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Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling Dhurandhar a well-made, ambitious big-screen experience with top-notch craft, memorable moments and some truly outstanding performances. Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling it a "power-packed Karachi mafia thriller" where lead actor Ranveer Singh delivers a "subdued yet scorching" performance that largely anchors the film's impact. She highlighted the film's immersive world-building, the gritty, violent underworld of Karachi's Lyari mafia through a narrative structured in multiple chapters, with a runtime of nearly three-and-a-half hours that nevertheless "rarely feels overbearing", owing to what is described as "stylish, tight storytelling." Rishabh Suri of the Hindustan Times rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as a "lengthy yet loaded spy drama", highlighting the performances of Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna as well Aditya Dhar's direction. He also noted the film occasionally feels too long and dense with too many sub-plots. Radhika Sharma of NDTV gave 3 out of 5 stars, praising the cast performances and soundtrack, but criticised the second half calling it "a completely different film altogether." Gayatri Nirmal of Pinkvilla gave 4 out of 5 stars, praising the second-half, screenplay, and background score but criticised the runtime.

Taher Ahmed of Deccan Herald rated it 3 out of 5 stars, praising the performances, cinematography, and soundtrack, but criticised the runtime, pacing, and climax. Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote "Moored by a charismatic Akshaye Khanna and a brooding Ranveer Singh, Aditya Dhar's ambitious but overstretched and chest-thumping espionage saga serves political interests, tests endurance." Simran Khan of Times Now gave 3 out of 5 stars, writing "The Aditya Dhar actioner's ending doesn't quite justify its lengthy runtime. However the adrenaline-pumping set pieces and relentless high-voltage action, paired with a background score that amplifies the drama and keeps the tension from ever dipping, make the ride worth it." Athulya Nambiar of Mid-Day said "It's too soon to judge Dhurandhar as a good or bad film, simply because the story isn't complete yet." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar is a film that refuses to be contained by the grammar of a conventional spy thriller."

Siddhant Adlakha of IGN rated the film 8 out of 10 stars and said "Bollywood gangster saga Dhurandhar walks a fine line between raucous entertainment and hateful propaganda." Karthik Ravindranath of the The Week gave 3 out of 5 stars, writing "The film's powerful core is diluted by overt jingoism, unnecessary elements, and a tendency to dumb down its message for the audience. Despite these irritants, it remains a largely engaging, albeit flawed, tribute to India's heroes." Kartik Bhardwaj of The New Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars, writing "The Aditya Dhar directorial seems like a film which is asking for your time, so that it can lay down its cards. But then two hours have passed and the ace seems to be still far up its sleeves."
Uday Bhatia of Mint observed "Dhurandhar offers sadism and expert bad vibes and it shares something else fundamental with Dhar's previous work—it's propaganda in service of a hawkish India, designed to flatter the ruling BJP leadership."

Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote "A considerable stretch of the staggering 214-minute film is no different from gangland chronicles led by swaggering, aphorism-dripping men. Hamza's rise to the top of the Karachi underworld is soaked in blood and cliche". Deepa Gahlot of Rediff.com rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Dhurandhar may not have the dark realism of a spy story, which a web show can manage. But it does not have the flamboyance either that has come to be associated with espionage movies".
Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India observed that "Aditya Dhar's second film after Uri: The Surgical Strike stars Ranveer Singh as a patriotic spy trapped in an inert and distracted action thriller".

Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars, describing the film as an "ambitious spy thriller" that ultimately works only "in flashes". She praised the film's scale, production values, and the attempt to depict the many layers of Lyari's criminal, political, and familial dynamics. However, she argued that despite its large cast and multiple narrative strands, the film only intermittently comes together, with its storytelling lacking consistency. Vineeta Kumar of India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars writing "Dhurandhar is a sprawling, muscular, politically sharp thriller that bites off a lot, and thanks to Khanna's explosive brilliance, chews most of it successfully". Sadanand Dhume of The Wall Street Journal said "Dhurandhar is the first major Bollywood movie to realistically portray the terrorist threat India faces." Columnist Shobhaa De said "It's not about politics. It's about a story - perhaps fictionalised. ... I won't mind watching it all over again. Yes, three and a half hours of it."

