Road to the 2025 ADC Global Championship (December 1st - January 2026)

[oche balboa]

As discussed elsewhere, The ADC have expanded their Global Championship to include a bigger field and a bigger prize fund with the winner taking home £60,000 (More at the time of going to press then the WDF World Champion £50,000)


Format

1st Phase

8 Groups of 7 players (1 Group per day) - The format for this is likely to be (Best of 7) - Top 4 go through to the 2nd phase

2nd Phase

8 Groups of 4 players (1 Group per day) - Format likely to be the same - Winners go through to the Grand Final - Play each other twice

GRAND FINAL-

8 Players, Which is a knockout format in January - Format likely to be longer than the opening two phase (Best of 13 to 21)

Prize Fund - From Interview with Scott Hunt (ADC) on Weekly Dartscast

Winner - £60,000
Runner-Up - £20,000
Semi Final - £8,000
Quarter Final - £4,000

2nd Group Phase

2nd - £1250
3rd - £900
4th - £800

1st Group Stage

5th - £700
6th - £600
7th - £500


Criteria

Current Global Champion - Devon Petersen

(Italics for the players who are provisionally in these places)

UK & Ireland

Top 4 UK Rankings - Thomas Banks, Mike Huntley, Johnny Haines, Jonny Barnes
Top 4 Winmau Tour - Graham Hall, Christian Perez, Jack Tweddell, Carl Wilson
Top 2 Ireland Tour - Aidan O'Hara, Niall Culleton
The UK & Ireland Classic - N/A
The Vault National Champion - N/A
UK Winmau Tour Champion - N/A

UK & Ireland Regional Title Holders - Not sure this is up to date

England - Adam Mould
Scotland - Gary Stone
Wales - David Davies
Ireland - John O'Shea
Northern Ireland - Barry Copeland
North West - Simon Wilkinson
Yorkshire & Humber - Carl Wilkinson
North East - Jamie Owens
Midlands - James Richardson
South West - Neil Meneer
South East & London - Vacant
East of England - Joe Croft

European Tour

Northern European Tour (Top 2) - Niels Aagaard Nielsen, Michael Hansen
Western European Tour Brian Raman, Xanti Van Den Bergh, Danny Van Klompenberg
Top 5 Western European Ranking Table - Timothy Verbrugghe, John Desreumaux, Zereso Zeverboom, Stijn Deklerck, James Vanbesien
Southern European Tour (Top 2)
Eastern European Festival Champion - TBA
Benelux Open Champion - TBA
Benelux Trophy Champion - TBA
DVDB Classic Champion - TBA
2 x Qualifiers

WADC Tour

Angela Kirkwood
Gemma Hayter

Modus Super Series

Series 10 - Jenson Walker
Series 11 -
Series 12 -

Global Representation:

2 from Oceania, 1 from South Africa, 1 from North America


UK Qualification Permutations - Routes to take precedent


‣ If a player wins a Major and is currently already qualified via the UK Rankings or Winmau Championship Tour, the Major Win will take precedent and a further spot awarded to the UK Rankings.
‣ If a player is placed in the top 4 of the Winmau Championship Tour & top 4 of UK Rankings, the Winmau Championship Tour will take precedent and a further spot awarded to the UK Rankings.
‣ If a player wins a Major and is currently a Regional Title Holder, the Major win will take precedent and a further spot will be awarded to the UK Rankings.
‣ If a player wins a Regional Title, but is already qualified through the Winmau Championship Tour, the Winmau Championship Tour will take precedent and a further spot awarded to the UK Rankings.
‣ If a player wins a MODUS Super Series Champions Week, but is already qualified through other routes, the MODUS Super Series Win will take precedent and a further spot awarded to the UK Rankings.

