Dublin’s Citywest, the event’s previous long-term venue.

Mick DeDecker Lifting the World Grand Prix Trophy in 2024

Mick de Decker was crowned the 2024 winner of the World Grand Prix.

Photo: Simon O'Connor/PDC

⬇️ Jump to Betting ⬇️

What is the Format?

The double in, double out format (DIDO) means that players must hit a double or the bullseye before starting each and every leg. Only the darts the hit the double or bullseye, plus the ones which follow will count. With players finishing on a double or the bullseye as usual.

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The tournament is also the other PDC event, other than the World Championship, to use the best of five legs per set format, where players have to win three legs to pick up a set.

There are no tiebreaks and the first round is particularly brutal, being the best of three sets, before the format increases to the best of five for round two and the quarter-finals.

The semi-finals are then the best of nine, before the final is the best of 11, or first to six.

Who has Qualified for the World Grand Prix?

The tournament features the top 16 players from the main PDC Order of Merit, who make up the 16 seeds, and the top 16 from the Pro Tour Order of Merit. This year, the cut-off date was the 29th of September, with the most notable absentee being Dave Chisnall, who had appeared in the event every year since 2011.

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2023 World Champion Michael Smith, 2024 European Champion Ritchie Edhouse and 2024 World Grand Prix semi-finalist Dimitri van den Bergh are also missing. Reigning World Grand Prix Champion Mike de Decker secured a title defence through the Pro Tour Order of Merit.

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Germany’s Niko Springer and Dutchman Wessel Nijman also made it in through that route and are this year’s two debutants and some of the most exciting PDC youngsters.

Who are the Seeds for the World Grand Prix?

  1. Luke Humphries – reached the final of the last two World Grand Prix (W1 L1)
     

  2. Luke Littler – reached the final of the last four singles major (W2 L2)
     

  3. Michael van Gerwen – reached the World Grand Prix final seven times (W6 L1)
     

  4. Stephen Bunting – was the top seed at the recent World Series of Darts Finals
     

  5. James Wade – 2007 World Grand Prix winner and only player with 20+ appearances
     

  6. Jonny Clayton – beat World Cup teammate Price in the 2021 World Grand Prix final
     

  7. Gerwyn Price – World Grand Prix finalist three times in four years (2020-2023, L2 W1)
     

  8. Chris Dobey – reached the semi-final on his World Grand Prix debut in 2019
     

  9. Rob Cross – made his first World Grand Prix final at the eighth time of asking last year
     

  10. Josh Rock – up to a career high tenth in the world after a great season so far
     

  11. Damon Heta – lost in round one in his four World Grand Prix appearances
     

  12. Gary Anderson – reached the World Grand Prix final in 2016 only dropping three sets
     

  13. Danny Noppert – reached the semi-final at the 2021 World Grand Prix after beating MVG
     

  14. Ross Smith – won his first game but then lost in his four World Grand Prix appearances
     

  15. Peter Wright – has been eliminated in every World Grand Prix round but never won it
     

  16. Martin Schindler – recently became the first German to reach the top 16 in the world

Betting Tips and Odds for the 2025 World Grand Prix

Woody to Wow?

Damon Heta’s very poor record in Leicester makes his big favourite price for his opening game against an in-form Luke Woodhouse surprising. Therefore, backing Woody at odds of around 6/4 could be a great angle.

Experience to Prevail

With Humphries, van Gerwen, Wade, Clayton, Price, De Decker and Gurney in the field, odds of 7/4 for there not to be a first-time winner could also offer value.

Rocky is Ready

While Luke Littler looks the most likely winner outside of that group, Josh Rock has been in great form recently and is looking increasingly likely to pick up his first singles major in the busy end to the year, making his 10/1 price interesting.

Odds correct at the time of publishing. 

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What is the First Round Draw of the World Grand Prix and who to bet on?

  • (1) Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
    Aspinall, a 2022 World Grand Prix finalist, is a very tough first-round assessment for the World Number One, but the bookies have Humphries as the 2/5 favourite.
     

  • (16) Martin Schindler v Krzysztof Ratajski
    Ratajski has now fallen out of the world’s top 32, but after some decent runs is at 5/4 to beat Schindler, who has slowed down after a brilliant start to the year.
     