The film’s depiction of India–Pakistan relations led certain commentators to criticise its handling of political themes and historical context in a simplistic manner.

Box office

=================

As of 30 December 2025, Dhurandhar has grossed ₹890.79 crore (US$110 million) domestically and ₹237.84 crore (US$28 million) overseas for a worldwide gross of ₹1,128.63 crore (US$130 million). On 26 December 2025, the film entered into 1000 Crore Club, becoming the fourth Hindi film to do so and ninth overall to achieve this feat.

Factual accuracy and political messaging

=================

The film's narrative is woven around real life events, Kandahar hijacking, 2001 Indian Parliament attack and 2008 Mumbai attacks. It shows real footage of the Mumbai attack and audio recordings of conversations between terrorists and their handlers. It also uses real-life gangsters and cops based in Karachi's Lyari as its characters. Despite its disclaimer stating that the film represents fiction, the film repeatedly tells the audience that it is inspired by real events. Several commentators felt that the blurring of the line between fact and fiction is confusing to the viewers.

Sociologist Nida Kirmani, with research expertise on Lyari, stated that
the film's depiction of Lyari is "completely based on fantasy". She also called it "bizarre" that the film chose to cast Lyari gangs into geopolitical tensions with India. Some residents of Lyari also criticised the inaccurate portrayal of their neighbourhood in the film. Journalists and academics in Pakistan criticised the film's linking of Lyari with the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai as an attempt to "fold a Pakistani urban conflict into India's contemporary nationalist imagination". In contrast, Sadanand Dhume, writing for The Wall Street Journal, stated that the movie displayed "a firm grasp of history" in its depiction of gang rivalries in Karachi and in showing "Pakistani involvement in terrorism against India." Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul stated that a March 2022 assassination of one of the IC-814 hijackers, Zahoor Mistry, was carried out by a "local Karachi gang" and that he made a documentary about it.

The film is quite explicit about its political messaging. The character of IB director Ajay Sanyal, fashioned after Ajit Doval, is shown as being frustrated with the then Indian government's weak-kneed responses to Pakistani terrorist attacks. Sanyal claims there is no point telling superiors about a key piece of information involving counterfeit currency because allegedly widespread corruption prevails in the bureaucracy. A Union minister is accused of having links to the Pakistani counterfeit racket. "Preserve the evidence, hopefully a politician comes in the future who will act", says Sanyal in a scene set in 2008, with the retrospective anticipation of the coming Narendra Modi government. The film ends with the claim about Naya Bharat ("New India"), in which Yeh ghar mein ghusega bhi, aur maarega bhi ("it will not only storm your house, but also kill every last one"), referencing a slogan from director Dhar's previous film Uri: The Surgical Strike but which was also later used in Modi's 2019 campaign speeches. Nissim Mannathukkaren, writing for The Hindu, characterised the film as propaganda as it lionises a powerful security figure of the Narendra Modi government, and proactively lauds its muscular military and counterterrorism strategies.

Sequel

=================

Initially planned as a single film, Dhurandhar was eventually split into two parts. The film's post-credits scene teases a sequel to Dhurandhar, later titled as Dhurandhar Part 2: The Revenge, exploring the events that took place at the end of the first part, along with an announcement of its release date of 19 March 2026.

External links

=================

-
Dhurandhar at IMDb

-
Dhurandhar at Bollywood Hungama

-
Dhurandhar at the Swedish Film Institute Database

-
Dhurandhar at AlloCiné (in French)

-
Dhurandhar at Rotten Tomatoes
--------------------------------------------------


TITLE: 2026_PDC_World_Darts_Championship
====================
The 2026 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship) is an ongoing professional darts tournament that is being held from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It is the 33rd World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the 19th to be held in Alexandra Palace. The event is being hosted in Alexandra Palace's West Hall for the final time before moving to the venue's Great Hall for subsequent editions. The winner will receive £1,000,000 from a total prize fund of £5,000,000, as part of the PDC's biggest prize money increase in its history.

The tournament features a 128-player field for the first time, expanded from 96. The top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit were seeded for the first round. A total of 28 players made their PDC World Championship debut. By defeating Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round, 71-year-old Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the event. Nitin Kumar, Stefan Bellmont and David Munyua achieved the first PDC World Championship wins for India, Switzerland and Kenya, respectively.