Full 56

1 CURRENT GLOBAL CHAMPION - DEVON PETERSEN
2 UK RANKING #1
3 UK RANKING #2
4 UK RANKING #3
5 UK RANKING #4
6 UK WINMAU TOUR #1
7 UK WINMAU TOUR #2
8 UK WINMAU TOUR #3
9 UK WINMAU TOUR #4
10 IRELAND TOUR #1
11 IRELAND TOUR #2
12 UK & IRELAND CLASSIC CHAMPION
13 THE VAULT UK & IRELAND CHAMPION
14 WINMAU UK TOUR CHAMPION
15 ENGLISH TITLE HOLDER
16 SCOTLAND TITLE HOLDER
17 IRELAND TITLE HOLDER
18 WALES TITLE HOLDER
19 NORTHERN IRELAND TITLE HOLDER
20 EAST OF ENGLAND TITLE HOLDER
21 NORTH EAST TITLE HOLDER
22 MIDLANDS TITLE HOLDER
23 NORTH WEST TITLE HOLDER
24 SOUTH WEST TITLE HOLDER
25 SOUTH EAST & LONDON TITLE HOLDER
26 NORTHERN IRELAND QUALIFIER
27 SENIORS QUALIFIER 45+
28 UK QUALIFIER (NORTH)
29 UK QUALIFIER (SOUTH)
30 MODUS SUPER SERIES #10 CHAMPION
31 MODUS SUPER SERIES #11 CHAMPION
32 MODUS SUPER SERIES #12 CHAMPION
33 NORTHERN EUROPEAN TOUR #1
34 NORTHERN EUROPEAN TOUR #2
35 WESTERN EUROPEAN RANKING #1
36 WESTERN EUROPEAN RANKING #2
37 WESTERN EUROPEAN RANKING #3
38 WESTERN EUROPEAN RANKING #4
39 WESTERN EUROPEAN RANKING #5
40 WESTERN EUROPEAN TOUR #1
41 WESTERN EUROPEAN TOUR #2
42 WESTERN EUROPEAN TOUR #3
43 SOUTHERN EUROPEAN TOUR #1
44 SOUTHERN EUROPEAN TOUR #2
45 EASTERN EUROPEAN FESTIVAL #1
46 BENELUX TROPHY CHAMPION
47 DVDB CLASSIC CHAMPION
48 BENELUX OPEN CHAMPION
49 ADC EUROPEAN QUALIFIER #1
50 ADC EUROPEAN QUALIFIER #2
51 WADC TOUR #1
52 WADC TOUR #2
53 OCEANIA QUALIFIER
54 OCEANIA QUALIFIER
55 SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFIER
56 NORTH AMERICA QUALIFIER

[Dfc180]

Doesn't Jamie owens hold the north east title?

[The Thorn]

Global Representation:

2 from Oceania, 1 from South Africa, 1 from North America

From 56 players this is the global representation.

Utter fucking wankfest.

[oche balboa]

Doesn't Jamie owens hold the north east title?

I'm going to go with your judgement. Cheers

[willem0000]

Global Representation:

2 from Oceania, 1 from South Africa, 1 from North America

From 56 players this is the global representation.

Utter fucking wankfest.

" Something BIG is coming...

A global event on a scale unlike anything in Amateur Darts history

This isn’t just another tournament. This is a revolution."

It's like an eurovision, but instead of Israel and Azerbaijan, North America and South Africa participate

[shenmue]

Nice

[willem0000]

My guess on prize money, between brackets last years Lakeside:
Winner 60000 (50K)
Runner-up 10000 (16K)
Semi-finalist 5000 (8K)
Quarter-finalist 2500 (4K)
L16 0 (2K)
L32 1500 (1250)
L48 0 (750)
L56 1000

I think they want to have the first round higher than Lakeside had/has(?), so they can say that both the first prize and first round money is higher. RU/SF/QF the same as last year. This would make exactly 150K. Cheeky way of saving money: jump from L32 to QF, if people compare L32 Lakey is lower, but double the amount of players will go thru.

In case of WDF having more money to spend I hope they don't chase the 60K, but just try to repair to 2022 levels, starting with the early rounds.

[oche balboa]

WDF need to reduce the field and make sure the 1st round loses will get £1,000

[Rogg]

do we have the prize money breakdown for last year's edition of this? The one Devon won.

