The Winmau World Masters will return to the darts calendar in 2025, as one of the Professional Darts Corporation’s biggest TV events undergoes a radical rebrand.
The Masters, won last year by Stephen Bunting, will become the Winmau World Masters – adopting the name of an event which was first held in 1975 and has been won by a host of darts legends, including Eric Bristow, Dennis Priestley and Phil Taylor.
The PDC had already confirmed that the ITV4-televised tournament – introduced to the calendar in 2013 – was to become a full ranking event in 2025, being held from January 30-February 2 at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena, featuring the addition of a fourth day of big-stage action.
The new-look Winmau World Masters will feature the top 24 players on the PDC Order of Merit following the 2024/25 World Darts Championship, who will be joined in the expanded field by eight further players who progress from Preliminary Rounds, while all games will be played in a sets format over the best of three legs per set, in keeping with the tournament’s traditional structure.
Taking place at the Marshall Arena on Wednesday January 29, the Preliminary Rounds will see up to 180 players from around the world competing for eight places in the televised stages.
The Preliminary Rounds will be open to all non-qualified PDC Tour Card Holders, the top eight players from each of the PDC’s 2024 Secondary Tours and Global Affiliate Tours, plus four players from the Junior Darts Corporation, meaning the top eight players from the Nordic and Baltic rankings, who does not have a PDC Tour Card after Q-School 2025, will have the opportunity to compete in the Preliminary Rounds.
The Preliminary Rounds will be streamed live on PDCTV and will initially be played in a round-robin phase of 32 groups followed by a knockout phase from the last 32 onwards to find the eight players who will progress to the main event.
PDC Chief Executive Matthew Porter said: “We have worked closely with Winmau to adopt as many characteristics of the original format as is practical to, and in keeping with its global nature, the Preliminary Rounds will provide an opportunity for players around the world to play on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
The event will enjoy 2500 sell-out crowds in Milton Keynes next year, with almost all tickets sold during the first two days of Priority Sale in September.
2025 Winmau World Masters
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
Wednesday January 29 (1300 GMT)
Preliminary Rounds
Thursday January 30 (1900 GMT)
First Round x8
Friday January 31 (1900 GMT)
First Round x8
Saturday February 1
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Second Round x4
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Second Round x4
Sunday February 2
Afternoon Session (1245 GMT)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals & Final
Competing Players
Top 24 from PDC Order of Merit following 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
8x from Preliminary Rounds
Preliminary Rounds
To be open to:
PDC Tour Card Holders (up to 104)
Top 8 non-Tour Card Holders from the final 2024 Orders of Merit from:
– PDC Winmau Challenge Tour
– PDC Winmau Development Tour
– PDC Women’s Series
– PDC Nordic & Baltic ProTour
– PDC Asian Tour
– CDC ProTour
– DartPlayers Australia ProTour
– DartPlayers New Zealand ProTour
(Should players in the top 8 reject their invitation, places will not be passed down the Orders of Merit. The order of priority will be as listed above, should players appear on more than one Order of Merit)
– 4x Junior Darts Corporation Representatives