Luke Littler is the defending champion, having defeated Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the 2025 final to win his first world title.

Overview

=================

Background

=================

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) was established under the World Darts Council name by the managers John Markovic, Tommy Cox and Dick Allix and the world's top 16 players in January 1992 as a separate body that broke away from the British Darts Organisation (BDO). The inaugural edition of the PDC World Darts Championship was held from December 1993 to January 1994 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, England. It was won by Dennis Priestley, who defeated Phil Taylor in the final on 2 January 1994. Taylor would go on to win the tournament 14 times, adding to his BDO World Darts Championship wins in 1990 and 1992 for a record total of 16 world titles, including eight in a row from 1995 to 2002. The PDC World Championship is one of two world championships in the game of darts; the other being the WDF World Darts Championship, which was first held in 2022 as the successor to the BDO event.

The 2026 tournament is being held from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 in London, England. It is the 33rd edition of the event and the 19th to be held at Alexandra Palace, which first served as host venue at the 2008 World Championship. The event is being hosted in Alexandra Palace's West Hall for the final time as it will move to the venue's larger Great Hall for subsequent editions, staying there until at least 2031. Irish gambling company Paddy Power continued its sponsorship of the event, having agreed a three-year contract with the PDC ahead of the 2024 edition; in December 2025, it was announced that Paddy Power renewed their sponsorship until 2031. It is the final PDC event for master of ceremonies John McDonald and referee George Noble, who are set to retire from darts following the tournament.

A record-breaking total of 128 players are competing at the event, expanded from the previous total of 96; the expanded field was announced by the PDC in March 2025. A new qualification structure was also introduced. Luke Littler entered the tournament as defending champion, having defeated three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the 2025 final to win his first world title and become the youngest darts world champion in history at 17 years and 347 days old. He aims to be the first player to defend the title since Gary Anderson at the 2016 World Championship, and is the bookmakers' pre-tournament favourite to win the championship.

Format

=================

Under the new format, all players, including the 32 seeds, entered the tournament in the first round, a change from previous years where seeds entered in the second round. All matches consist of games of 501, where players are required to reduce their score from 501 to zero in order to win a leg, finishing on a double or the bullseye. The matches are played in set format, with the amount of sets required to win a match increasing as the tournament progresses. All non-deciding sets are played to the best of five legs. In the deciding set, a tie-break rule is applied if the set score is 2–2, where the first player to lead by two legs wins the set and the match; if the deciding set reaches 5–5, the winner is decided by a sudden death leg.

Ranking

=================

The PDC's main world ranking system, the PDC Order of Merit (known for sponsorship reasons as the Werner Rankings Ladder), is calculated on a two-year cycle. Prize money won by players in ranking tournaments are removed from their ranking after 104 weeks, meaning players who participated in the 2024 World Championship, who did not lose their PDC Tour Card during the two-year period, will be 'defending' their prize money from that event. At the end of the tournament, the prize money won at the 2026 tournament will be added and the prize money won at the 2024 tournament will be removed. After the tournament, the top 64 players in the PDC Order of Merit will receive a one-year extension on their Tour Card, joined by the players who earned two-year Tour Cards in 2025 who will enter their second year in 2026. Players with two or more years on their Tour Card, who finish outside of the top 64, will lose their Tour Card and see their ranking reset to £0, along with all other players who earned prize money in ranking tournaments without holding a Tour Card.

Prize money

=================

On 31 March 2025, the PDC announced the biggest prize money increase in the organisation's history, starting from the 2026 season onward. Coinciding with the expansion of the field to 128 players, the World Championship's total prize money increased to £5,000,000, with the winner's share doubling from £500,000 to £1,000,000; this was the first time the tournament's prize money increased since the 2019 edition. The winner will also receive the Sid Waddell Trophy, named in honour of the darts commentator who died in 2012. Like the previous year, tournament sponsor Paddy Power pledged to award £60,000 to the player, a random fan and Prostate Cancer UK for every nine-dart finish hit during the tournament.

