After beating good friend Nathan Aspinall 5-2 in the quarter-finals tonight, the Warrington teenager is still on course to go one better than last year and win the Sid Waddell Trophy.
Standing in his way is another ‘local rival’ in St Helens hurler Stephen Bunting, who beat double world champion Peter Wright 5-2 in tonight’s other last-16 tie.
Littler and Bunting will be the second semifinal to be played on Thursday night, with the match scheduled to begin around 9:15 p.m.
Chris Dobey will face Michael Van Gerwen to kick off the session, which will begin a little later, at 7:45 p.m.
The two winners will compete in the final on Friday evening.
The Paddy Power World Darts Championship is broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK.
SEMI-FINALS AND FINAL SCHEDULE FOR PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP 2024/25:
Thursday January 2:
Evening session (7:30 p.m. GMT):
Chris Dobey versus Michael Van Gerwen – 7:45 PM
Stephen Bunting vs. Luke Littler – 9:15 p.m.
Friday January 3 (2000 GMT):
Final
PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP FACT CHECK:
The Paddy Power World Darts Championship will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK
32nd edition of the World Darts Championship
96 players from around the world compete for the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy
14 debutants and 28 countries represented in the £2.5m showpiece
No.1 seed Humphries aims to emulate Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson by winning back-to-back titles.
PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE FUND:
Winner – £500,000
Finalists – £200,000
Semi-finalists – £100,000
Quarter-finalists – £50,000
Fourth round – £35,000
Third round – £25,000
Second round – £15,000
Premier tour – 7 500 £
Total – 2 500 000 £
Players will also compete for the Art Ball trophy – created by title sponsor Paddy Power for the player who achieves the most 180s during the event.
The award – won by Humphries last year – is an addition to The BIGGER 180 campaign, which will once again see Paddy Power donate £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every maximum scored at the 2024 World Darts Championship /25.
Additionally, a bonus of £180,000 will be paid out for every nine darts completed during the tournament, which will be shared equally, £60,000 each, to Prostate Cancer UK, the player who hits the perfect leg and one lucky fan in the crowd.
PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT:
First round – Best of five sets
Second round – Best of five sets
Third round – Best of seven sets
Fourth round – Best of seven sets
Quarterfinals – Best of nine sets
Semi-finals – Best of 11 sets
Final – Best of 13 sets
TIE BREAK:
From the second round, the tie-break rule will be applied in all matches; where a deciding set must be won by two clear rounds. If the score in the final set reaches 5-5, a sudden death set will be played.
There would be no throw for the bull in sudden death legs.
PADDY POWER WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP 2024/25 RESULTS:
