World Darts Federation


The World Darts Federation is the official world sport governing body and 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 organizing 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 is a full member of SportAccord, which is the governing body for international sports federations.
The WDF stages a world championship, 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 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.
One of its associate member organisations is the BDO, the unofficial darts governing body in Britain. The BDO stages the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship every January, which is now no longer a recognized WDF Major tournament.

Members

70 national members:
As from December 2019 the British Darts Organisation, which was the official darts body for Britain, the leading darts country, has been downgraded by the WDF to "associate member", and their tournaments will no longer be recognised. It is one of two rival British darts organisations, the other being the Professional Darts Corporation, which runs its own world championship.
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 total points they have accrued over the previous 12 month period that run from December to December according to the tournament schedule from the following 85 tournaments:
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

Current points distribution

Points are currently awarded as follows:
Tournament category
WDF Major tournaments18012010060301584-
WDF Category One tournaments150100804824126--
WDF Category Two tournaments1208060361894--
WDF Category Three tournaments906040241263--
WDF Major international tournaments18012010060301584-
WDF international tournaments150100804824126--

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 categorized events and prize money and at the end of the season the leading players receive monetary bonus rewards from the WDF.

Men

RankPlayerPoints
1. Wesley Harms707
2. John Scott560
3. Scott Mitchell550
4. Dave Parletti551
5. Mario Vandenbogaerde531
6. Richard Veenstra483
7. Adam Smith-Neale428
8. Glen Durrant423
9. Michael Unterbuchner407
10. Sebastian Steyer393
11. Willem Mandigers376
12. Gary Robson370
13. Jim Williams369
14. Tahuna Irwin344
15. Wayne Warren335
16. John Michael318
17. Tom Sawyer317
18. Simon Stainton316
19. Brian Raman299
20. Benjamin Pratnemer286

Women

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

YearMenWomen
1976 Alan EvansNo rankings
1977 John LoweNo rankings
1978 Leighton ReesNo rankings
1979 John Lowe No rankings
1980 Eric BristowNo rankings
1981 Eric Bristow No rankings
1982 Jocky WilsonNo rankings
1983 Eric Bristow No rankings
1984 Eric Bristow Sandy Reitan
1985 Eric Bristow Lilian Barnett
1986 John Lowe Linda Batten
1987 Bob Anderson Maarit Fagerholm
1988 John Lowe Jayne Kempster
1989 Bob Anderson Sharon Colclough
1990 Eric Bristow Sharon Colclough
1991 Phil Taylor Sharon Colclough
1992 Rod Harrington Mandy Solomons
1993 Leo Laurens Mandy Solomons
1994 Steve Beaton Deta Hedman
1995 Richie Burnett Deta Hedman
1996 Martin Adams Deta Hedman
1997 Martin Adams Deta Hedman
1998 Ronnie Baxter Francis Hoenselaar
1999 Raymond van Barneveld Trina Gulliver
2000 Raymond van Barneveld Trina Gulliver
2001 Mervyn King Trina Gulliver
2002 John Walton Trina Gulliver
2003 Martin Adams Trina Gulliver
2004 Raymond van Barneveld Trina Gulliver
2005 Raymond van Barneveld Trina Gulliver
2006 Martin Adams Trina Gulliver
2007 Gary Anderson Trina Gulliver
2008 Scott Waites Francis Hoenselaar
2009 Tony O'Shea Trina Gulliver
2010 Martin Adams Deta Hedman
2011 Scott Waites Deta Hedman
2012 Stephen Bunting Deta Hedman
2013 James Wilson Deta Hedman
2014 Alan Norris Deta Hedman
2015 Darius Labanauskas Deta Hedman
2016
2017
2018

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 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 formerly the World Darts Council. 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