The prize money breakdown is shown below:

Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling Dhurandhar a well-made, ambitious big-screen experience with top-notch craft, memorable moments and some truly outstanding performances. Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling it a "power-packed Karachi mafia thriller" where lead actor Ranveer Singh delivers a "subdued yet scorching" performance that largely anchors the film's impact. She highlighted the film's immersive world-building, the gritty, violent underworld of Karachi's Lyari mafia through a narrative structured in multiple chapters, with a runtime of nearly three-and-a-half hours that nevertheless "rarely feels overbearing", owing to what is described as "stylish, tight storytelling." Rishabh Suri of the Hindustan Times rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as a "lengthy yet loaded spy drama", highlighting the performances of Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna as well Aditya Dhar's direction. He also noted the film occasionally feels too long and dense with too many sub-plots. Radhika Sharma of NDTV gave 3 out of 5 stars, praising the cast performances and soundtrack, but criticised the second half calling it "a completely different film altogether." Gayatri Nirmal of Pinkvilla gave 4 out of 5 stars, praising the second-half, screenplay, and background score but criticised the runtime.

Taher Ahmed of Deccan Herald rated it 3 out of 5 stars, praising the performances, cinematography, and soundtrack, but criticised the runtime, pacing, and climax. Anuj Kumar of The Hindu wrote "Moored by a charismatic Akshaye Khanna and a brooding Ranveer Singh, Aditya Dhar's ambitious but overstretched and chest-thumping espionage saga serves political interests, tests endurance." Simran Khan of Times Now gave 3 out of 5 stars, writing "The Aditya Dhar actioner's ending doesn't quite justify its lengthy runtime. However the adrenaline-pumping set pieces and relentless high-voltage action, paired with a background score that amplifies the drama and keeps the tension from ever dipping, make the ride worth it." Athulya Nambiar of Mid-Day said "It's too soon to judge Dhurandhar as a good or bad film, simply because the story isn't complete yet." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar is a film that refuses to be contained by the grammar of a conventional spy thriller."

Siddhant Adlakha of IGN rated the film 8 out of 10 stars and said "Bollywood gangster saga Dhurandhar walks a fine line between raucous entertainment and hateful propaganda." Karthik Ravindranath of the The Week gave 3 out of 5 stars, writing "The film's powerful core is diluted by overt jingoism, unnecessary elements, and a tendency to dumb down its message for the audience. Despite these irritants, it remains a largely engaging, albeit flawed, tribute to India's heroes." Kartik Bhardwaj of The New Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars, writing "The Aditya Dhar directorial seems like a film which is asking for your time, so that it can lay down its cards. But then two hours have passed and the ace seems to be still far up its sleeves."

Uday Bhatia of Mint observed "Dhurandhar offers sadism and expert bad vibes and it shares something else fundamental with Dhar's previous work—it's propaganda in service of a hawkish India, designed to flatter the ruling BJP leadership."

Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote "A considerable stretch of the staggering 214-minute film is no different from gangland chronicles led by swaggering, aphorism-dripping men. Hamza's rise to the top of the Karachi underworld is soaked in blood and cliche". Deepa Gahlot of Rediff.com rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Dhurandhar may not have the dark realism of a spy story, which a web show can manage. But it does not have the flamboyance either that has come to be associated with espionage movies".

Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India observed that "Aditya Dhar's second film after Uri: The Surgical Strike stars Ranveer Singh as a patriotic spy trapped in an inert and distracted action thriller".

Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 stars, describing the film as an "ambitious spy thriller" that ultimately works only "in flashes". She praised the film's scale, production values, and the attempt to depict the many layers of Lyari's criminal, political, and familial dynamics. However, she argued that despite its large cast and multiple narrative strands, the film only intermittently comes together, with its storytelling lacking consistency. Vineeta Kumar of India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars writing "Dhurandhar is a sprawling, muscular, politically sharp thriller that bites off a lot, and thanks to Khanna's explosive brilliance, chews most of it successfully". Sadanand Dhume of The Wall Street Journal said "Dhurandhar is the first major Bollywood movie to realistically portray the terrorist threat India faces." Columnist Shobhaa De said "It's not about politics. It's about a story - perhaps fictionalised. ... I won't mind watching it all over again. Yes, three and a half hours of it."