[The Thorn]

do we have the prize money breakdown for last year's edition of this? The one Devon won.

£55,000 Prize Fund on Grand Finals Day
Champion - £25,000
Runner up - £10,000
Semis - £5,000
Quarters - £2,500

There were 24 players in it altogether. Not sure about the rest of the prize fund.

[Rogg]

Thanks Thorny. Similar to the back end of a Players Championship but with a fatter top prize.

I'm just curious about how many big pay cheques are likely to be available. 90k won't spread very far between 55 players. Presumably some will get nothing at all, unless there is an appearance fee.

[willem0000]

I'm pretty sure that Lakeside will get to 40 players this year, but cutting it back even more to 32 would mean that they can ditch that first round, and the low prize money that goes with it, altogether. The first round prize money seems to be the biggest complaint abouth the tournament. Hopefully they will go to 32 next year, especially if they have to change venues, which probably will see even less attendance.

Last years ADC had a 500 minimum. Can't see them not getting atleast that. But it is clear that they are attacking Lakey, so they probably will go for 1K this year, but going for 750 would mean 6K that can be allocated elsewhere, adding it to RU would mean they match Lakeys 16K. Or they could take 250 of the second round, which would also be 6K.

We might be seeing late prize money announcements from both, because they probably both want to see what the other is doing first.

Anybody has an idea how popular Pluto is in the UK? I don't see how downloading an app would be better than YT, both can be streamed ( I assume)

[oche balboa]

I'm pretty sure that Lakeside will get to 40 players this year, but cutting it back even more to 32 would mean that they can ditch that first round, and the low prize money that goes with it, altogether. The first round prize money seems to be the biggest complaint abouth the tournament. Hopefully they will go to 32 next year, especially if they have to change venues, which probably will see even less attendance.

Last years ADC had a 500 minimum. Can't see them not getting atleast that. But it is clear that they are attacking Lakey, so they probably will go for 1K this year, but going for 750 would mean 6K that can be allocated elsewhere, adding it to RU would mean they match Lakeys 16K. Or they could take 250 of the second round, which would also be 6K.

We might be seeing late prize money announcements from both, because they probably both want to see what the other is doing first.

Anybody has an idea how popular Pluto is in the UK? I don't see how downloading an app would be better than YT, both can be streamed ( I assume)

It's a misnomer that its on "TV" pluto is just an app which has a channel (Well it does on Virgin Media) like YouTube

[willem0000]

Weekly dartcast with the ADC bossman


-retire european and global belt
-Oche mentioned!
-group matches best of 7, knockout stages best of 7 but one plays each player twice, grandfinal day probably from best of 13 to 21
-Prize money:
Winner 60K
RU 20K
SF 8K
QF 4K

1st to Finals
2th in Knockout stage 1250
3th in Knockout stage 900
4th in Knockout stage 800

Top 4 to KO stage
5th in Group stage 700
6th in Group stage 600
7th in Group stage 500

-'business decision' to hold it at the same time


Winner and RU higher than last years Lakeside, SF and QF the same. 4th in KO stage is just 50 higher (for which you would also have to show up in the second week) than Lakey first round so its clear they are focussing on the better players

[oche balboa]

Weekly dartcast with the ADC bossman


-retire european and global belt
-Oche mentioned!
-group matches best of 7, knockout stages best of 7 but one plays each player twice, grandfinal day probably from best of 13 to 21
-Prize money:
Winner 60K
RU 20K
SF 8K
QF 4K

1st to Finals
2th in Knockout stage 1250
3th in Knockout stage 900
4th in Knockout stage 800

Top 4 to KO stage
5th in Group stage 700
6th in Group stage 800
7th in Group stage 500

-'business decision' to hold it at the same time


Winner and RU higher than last years Lakeside, SF and QF the same. 4th in KO stage is just 50 higher (for which you would also have to show up in the second week) than Lakey first round so its clear they are focussing on the better players

Will listen to this later but from what you said

The belts being retired is a good thing, added no value

The Knockout rounds are modus light then, No real unique feel until the knockout rounds.

