World Darts Federation

The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body^[1][2] and (along with the PDC) a tournament organiser for the game of darts. It was formed in 1974 by representatives of the original fourteen founding members.^[2] Membership is open to the national organising body for darts in all nations. The WDF encourages the promotion of the sport of darts among and between those bodies, in an effort to gain international recognition for darts as a major sport. The WDF was a full member of Global Association of International Sports Federations, which was the governing body for international sports federations, until dissolution in 2023.

World Darts Federation

Abbreviation	WDF
Formation	1974; 51 years ago (1974)
Type	Darts organisation
Website	www.dartswdf.com

The WDF stages a world championship (called the WDF World Cup), as well as continental championships such as the WDF Americas Cup, the WDF Asia-Pacific Cup and the WDF Europe Cup. The country that is first in the overall leader board (overall best result in the two events, singles, pairs, teams) becomes the world champion. Winners of any of the events can also call themselves the official World Champion. Winners of continental championships can call themselves the official champion of their own areas.

After the collapse of the British Darts Organisation in September 2020, the WDF announced plans to launch the WDF World Championship and WDF World Masters.^[3] Both competitions took place for the first time in 2022, starting with the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship in April.^[4]

Members

76 national full members plus 3 interim nembers (Mauritania, Yemen, Papua New Guinea) :^[5]

•  Australia
•  Austria
•  Bahamas
•  Bahrain
•  Belgium
•  Brunei
•  Bulgaria
•  Canada
•  Catalonia
•  Chinese Taipei
•  Croatia
•  Cyprus
•  Czech Republic
•  Denmark
•  Egypt
•  England
•  Estonia
•  Ethiopia
•  Faroe Islands
•  Finland
•  France
•  Germany
•  Gibraltar
•  Greece
•  Guernsey
•  Hong Kong
•  Hungary
•  Iceland
•  India
•  Iran
•  Isle of Man
•  Italy
•  Jamaica
•  Japan
•  Jersey
•  Kenya
•  Latvia
•  Liechtenstein
•  Lithuania
•  Luxembourg
•  Macau
•  Malaysia
•  Malta
•  Monaco
•  Mongolia
•  Netherlands
•  New Zealand
•  Nigeria
•  Northern Ireland
•  Norway
•  Pakistan
•  Palestine
•  Poland
•  Republic of Ireland
•  Romania
•  Russia
•  Scotland
•  Serbia
•  Singapore
•  Slovakia
•  Slovenia
•  South Africa
•  South Korea
•  Spain
•  Sweden
•   Switzerland
•  Thailand
•  Trinidad & Tobago
•  Tunisia
•  Turkey
•  Turks & Caicos
•  Uganda
•  Ukraine
•  United Arab Emirates
•  United States
•  Wales

The WDF Rankings, as defined by the World Darts Federation, are the "objective merit-based method used for determining qualification for entry and seeding in all of its tournaments for both male and female singles, pairs and team". The rankings tables are "rolling tables", and points from an event are counted until that event occurs the following year. If a particular event does not occur in the following year, points are deleted after a calendar year.^[6]

Tournament levels and points allocation

A player's WDF Ranking is based on the points they have accrued from their best 10 performances over the previous 12 month rolling period.^[7] The eligible tournaments include a selection of Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze level tournaments with decreasing points at each level.

Since the formation of the WDF rankings in 1974 the method used to calculate a player's ranking points has changed several times. Notes: The WDF international tournaments have six categories for both men and women (singles, pairs and teams)

Current points distribution

Points are currently awarded as follows:^[8]

Tournament category	W	F	SF	QF	R16	R32	R64
WDF Platinum tournaments	270	167	103	64	39	26	13
WDF Gold tournaments	180	111	68	43	26	17	9
WDF Silver tournaments	90	56	34	21	13	9
WDF Bronze tournaments	45	28	17	11	6

Current WDF World Rankings

The rankings are based on a cumulative points system similar to ATP rankings in tennis they are done on a rolling one year basis. When a tournament is played, the previous year's results are removed from the rankings. This list is used to determine seeds for some of the WDF Opens. The World Darts Federation also have a ranking system designed to provide a measure of the global activities of darts players in every WDF recognised darts event. It used to be very similar to the BDO system but was revised in January 2007 to include categories by country and by events, and the distribution of ranking points reflect the levels of prize money on offer and the numbers of entries in a tournament. Therefore, the WDF World Rankings give a better reflection on BDO player world ranking. The leading players gain points in different levels of categorised events and prize money and at the end of the season the leading players receive monetary bonus rewards from the WDF.^[9]

WDF Men's World Rankings as of 17 February 2025.^[10]

Rank	Change	Player	Points
1		Jimmy van Schie	781
2		Danny Porter	629
3		Brandon Weening	542
4		Peter Machin	511
5		Ben Robb	455
6		Brian Raman	413
7		Benjamin Pratnemer	395
8		Jason Brandon	394
9		Thomas Junghans	393
10		Carl Wilkinson	386
11		Leonard Gates	358
12		James Beeton	357
13	6	Ryan Hogarth	350
14	1	Cliff Prior	338
15		Howard Jones	334
16	2	Corné Groeneveld	328
17	3	Alexander Merkx	328
18	2	Neil Duff	314
19	2	Reece Colley	309
20	25	Martyn Turner	305
21	1	François Schweyen	293
22	1	Edwin Torbjörnsson	292
23	19	Karl Schaefer	291
24	2	Bradley Kirk	285
25	85	Raymond Smith	283
26	3	Xanti van den Bergh	282
27	3	Shane McGuirk	279
28	1	Jeffrey Sparidaans	270
29	1	David Fatum	267
30	4	Darren Johnson	266
31	6	Kai Fan Leung	266
32	3	Liam Maendl-Lawrance	265