The film’s depiction of India–Pakistan relations led certain commentators to criticise its handling of political themes and historical context in a simplistic manner.

Box office

=================

As of 30 December 2025, Dhurandhar has grossed ₹890.79 crore (US$110 million) domestically and ₹237.84 crore (US$28 million) overseas for a worldwide gross of ₹1,128.63 crore (US$130 million). On 26 December 2025, the film entered into 1000 Crore Club, becoming the fourth Hindi film to do so and ninth overall to achieve this feat.

Factual accuracy and political messaging

=================

The film's narrative is woven around real life events, Kandahar hijacking, 2001 Indian Parliament attack and 2008 Mumbai attacks. It shows real footage of the Mumbai attack and audio recordings of conversations between terrorists and their handlers. It also uses real-life gangsters and cops based in Karachi's Lyari as its characters. Despite its disclaimer stating that the film represents fiction, the film repeatedly tells the audience that it is inspired by real events. Several commentators felt that the blurring of the line between fact and fiction is confusing to the viewers.

Sociologist Nida Kirmani, with research expertise on Lyari, stated that

the film's depiction of Lyari is "completely based on fantasy". She also called it "bizarre" that the film chose to cast Lyari gangs into geopolitical tensions with India. Some residents of Lyari also criticised the inaccurate portrayal of their neighbourhood in the film. Journalists and academics in Pakistan criticised the film's linking of Lyari with the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai as an attempt to "fold a Pakistani urban conflict into India's contemporary nationalist imagination". In contrast, Sadanand Dhume, writing for The Wall Street Journal, stated that the movie displayed "a firm grasp of history" in its depiction of gang rivalries in Karachi and in showing "Pakistani involvement in terrorism against India." Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul stated that a March 2022 assassination of one of the IC-814 hijackers, Zahoor Mistry, was carried out by a "local Karachi gang" and that he made a documentary about it.

The film is quite explicit about its political messaging. The character of IB director Ajay Sanyal, fashioned after Ajit Doval, is shown as being frustrated with the then Indian government's weak-kneed responses to Pakistani terrorist attacks. Sanyal claims there is no point telling superiors about a key piece of information involving counterfeit currency because allegedly widespread corruption prevails in the bureaucracy. A Union minister is accused of having links to the Pakistani counterfeit racket. "Preserve the evidence, hopefully a politician comes in the future who will act", says Sanyal in a scene set in 2008, with the retrospective anticipation of the coming Narendra Modi government. The film ends with the claim about Naya Bharat ("New India"), in which Yeh ghar mein ghusega bhi, aur maarega bhi ("it will not only storm your house, but also kill every last one"), referencing a slogan from director Dhar's previous film Uri: The Surgical Strike but which was also later used in Modi's 2019 campaign speeches. Nissim Mannathukkaren, writing for The Hindu, characterised the film as propaganda as it lionises a powerful security figure of the Narendra Modi government, and proactively lauds its muscular military and counterterrorism strategies.

Sequel

=================

Initially planned as a single film, Dhurandhar was eventually split into two parts. The film's post-credits scene teases a sequel to Dhurandhar, later titled as Dhurandhar Part 2: The Revenge, exploring the events that took place at the end of the first part, along with an announcement of its release date of 19 March 2026.

External links

=================

-

Dhurandhar at IMDb

-

Dhurandhar at Bollywood Hungama

-

Dhurandhar at the Swedish Film Institute Database

-

Dhurandhar at AlloCiné (in French)

-

Dhurandhar at Rotten Tomatoes

--------------------------------------------------

TITLE: 2026_PDC_World_Darts_Championship

====================

The 2026 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship) is an ongoing professional darts tournament that is being held from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It is the 33rd World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the 19th to be held in Alexandra Palace. The event is being hosted in Alexandra Palace's West Hall for the final time before moving to the venue's Great Hall for subsequent editions. The winner will receive £1,000,000 from a total prize fund of £5,000,000, as part of the PDC's biggest prize money increase in its history.

The tournament features a 128-player field for the first time, expanded from 96. The top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit were seeded for the first round. A total of 28 players made their PDC World Championship debut. By defeating Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round, 71-year-old Paul Lim became the oldest player to win a match at the event. Nitin Kumar, Stefan Bellmont and David Munyua achieved the first PDC World Championship wins for India, Switzerland and Kenya, respectively.