Winners fund is a little top heavy but to be expected, Business decision is interesting answer i suppose its where the calendar dictates.

[oche balboa]

Listening to the interview

ADC's plan is to destroy the WDF, Hunt is more or less open to it

"We have the best players" "Our standard was better last year"

[willem0000]

I wonder who of the US and especially Australia will pick this. It is likely that those players are getting more PDC spot(s), and I think players from those countries will get financial help from their national organisations if they go to the Lakeside. The ADO is getting 2$ for every WDF tournament participant but also 2$ for the cricket events, so there is some money. Due to the Australians having a lot of tournaments some might end up in the top 16 again, which will see them being seeded into the second round, which will be worth 1250 pound (last year numbers), for which one will need to end second in the KO groups at the ADC.

I would assume the ADC is letting the non-Europeans play in the latter of the first 8 days, so they don't have to wait to long for their second match, otherwise it will be extremely costly for them.

[Rogg]

I was just thinking about the relative schedules. The ADC could organise the groups to create maximum chaos for lakey. It would be tough to play in both if your games are on the same day.

[willem0000]

I was just thinking about the relative schedules. The ADC could organise the groups to create maximum chaos for lakey. It would be tough to play in both if your games are on the same day.

Players at the ADC will only have play 1 day that week, for players who qualified for both tournaments that shouldnt be Friday-Sunday, because thats when the QF/SF/F are. But on the days before Lakeside players don't have to play each day. Second round is probably sunday-tuesday and third round wednesday/thursday. Leaving room to not conflict, depending on which ADC group one is in and how many players qualify for both.

A Lakeside player who plays his second round on Sunday and his third round on Wednesday would leave Monday/Tuesday/ Thursday open.
A Lakeside player who plays his second round on Monday and his third round on Wednesday would leave Tuesday/Thursday open.
A lakeside player who plays his second round on Tuesday and his third round on Thursday would leave Monday/Wednesday Open.

Not sure how groups are made, but I can see the ADC letting the ones with the Australian/American playing latter in the week. Depending on how many players qualify for both, players could in advance threaten the organisation who does the draw second, that they won't play if they don't work around the other organisation date, plus telling the ADC that they won't play in theirs if they place them on Friday-Sunday.

The organisations should be willing to help the players. A lot will depend on how many players will qualify for both, and if they are in the same group (and thus ADC day) or not, but 5 players in 5 different groups could be easily spread (with 2 players playing their second round on Sunday and third third round on WED or THUR, 1 player plays second round on Monday, 1 plays second round on Tuesday and one player playing on day 8/monday).

But players shouldnt be quiet about this, and tell the dick size comparers before the draw. Might be a chance that they can ride from the Live Lounge to Lakeside for the last game (depenings on playing times) as it is about 80km/50m, but that is not ideal. If the organisations are willing to work together there will be a lot possible, but I don't think they (particuraly ADC) are that willing.

TLDR: threaten the mofo's that you won't play at the organisation that fucks you over.

[oche balboa]

ADC Confirmation

ADC Global Championship 2025/26

Prize Fund Breakdown

A total of 56 players will compete in the championship, divided into 8 groups of 7 players each.
• The First Stage Groups will be completed in one day of play per group.
• The Top 4 players from each group will advance to the Knockout Groups.
• The winner of each Knockout Group will qualify for the Grand Final.

Stage 1: First Stage Groups (56 players)

Dates: 1st - 8th December 2025
• 7th place: £500
• 6th place: £600
• 5th place: £700

Stage 2: Knockout Groups (32 players)

Dates: 9th - 12th December 2025
• 4th place: £800
• 3rd place: £900
• 2nd place: £1,250

Stage 3: Grand Final (8 players)

Date: TBC (Scheduled for the weekend of 3rd-4th January 2026)
• Quarter-finalists: £4,000
• Semi-finalists: £8,000
• Runner-up: £20,000
• Champion: £60,000