Michael Smith is looking to defend his world title, starting on Friday 15 December (Picture: Getty Images)

The World Darts Championship gets underway on Friday 15 December with Michael Smith beginning the defence of the title he won a year ago.

The annual party at Alexandra Palace never lets us down, with wild action on the oche and in the crowd.

There is no shortage of potential winners this time around, with the man in form Luke Humphries attracting plenty of attention, while former champions Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Smith, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson are also in the mix.

The epic event runs all the way until the final on 3 January when a champion will lift the Sid Waddell trophy in north London and pick up the huge £500,000 top prize.

All the action will be shown live on Sky Sports, although the TV schedule changes over the tournament, with some sessions on Main Event and others on Arena, so check listings.

World Darts Championship draw and schedule

Friday 15 December
7pm
Kevin Doets v Stowe Buntz (R1)
Cameron Menzies v Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (R1)
Simon Whitlock v Paolo Nebrida (R1)
Michael Smith v Doets/Buntz (R2)

Saturday 16 December
12.30pm
Lee Evans v Sandro Eric Sosing (R1)
Connor Scutt v Krzysztof Kciuk (R1)
Jules van Dongen v Darren Penhall (R1)
Dave Chisnall v Menzies/Rodriguez (R2)

7pm
Jamie Hughes v David Cameron (R1)
Keane Barry v Reynaldo Rivera (R1)
Scott Williams v Haruki Muramatsu (R1)
Gary Anderson v Whitlock/Nebrida (R2)

Sunday 17 December
12.30pm
Ricky Evans v Simon Adams (R1)
Jim Williams v Norman Madhoo (R1)
Matt Campbell v Lourence Ilagan (R1)
Joe Cullen v Van Dongen/Penhall (R2)

7pm
Dylan Slevin v Florian Hempel (R1)
Niels Zonneveld v Darren Webster (R1)
Jermaine Wattimena v Fallon Sherrock (R1)
Luke Humphries v Evans/Eric Sosing (R2)

Monday 18 December
7pm
Mario Vandenbogaerde v Thibault Tricole (R1)
Gian van Veen v Man Lok Leung (R1)
Martin Lukeman v Haupai Puha (R1)
Gerwyn Price v Scutt/Kciuk (R2)

Gerwyn Price is hunting down a second world title (Picture: Getty Images)

Tuesday 19 December
12.30pm
Ian White v Tomoya Goto (R1)
Ritchie Edhouse v Jeffrey de Graaf (R1)
Keegan Brown v Boris Krcmar (R1)
James Wade v Campbell/Ilagan (R2)

7pm
Steve Beaton v Wessel Nijman (R1)
Mike De Decker v Dragutin Horvat (R1)
Ricardo Pietreczko v Mikuru Suzuki (R1)
Michael van Gerwen v Barry/Rivera (R2)

Wednesday 20 December
12.30pm
Radek Szaganski v Marko Kantele (R1)
Steve Lennon v Owen Bates (R1)
William O’Connor v Bhav Patel (R1)
Ross Smith v Zonneveld/Webster (R2)

7pm
Ryan Joyce v Alex Spellman (R1)
Richard Veenstra v Ben Robb (R1)
Christian Kist v Luke Littler (R1)
Peter Wright v J Williams/Madhoo (R2)

Peter Wright has won this tournament twice before (Credits: Getty Images)

Thursday 21 December
12.30pm
Mickey Mansell v Xiaochen Zong (R1)
Luke Woodhouse v Berry van Peer (R1)
Madars Razma v De Decker/Horvat (R2)
Rob Cross v Vandenbogaerde/Tricole (R2)

7pm
Andrew Gilding v Kist/Littler (R2)
Danny Noppert v S Williams/Muramatsu (R2)
Gabriel Clemens v Van Veen/Leung (R2)
Damon Heta v Lukeman/Puha (R2)

Friday 22 December
12.30pm
Brendan Dolan v Mansell/Zong (R2)
Jose de Sousa v Edhouse/De Graaf (R2)
Krzysztof Ratajski v Hughes/Cameron (R2)
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Brown/Krcmar (R2)

7pm
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Slevin/Hempel (R2)
Martin Schindler v Wattimena/Sherrock (R2)
Raymond van Barneveld v Szaganski/Kantele (R2)
Chris Dobey v O’Connor/Patel (R2)

Saturday 23 December
12.30pm
Kim Huybrechts v Veenstra/Robb (R2)
Callan Rydz v Pietreczko/Suzuki (R2)
Jonny Clayton v Lennon/Bates (R2)
Daryl Gurney v Beaton/Nijman (R2)

7pm
Ryan Searle v White/Goto (R2)
Josh Rock v Woodhouse/Van Peer (R2)
Stephen Bunting v Joyce/Spellman (R2)
Nathan Aspinall v Evans/Adams (R2)

Wednesday 27 December
12.30pm
3x Third Round

7pm
3x Third Round

Thursday 28 December
12.30pm
3x Third Round

7pm
3x Third Round

Friday 29 December
12.30pm
3x Third Round

7pm
1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round

Saturday 30 December
12.30pm
3x Fourth Round

7pm
3x Fourth Round

Monday 1 January
12.30pm
2x Quarter-Finals

7pm
2x Quarter-Finals

Tuesday 2 January
7.30pm
Semi-Finals

Wednesday 3 January
8pm
Final

World Darts Championship prize money

Winner £500,000
Runner-up £200,000
Semi-finalists £100,000
Quarter-finalists £50,000
Fourth round losers £35,000
Third round losers £25,000
Second round losers £15,000
First round losers £7,500

MORE : Michael Smith had 10 months celebrating but is all business for World Championship title defence

MORE : 2024 World Darts Championship ‘a bit too soon’ for Luke Humphries, reckons Peter Wright

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The action at Ally Pally begins on Friday.