Luke Littler is the defending champion, having defeated Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the 2025 final to win his first world title.

Overview

=================

Background

=================

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) was established under the World Darts Council name by the managers John Markovic, Tommy Cox and Dick Allix and the world's top 16 players in January 1992 as a separate body that broke away from the British Darts Organisation (BDO). The inaugural edition of the PDC World Darts Championship was held from December 1993 to January 1994 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, England. It was won by Dennis Priestley, who defeated Phil Taylor in the final on 2 January 1994. Taylor would go on to win the tournament 14 times, adding to his BDO World Darts Championship wins in 1990 and 1992 for a record total of 16 world titles, including eight in a row from 1995 to 2002. The PDC World Championship is one of two world championships in the game of darts; the other being the WDF World Darts Championship, which was first held in 2022 as the successor to the BDO event.

The 2026 tournament is being held from 11 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 in London, England. It is the 33rd edition of the event and the 19th to be held at Alexandra Palace, which first served as host venue at the 2008 World Championship. The event is being hosted in Alexandra Palace's West Hall for the final time as it will move to the venue's larger Great Hall for subsequent editions, staying there until at least 2031. Irish gambling company Paddy Power continued its sponsorship of the event, having agreed a three-year contract with the PDC ahead of the 2024 edition; in December 2025, it was announced that Paddy Power renewed their sponsorship until 2031. It is the final PDC event for master of ceremonies John McDonald and referee George Noble, who are set to retire from darts following the tournament.

A record-breaking total of 128 players are competing at the event, expanded from the previous total of 96; the expanded field was announced by the PDC in March 2025. A new qualification structure was also introduced. Luke Littler entered the tournament as defending champion, having defeated three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the 2025 final to win his first world title and become the youngest darts world champion in history at 17 years and 347 days old. He aims to be the first player to defend the title since Gary Anderson at the 2016 World Championship, and is the bookmakers' pre-tournament favourite to win the championship.

Format

=================

Under the new format, all players, including the 32 seeds, entered the tournament in the first round, a change from previous years where seeds entered in the second round. All matches consist of games of 501, where players are required to reduce their score from 501 to zero in order to win a leg, finishing on a double or the bullseye. The matches are played in set format, with the amount of sets required to win a match increasing as the tournament progresses. All non-deciding sets are played to the best of five legs. In the deciding set, a tie-break rule is applied if the set score is 2–2, where the first player to lead by two legs wins the set and the match; if the deciding set reaches 5–5, the winner is decided by a sudden death leg.

Ranking

=================

The PDC's main world ranking system, the PDC Order of Merit (known for sponsorship reasons as the Werner Rankings Ladder), is calculated on a two-year cycle. Prize money won by players in ranking tournaments are removed from their ranking after 104 weeks, meaning players who participated in the 2024 World Championship, who did not lose their PDC Tour Card during the two-year period, will be 'defending' their prize money from that event. At the end of the tournament, the prize money won at the 2026 tournament will be added and the prize money won at the 2024 tournament will be removed. After the tournament, the top 64 players in the PDC Order of Merit will receive a one-year extension on their Tour Card, joined by the players who earned two-year Tour Cards in 2025 who will enter their second year in 2026. Players with two or more years on their Tour Card, who finish outside of the top 64, will lose their Tour Card and see their ranking reset to £0, along with all other players who earned prize money in ranking tournaments without holding a Tour Card.

Prize money

=================

On 31 March 2025, the PDC announced the biggest prize money increase in the organisation's history, starting from the 2026 season onward. Coinciding with the expansion of the field to 128 players, the World Championship's total prize money increased to £5,000,000, with the winner's share doubling from £500,000 to £1,000,000; this was the first time the tournament's prize money increased since the 2019 edition. The winner will also receive the Sid Waddell Trophy, named in honour of the darts commentator who died in 2012. Like the previous year, tournament sponsor Paddy Power pledged to award £60,000 to the player, a random fan and Prostate Cancer UK for every nine-dart finish hit during the tournament.

The prize money breakdown is shown below: