# World Darts Federation

The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body 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. 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.
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. Both competitions took place for the first time in 2022, starting with the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship in April.

## Members

76 national full members plus 3 interim nembers (Mauritania, Yemen, Papua New Guinea) :
* 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.

## 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. 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:
| 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.
WDF Men's World Rankings as of 8 February 2025. :
| Rank | Change | Player | Points |
| 1 | | Jimmy van Schie | 781 |
| 2 | | Danny Porter | 629 |
| 3 | | Brandon Weening | 542 |
| 4 | | Peter Machin | 485 |
| 5 | | Ben Robb | 455 |
| 6 | | Brian Raman | 413 |
| 7 | 1 | Benjamin Pratnemer | 395 |
| 8 | 1 | Jason Brandon | 394 |
| 9 | 2 | Thomas Junghans | 393 |
| 10 | | Carl Wilkinson | 374 |
| 11 | 4 | Leonard Gates | 358 |
| 12 | 1 | James Beeton | 357 |
| 13 | 1 | Cliff Prior | 338 |
| 14 | 1 | Alexander Merkx | 328 |
| 15 | 1 | Howard Jones | 317 |
| 16 | 1 | Neil Duff | 310 |
| 17 | 2 | Reece Colley | 309 |
| 18 | 3 | Corné Groeneveld | 306 |
| 19 | 1 | Ryan Hogarth | 299 |
| 20 | 2 | François Schweyen | 293 |
| 21 | 2 | Edwin Torbjörnsson | 292 |
| 22 | 2 | Bradley Kirk | 285 |
| 23 | 5 | Xanti van den Bergh | 282 |
| 24 | 1 | Shane McGuirk | 279 |
| 25 | 1 | Kai Fan Leung | 278 |
| 26 | 1 | Darren Johnson | 274 |
| 27 | | Jeffrey Sparidaans | 270 |
| 28 | 87 | David Fatum | 267 |
| 29 | | Liam Maendl-Lawrance | 265 |
| 30 | | Scott Walters | 258 |
| 31 | | Andy Davidson | 253 |
| 32 | 11 | Daniel Zapata | 250 |
WDF Women's World Rankings as of 28 January 2025. :
| Rank | Change | Player | Points |
| 1 | | Beau Greaves | 1620 |
| 2 | 1 | Rhian O'Sullivan | 810 |
| 3 | 1 | Lerena Rietbergen | 776 |
| 4 | 2 | Aileen de Graaf | 728 |
| 5 | | Nicole Regnaud | 700 |
| 6 | | Deta Hedman | 686 |
| 7 | | Lorraine Hyde | 649 |
| 8 | | Jitka Císařová | 538 |
| 9 | | Irina Armstrong | 525 |
| 10 | | Joanne Hadley | 523 |
| 11 | | Desi Mercer | 508 |
| 12 | | Wendy Harper | 493 |
| 13 | 2 | Sophie McKinlay | 492 |
| 14 | | Anca Zijlstra | 468 |
| 15 | 1 | Gréta Tekauer | 447 |
| 16 | 2 | Paige Pauling | 443 |
| 17 | 4 | Amanda Loch | 427 |
| 18 | 6 | Kym Mitchell | 397 |
| 19 | 1 | Priscilla Steenbergen | 393 |
| 20 | 3 | Kirsty Hutchinson | 390 |
| 21 | 2 | Paula Jacklin | 389 |
| 22 | | Aletta Wajer | 388 |
| 23 | 3 | Tracy Feiertag | 377 |
| 24 | 3 | Vicky Pruim | 348 |
| 25 | 4 | Paula Murphy | 330 |
| 26 | 2 | Natalie Gilbert | 324 |
| 27 | 2 | Maud Jansson | 305 |
| 28 | 2 | Kirsi Viinikainen | 294 |
| 29 | 2 | Adriana van Wijgerden | 278 |
| 30 | 3 | Noa-Lynn van Leuven | 261 |
| 31 | 6 | Lisa Ashton | 249 |
| 32 | | Veronika Ihász | 245 |

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

| 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.