WDF Women's World Rankings as of 8 February 2025.^[11]

Rank	Change	Player	Points
1		Beau Greaves	1453
2		Rhian O'Sullivan	1016
3		Lerena Rietbergen	898
4	1	Nicole Regnaud	700
5	2	Lorraine Hyde	688
6		Deta Hedman	686
7	3	Aileen de Graaf	625
8	1	Irina Armstrong	525
9	1	Joanne Hadley	523
10	2	Jitka Císařová	510
11	1	Wendy Harper	499
12	1	Desi Mercer	495
13		Sophie McKinlay	479
14	2	Paige Pauling	468
15	1	Anca Zijlstra	468
16	1	Gréta Tekauer	436
17		Amanda Loch	427
18	4	Aletta Wajer	406
19	1	Kym Mitchell	397
20	1	Priscilla Steenbergen	393
21		Paula Jacklin	389
22	1	Tracy Feiertag	377
23	3	Kirsty Hutchinson	365
24		Vicky Pruim	348
25		Paula Murphy	330
26	1	Maud Jansson	305
27	1	Kirsi Viinikainen	294
28	1	Adriana van Wijgerden	278
29	3	Veronika Ihász	269
30	4	Natalie Gilbert	260
31		Lisa Ashton	249
32	1	Eleanor Cairns	238

WDF World No1 men's and women's players (1976–current)

^[12]

Year	Men	Women
1976	Alan Evans	No rankings
1977	John Lowe	No rankings
1978	Leighton Rees	No rankings
1979	John Lowe (2)	No rankings
1980	Eric Bristow	No rankings
1981	Eric Bristow (2)	No rankings
1982	Jocky Wilson	No rankings
1983	Eric Bristow (3)	No rankings
1984	Eric Bristow (4)	Sandy Reitan
1985	Eric Bristow (5)	Lilian Barnett
1986	John Lowe (3)	Linda Batten
1987	Bob Anderson	Maarit Fagerholm
1988	John Lowe (4)	Jayne Kempster
1989	Bob Anderson (2)	Sharon Colclough
1990	Eric Bristow (6)	Sharon Colclough (2)
1991	Phil Taylor	Sharon Colclough (3)
1992	Rod Harrington	Mandy Solomons
1993	Leo Laurens	Mandy Solomons (2)
1994	Steve Beaton	Deta Hedman
1995	Richie Burnett	Deta Hedman (2)
1996	Martin Adams	Deta Hedman (3)
1997	Martin Adams (2)	Deta Hedman (4)
1998	Ronnie Baxter	Francis Hoenselaar
1999	Raymond van Barneveld	Trina Gulliver
2000	Raymond van Barneveld (2)	Trina Gulliver (2)
2001	Mervyn King	Trina Gulliver (3)
2002	John Walton	Trina Gulliver (4)
2003	Martin Adams (3)	Trina Gulliver (5)
2004	Raymond van Barneveld (3)	Trina Gulliver (6)
2005	Raymond van Barneveld (4)	Trina Gulliver (7)
2006	Jelle Klaasen	Trina Gulliver (8)
2007	Gary Anderson	Trina Gulliver (9)
2008	Scott Waites	Francis Hoenselaar (2)
2009	Tony O'Shea	Trina Gulliver (10)
2010	Martin Adams (4)	Deta Hedman (5)
2011	Scott Waites (2)	Deta Hedman (6)
2012	Stephen Bunting	Deta Hedman (7)
2013	James Wilson	Deta Hedman (8)
2014	Alan Norris	Deta Hedman (9)
2015	Darius Labanauskas	Deta Hedman (10)
2016	Darius Labanauskas (2)	Deta Hedman (11)
2017	Scott Mitchell	Aileen de Graaf
2018	Jim Williams	Deta Hedman (12)
2019	Nick Kenny	Aileen de Graaf (2)
2020	Wayne Warren	Deta Hedman (13)
2021	Brian Raman	Deta Hedman (14)
2022	Jelle Klaasen (2)	Beau Greaves
2023	Andy Baetens	Beau Greaves (2)
2024	Jimmy van Schie	Beau Greaves (3)

The rankings show Deta Hedman and Trina Gulliver as consistently being the leading women's player's, having been number one on a record ten or more occasions each. No male player has held the number one position as many years Gulliver and Hedman, although Eric Bristow has held the top position for a record six times. The rankings for the men has become even more complex since the inception of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) formerly the World Darts Council (WDC). The leading ranked players in 1993/94 split from the BDO and they have their own world ranking system known as the Order of Merit. The players from the PDC are not included in the rankings because the BDO, which is the British governing body of amateur darts, is the one that is recognised by the WDF.

WDF tournaments

Main article: List of WDF tournaments