The WDF World Championship will return to the home of World Darts, the Lakeside at Frimley Green, between 27 November 2026 and Sunday, 6 December 2026. The field is set, with Mitchell Lawrie confirmed as top seed in the Open category after the youth prodigy, who is yet to turn 16 as of the time of writing, reached the final last year. Lawrie plans to make the move over to the PDC when he is able to in January, so he will attempt to win this for the first and final time.
Lawrie is joined in the Open field by Dutch Open winner Paul Krohne, Leonard Gates, Matthew Edgar, Ross Montgomery, World Master Chris Lim and former champion Neil Duff. The full 48-player Open list also includes Jenson Walker, James Beeton, Moreno Blom, Kaya Baysal, Mursel Yavuz, Corne Groeneveld, Jarno Bottenberg, Brian Raman, Scott Robertson, Haupai Puha, Daniel Zapata, Mark Cleaver, Carsten Hoffmann, Ben Townley, Stefan Schroder, Lewis Gurney, Jeff Smith, Sean Fisher, Matt Clark, Alex Williams, Anthony Brown, Harry Lane, Liam Maendl-Lawrance, Petri Rasmus, Franko Giuliani, Declan Bailey, Dmitrii Rogov, Pat Scurfield, Ron Meulenkamp, Paul Lewis, Dennis Nilsson, Terry Jun Hao Tan, Tomoya Goto, Shane Sakchekapo, Jack Drayton, David Davies, Joey Lynaugh, Ryusei Azemoto, Blake Hatchett, Berry Pater and Jitse Van der Wal.
In the ladies, it is Deta Hedman who leads the way after she finally won the title last year. Rhian O'Sullivan, Aileen de Graaf and Nicole Regnaud are among those who will test her. The 24-player women's field also features Priscilla Steenbergen, Maria Carli, Kirsi Viinikainen, Paula Jacklin, Irina Armstrong, Lerena Rietbergen, Emine Dursun, Anca Zijlstra, Lorraine Hyde, Cali West, Jitka Cisarova, Aurora Fochesato, Paula Murphy, Eve Watson, Steph Clarke, Mayumi Ouchi, Lovely-Mae Orbeta, Chris Richardson, Sophie McKinlay and Kim Holden. The youth and girls events also take place, with the former again including Mitchell Lawrie, as well as youth prodigy and his rival Kaya Baysal, who has lit up the Development Tour in his part debut season.
The draw for the 2026 WDF World Championship will be conducted on Tuesday, November 3rd. Nick Rolls, WDF Secretary General, as well as S4C presenter Sioned Dafydd and former Lakeside World Champion Scott Mitchell will do the draw on their YouTube channel on November 3rd. Prize money and format has been set too. The playing schedule will then be finalised no later than Monday, November 9th.
The Open format sees best of 5 sets in the first round, second round and last 16, best of 7 sets in the quarter-finals, best of 9 sets in the semi-finals and best of 11 sets in the final. The women's event is best of 3 sets in the first round and last 16, best of 5 sets in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and best of 7 sets in the final. The youth competition is best of 3 sets in the first round and quarter-finals, best of 5 sets in the semi-finals and best of 7 sets in the final, while the girls' event is best of 3 sets in the first round and semi-finals and best of 5 sets in the final.
History at Lakeside: Neil Duff won the 2022 Open title 6–5 against Thibault Tricole, Andy Baetens took the 2023 crown 6–1 over Chris Landman, Shane McGuirk beat Paul Lim 6–3 in 2024, and Jimmy van Schie edged Mitchell Lawrie 6–3 in 2025. In the women's event, Beau Greaves won three consecutive titles – 4–0 against Kirsty Hutchinson in 2022, 4–1 against Aileen de Graaf in 2023 and 4–1 against Sophie McKinlay in 2024 – before Deta Hedman beat Lerena Rietbergen 4–1 in 2025. The youth champions have been Bradly Roes (2022), Bradley van der Velden (2023), Archie Self (2024) and Mitchell Lawrie (2025), while the girls' winners are Eleanor Cairns (2022), Aurora Fochesato (2023), Paige Pauling (2024) and Zehra Gemi (2025).
