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 draw for the 2026 WDF World Championship was conducted on Tuesday, November 3rd by Nick Rolls, WDF Secretary General, alongside S4C presenter Sioned Dafydd and former Lakeside World Champion Scott Mitchell on their YouTube channel.
Mitchell Lawrie will be the 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. He plans to make the move over to the PDC when he is able to in January, so will attempt to win this for the first and final time. He is joined in the field by Dutch Open winner Paul Krohne, Leonard Gates, Matthew Edgar, Ross Montgomery, World Master Chris Lim and former champion Neil Duff. In the ladies, Deta Hedman 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 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 debut season.
The Men's draw sees Lawrie open against the winner of Harry Lane and Declan Bailey, while second seed Jenson Walker faces Mark Cleaver or Blake Hatchett. Third seed Paul Krohne takes on Matt Clark or Terry Jun Hao Tan, fourth seed Leonard Gates meets Ben Townley or Shane Sakchekapo, fifth seed James Beeton plays Petri Rasmus or Ryusei Azemoto, sixth seed Matthew Edgar faces Haupai Puha or Tomoya Goto, seventh seed Moreno Blom takes on Carsten Hoffmann or Dennis Nilsson, and eighth seed Kaya Baysal plays Stefan Schroeder or Pat Scurfield. Other first-round ties include Mursel Yavuz (9) v Daniel Zapata/Jack Drayton, Ross Montgomery (10) v Sean Fisher/Jitse van der Wal, Corne Groeneveld (11) v Jeff Smith/David Davies, Jarno Bottenberg (12) v Liam Maendl-Lawrance/Berry Pater, Chris Lim (13) v Franko Giuliani/Joey Lynaugh, Brian Raman (14) v Anthony Brown/Paul Lewis, Neil Duff (15) v Lewis Gurney/Ron Meulenkamp, and Scott Robertson (16) v Alex Williams/Dmitrii Rogov.
In the Women's draw, top seed Deta Hedman faces Cali West or Lovely-Mae Orbeta, while second seed Rhian O'Sullivan takes on Emine Dursun or Kim Holden. Third seed Priscilla Steenbergen plays Jitka Cisarova or Eve Watson, fourth seed Maria Carli meets Lorraine Hyde or Mayumi Ouchi, fifth seed Kirsi Viinikainen faces Aurora Fochesato or Steph Clarke, sixth seed Paula Jacklin takes on Anca Zijlstra or Paula Murphy, seventh seed Aileen de Graaf plays Lerena Rietbergen or Sophie McKinlay, and eighth seed Nicole Regnaud faces Irina Armstrong or Chris Richardson. In the Boys quarter-finals, top seed Mitchell Lawrie faces Jack Nankervis or Cori Wiltshire, second seed Kaya Baysal takes on Toby Clements or Christian Ennis, third seed Kai Burger plays Mika Donnevert or Benjamin Dopfer, and fourth seed Mason Teese meets Ben Townley or Addison Hefferon. The Girls semi-finals see top seed Paige Pauling face Ruby Grey or Rebecca Allen, and second seed Macy Gibbons take on Zehra Gemi or Celina Glaser.
The format for the Open sees the first round, second round and last 16 played as best of 5 sets, the quarter-finals best of 7 sets, the semi-finals best of 9 sets and the final best of 11 sets. The Women's event has best of 3 sets for the first round and last 16, best of 5 sets for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and best of 7 sets for the final. The Youth competition features best of 3 sets for the first round and quarter-finals, best of 5 sets for the semi-finals and best of 7 sets for the final, while the Girls has best of 3 sets for the first round and semi-finals and best of 5 sets for the final. The playing schedule will be finalised no later than Monday, November 9th, and prize money and format have been set.
History at Lakeside shows Neil Duff won the 2022 Open title 6–5 against Thibault Tricole, Andy Baetens triumphed 6–1 over Chris Landman in 2023, 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 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 defeated Lerena Rietbergen 4–1 in 2025. The Youth champions were Bradly Roes in 2022 (3–1 v Charlie Large), Bradley van der Velden in 2023 (3–0 v Adam Dee), Archie Self in 2024 (3–2 v Jenson Walker) and Mitchell Lawrie in 2025 (4–2 v Florian Preis). The Girls winners were Eleanor Cairns in 2022 (2–0 v Wibke Riemann), Aurora Fochesato in 2023 (2–0 v Krisztina Turai), Paige Pauling in 2024 (2–0 v Sophie McKinlay) and Zehra Gemi in 2025 (3–0 v Rebecca Allen).