Premier tour :
Thibault Tricole 3 Joe Comito 1
Jermaine Wattimena 3 Stefan Bellmont 0
Kim Huybrechts 1 Keane Barry 3
Wesley Plaisier 3 Ryusei Azemoto 2
Luke Woodhouse 3 Lawrence Ilagan 0
Alan Soutar 1 Kai Gotthardt 3
Niels Zonneveld 1 Robert Owen 3
Connor Scutt 3 Ben Robb 0
Cameron Menzies 1 Leonard Gates 3
James Hurrell 3 Jim Long 0
Kevin Doets 3 Noa-Lynn of Louvain 0
Ryan Joyce 3 Darius Labanauskas 1
Jeffrey de Graaf 3 Rashad Sweeting 1
Ricardo Pietreczko 3 Xiaochen Zong 0
Ryan Meikle 3 Fallon Sherrock 2
Jim Williams 2 Paolo Nebrida 3
Madars Razma 3 Christian Kist (9 darts) 1
Ricky Evans 3 Gordon Mathers 2
Chris Landman 1 Lok Yin Lee 3
Callan Rydz 3 Romeo Grbavac 0
Martin Lukeman 3 Nitin Kumar 1
Nick Kenny 3 Stowe Buntz 0
Mensur Suljovic 2 Matt Campbell 3
Scott Williams 3 Niko Springer 1
Stephen Burton 0 Alexander Merkx 3
Wessel Nijman 3 Cameron Carolissen 2
Ian White goodbye vs. Sandro Eric Sosing
Mickey Mansell 3 Tomoya Go to 1
Florian Hempel 3 Jeffrey De Zwaan 1
William O’Connor 1 Dylan Slevin 3
Karel Sedlacek 0 Rhys Griffin 3
Second round:
Luke Humphries 3 Thibault Tricole 0
James Wade 0 Jermaine Wattimena 3
Prix Gerwyn 3 Keane Barry 0
Mike De Decker 1 Luke Woodhouse 3
Peter Wright 3 Wesley Plaisier 1
Nathan Aspinall 3 Leonard Gates 1
Gabriel Clemens 1 Robert Owen 3
Michael Smith 2 Kevin Doets 3
Stephen Bunting 3 Kai Gotthardt 1
Michael van Gerwen 3 James Hurrell 0
Brendan Dolan 3 Lok Yin Lee 0
Chris Dobey 3 Alexandre Merkx 1
Danny Noppert 1 Ryan Joyce 3
Raymond van Barneveld 1 Nick Kenny 3
Luke Littler 3 Ryan Meikle 1
Damon Heta 3 Connor Scutt 1
Ryan Searle 3 Matt Campbell 0
Dirk van Duijvenbode 1 Madars Razma 3
Joe Cullen 3 Wessel Nijman 0
Ritchie Edhouse 1 Ian Blanc 3
Martin Schindler 0 Callan Rydz 3
Ross Smith 0 Paolo Nebrida 3
Gary Anderson 0 Jeffrey de Graaf 3
Dimitri Van den Bergh 3 Dylan Slevin 0
Krzysztof Ratajski 3 Alexis Toylo 1
Andrew Dorure 3 Martin Lukeman 1
Josh Rock 3 Rhys Griffin 0
Jonny Clayton 3 Mickey Mansell 2 (R2)
Gian van Veen 1 Ricardo Pietreczko 3
Daryl Gurney 3 Hempel/De Zwaan 2
Dave Chisnall 2 Ricky Evans 3
Rob Cross 1 Scott Williams 3
Third round:
Damon Heath (9 fléchettes) 3 Luke Woodhouse 4
Jonny Clayton 4 Daryl Gurney 3
Stephen Bunting 4 Madars Razma 1
Prix Gerwyn 4 Joe Cullen 3
Jermaine Wattimena 2 Peter Wright 4
Luke Humphries 4 Nick Kenny 0
Ryan Joyce 4 Ryan Searle 3
Scott Williams 1 Ricardo Pietreczko 4
Nathan Aspinall 4 Andrew Gilding 0
Chris Dobey 4 Josh Rock 2
Michael van Gerwen 4 Brendan Dolan 2
Luke Littler 4 Ian Blanc 1
Jeffrey de Graaf 4 Paolo Nebrida 1
Kevin Doets 4 Krzysztof Ratajski 3
Dimitri Van den Bergh 0 Callan Rydz 4
Ricky Evans 2 Robert Owen 4
Fourth round:
Jonny Clayton 2 Gerwyn Prix 4
Luke Humphries 1 Peter Wright 4
Kevin Doets 3 Chris Dobey 4
Callan Rydz 4 Robert Owen 3
Ricardo Pietreczko 0 Nathan Aspinall 4
Stephen Bunting 4 Luke Woodhouse 0
Michael van Gerwen 4 Jeffrey de Graaf 2
Luc Littler 4 Ryan Joyce 3
Quarter-finals
Chris Dobey 5 Gerwyn Prix 3
Michael Van Gerwen 5 Callan Rydz 3
Peter Wright 2 Stephen Bunting 5
Luke Littler 5 Nathan Aspinall 2
