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.

Main events 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 80 national full members :

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 WDF Platinum tournaments 270 167 103 64 39 26 13WDF 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.

In 2025, in response to a motion put forth by England and seconded by Scotland and Wales, the WDF voted to implement an immediate ban on transgender women from competing as women. In accordance with the change in policy, the WDF renamed its "Men's" and "Boys'" events to "Open" and "Open Youth" events.

WDF World No1 men's and women's players (1976–current) WDF Roll of Honour (previous world number ones) 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 1995 Richie Burnett (2) 1996 Martin Adams (3) 1997 Martin Adams (2) (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) (5) 2011 Scott Waites (2) (6) 2012 Stephen Bunting (7) 2013 James Wilson (8) 2014 Alan Norris (9) 2015 (10) 2016 (2) (11) 2017 2018 (12) 2019 Aileen de Graaf (2) 2020 (13) 2021 (14) 2022 (2) 2023 (2) 2024 (3) 2025 (2) (15)

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, the former British governing body of amateur darts, was the one recognised by the WDF.

WDF tournaments

See also WDF World Darts Championship BDO World Darts Championship PDC World Darts Championship World Professional Darts Championship References

Sources

External links World Darts Federation (WDF) Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Catalan Darts Federation (FCD) Latvia Darts Organisation (LDO) Polish Darts Organisation (PDO) Romanian Darts Organisation (BDO)