| World Darts Federation | |
| Size: | 150px |
| Abbreviation: | WDF |
| Type: | Darts organisation |
The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body[1] [2] 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 is a full member of Global Association of International Sports Federations, which is the governing body for international sports federations.
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.[3] Both competitions took place for the first time in 2022, starting with the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship in April.[4]
76 national full members plus 3 interim nembers(Mauritania, Yemen, Papua New Guinea) :[5]
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Belgium
Canada
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
France
Germany
Gibraltar
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Jamaica
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Mongolia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab EmiratesThe 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.[6]
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.[7] 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)
Points are currently awarded as follows:[8]
| Tournament category | |||||||
| 270 | 167 | 103 | 64 | 39 | 26 | 13 | |
| 180 | 111 | 68 | 43 | 26 | 17 | 9 | |
| 90 | 56 | 34 | 21 | 13 | 9 | ||
| 45 | 28 | 17 | 11 | 6 |
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.[9]
| 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 | Deta Hedman (7) | ||
| 2013 | Deta Hedman (8) | ||
| 2014 | Alan Norris | Deta Hedman (9) | |
| 2015 | (10) | ||
| 2016 | (2) | (11) | |
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | (12) | ||
| 2019 | (2) | ||
| 2020 | (13) | ||
| 2021 | (14) | ||
| 2022 | (2) | ||
| 2023 | (2) |
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.
See main article: List of WDF tournaments.
Bulgaria
Croatia
Ethiopia
Hong Kong
Italy
Kenya
Malaysia
Norway
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Spain
Tunisia
United States