  • (8) Chris Dobey v Cameron Menzies
    Menzies, who averaged just 66.85 in a 6-1 loss to Dobey at the recent World Series of Darts Finals, is at 6/4 to get revenge.
     

  • (9) Rob Cross v Wessel Nijman
    Bookies can’t split Rob Cross, who has a terrible World Grand Prix record, and Dutch debutant Wessel Nijman, with both men at 6/5.
     

  • (4) Stephen Bunting v Niko Springer
    German World Grand Prix debutant Springer, who won the recent Hungarian Darts Trophy, is a nightmare draw for Bunting, who is still a 2/5 favourite.
     

  • (13) Danny Noppert v Jermaine Wattimena
    Noppert is a tight 11/8 favourite to beat Wattimena, who will make his first World Grand Prix appearance since 2020.
     

  • (5) James Wade v Joe Cullen
    World Grand Prix veteran and former winner Wade is a big favourite at 4/11 to beat Cullen, who won a floor title in early September.
     

  • (12) Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld

  • Anderson is a 2/5 favourite to win a clash between players both making their 16th World Grand Prix appearance.
     

  • (2) Luke Littler v Gian van Veen

  • Littler is a 1/3 favourite to get his first World Grand Prix win, having lost to Rob Cross last year, but van Veen is more than capable of causing an upset.
     

  • (15) Peter Wright v Mike De Decker

  • De Decker is unseeded for his title defence but is an 8/13 favourite to beat a struggling Wright, who averaged below 80 is a recent loss to Cor Dekker.
     

  • (7) Gerwyn Price v Ryan Searle

  • Price, a three-time World Grand Prix finalist, has been in good form this year, unlike Searle, who is priced at 6/4 to cause an upset.
     

  • (10) Josh Rock v Ryan Joyce

  • Rock, who is having the best season of his career to date, is a 4/11 favourite to beat excellent double-hitter Joyce, a World Grand Prix semi-finalist last year.
     

  • (3) Michael van Gerwen v Dirk van Duijvenbode

  • MVG didn’t win a single leg in a first-round loss to Daryl Gurney last year, but is a 4/9 favourite to beat van Duijvenbode, a former World Grand Prix finalist.
     

  • (14) Ross Smith v Daryl Gurney

  • Gurney, who won the 2017 World Grand Prix and this year’s World Cup with Josh Rock, is a 5/4 outside against Smith, who has always won his first-round game.
     

  • (6) Jonny Clayton v Andrew Gilding

  • Gilding, a 2023 World Grand Prix quarter-finalist who didn’t make the event last year, is a 7/4 outsider to cause an upset against the 2021 winner on his return.
     

  • (11) Damon Heta v Luke Woodhouse

  • Woodhouse, who just reached his first stage final at the Swiss Darts Trophy, could offer value at 13/8 against Heta, who has never won a World Grand Prix game.

Backing a Nine-Darter? The most Hit Nine-Darters and Highest Averages in the World Grand Prix:

  • The DIDO format makes nine-darters much harder, and there have only been three in the history of the event, all ending with 161 on the bullseye.
     

  • The first nine-darter came from Brendan Dolan in 2011, while the other two remarkably came in the same 2014 second round game between James Wade and Robert Thornton, where both players managed to hit one.
     

  • The highest one-game average in the tournament is still held by Alan Warriner-Littler and is a 106.45 from a 2001 round one game, in an event he went on to win.
     

  • There has yet to be another average more than 105.

Who are the Past Winners of the World Matchplay?

  • Phil Taylor won 11 of the first 16 editions of the World Grand Prix, with his last victory coming in 2013.
     

  • 2012 saw Michael van Gerwen win his first major at the event, and he has gone on to win the title five more times, including in 2016 with a record 99.46 tournament average.
     

  • James Wade is the only other player to win the event more than once, with 6-4 final victories over Terry Jenkins in 2007 and Adrian Lewis in 2010.
     

  • Gerwyn Price, who won the title in 2020, is tied with Wade for the third most World Grand Prix final appearances with three.
     

  • Price’s win came in the first edition since the event left Dublin, and there have since been four more different winners, including Jonny Clayton, MVG and Luke Humphries.
     

  • Humphries reached the final again last year but was stunned 6-4 by a debuting Mike de Decker, who became only the second Belgian to win a PDC title.

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