World Darts Championship LIVE: Littler vs Bunting and Van Gerwen vs Dobey semi-final updates

Luke Littler explains why he burst into tears after opening World Championship win

Luke Littler battles Stephen Bunting for a place in tomorrow’s World Darts Championship final with the semi-finals taking place tonight at Alexandra Palace.

The 17-year old remains the tournament favourite ahead of tonight’s main match-up, and he faces 39-year-old Bunting, who has never made the final of this competition.

And ahead of that fixture, Michael van Gerwen will face Chris Dobey for the other spot in the final, with the Dutchman – who has won this tournament three times – the bookies’ favourite to take the win.

With Luke Humphries having crashed out of the tournament in the fourth round, we’re guaranteed a new winner in 2025, and with three of the four semi-finalists having never won before, fans are in for an intriguing couple of days at Ally Pally, with the final places of the Premier League Darts 2025 also set to be decided.

Follow all of the build-up from Ally Pally in our live blog below:

Luke Littler cruises past Nathan Aspinall to set up World Championship semi-final clash with Stephen Bunting

And the report from Littler’s last match…

The 17-year-old made 15 maximums, taking his tally for the tournament past the half-century mark, and capitalised on Aspinall’s inability to finish his own opportunities as he made it look relatively comfortable.

Aspinall extended the contest by getting it back to 4-2 but Littler closed it out as he looks to cap an outstanding first year on the PDC Tour – in which he was won 10 titles – with his first world crown.

Chris Wilson2 January 2025 18:30

Michael Van Gerwen hits out at Peter Wright for ‘nonsense’ World Darts Championship claim

Rydz has the highest tournament average (100.91), yet the bookies and most pundits have tipped last year’s runner-up, Luke Littler, as the favourite throughout this year’s tournament, with ‘The Nuke’ hitting the most 180s in the tournament (22) and eight more than Rydz.

Chris Wilson2 January 2025 18:20

World Darts Championship prize money: How much will winner earn at Ally Pally?

This time last year, much was made of a then-16-year-old Littler potentially taking home £500,000 for winning the competition, though he eventually had to ‘settle’ for the runners-up prize of £200,000.

But how much money is on the line at Alexandra Palace, and what can players expect to take home if they reach the latter stages of the tournament?

You can find out everything about the tournament’s prize money below.

Chris Wilson2 January 2025 18:10

WDC format & odds

Tonight’s semi-finals are the best of 11 sets, while the final tomorrow is the best of 13.

At the moment, Luke Littler is the tournament favourite at odds of 4/7, with van Gerwen priced at 5/2. Bunting is third favourite, at 17/2, while Dobey is priced at 12/1 ahead of the semis.

Chris Wilson2 January 2025 17:50

World Darts Championship 2025: Scores, schedule and results

Here’s the full schedule for the remainder of the tournament:

Thursday January 2 (7.30pm)

Michael van Gerwen vs Chris Dobey

Luke Littler vs Stephen Bunting

Final: Van Gerwen/Dobey v Littler/Aspinall/Bunting

Chris Wilson2 January 2025 17:40