This is a list of some of the major events and competitions in the sport of darts in 2008.
News January 1 – John Part wins his third world title beating 21-year-old qualifier Kirk Shepherd 7–2 in the final of the 2008 PDC World Championship. 5 – The 2008 BDO World Darts Championship gets underway at the Lakeside Country Club.
9 – James Wade is the second winner of the PDC Player of the Year Award. He also took the PDPA Player of the Year award. Sid Waddell and Dave Lanning are inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame. Other awards: Best Newcomer Mervyn King. Fans' Player of the Year Phil Taylor. Best Floor Player Raymond van Barneveld. Young Player of the Year Kirk Shepherd. 10 – The PDC announce the introduction of a new European Open to be held in October and a Players Championship Finals to start in January 2009. 13 – Mark Webster wins the 2008 Lakeside World Championship beating Simon Whitlock in the final to become the 20th name on the trophy in its history. 13 – Colin Osborne wins the PDC's first Pro Tour event of 2008, the North-East Regional Final of the UK Open beating Dennis Ovens 8–6 in the final. 14 – Wayne Mardle is announced as the eighth and final name in the 2008 Premier League line-up. He received a wildcard from broadcasters Sky Sports. 19 – John Part adds the first of the weekend's Players Championship titles to his World title beating Chris Mason in the Gibraltar final. 20 – James Wade wins his first ever Players Championship title, his fourth Pro Tour event in all. He won the second Stan James Players Championship of the weekend in Gibraltar by beating Denis Ovens in the final. 31 – The 2008 Premier League gets underway and Phil Taylor tastes defeat for the first time in the history of the competition. James Wade ended Taylor's three-year unbeaten run in the competition with an 8–6 win in Glasgow.
February 10 – Colin Lloyd takes his first PDC Pro Tour title since November 2006 by claiming the UK Open South-West Regional Final in Taunton. He beat Andy Hamilton in the final. 10 – Scotland's Winmau World Master Robert Thornton added the Dutch Open (WDF) title to his collection beating Dutchman Alain van Bouwel 3–0 in the Men's Final. Reigning Women's World Champion Anastasia Dobromyslova added more silverware to her collection when she won the Women's title beating Netherlands Carla Molema by 5 legs to 2. 17 – Yorkshire's Garry Thompson became the 14th different winner in the 14-year history of the Scottish Open. He beat Winmau World Master Robert Thornton and England captain Martin Adams on his way the final where he beat Shaun Greatbatch by 5 legs to 1. Anastasia Dobromyslova added the Scottish Open Singles title when she defeated Francis Hoenselaar by 4 legs to 2 in the women's final. 19 – Anastasia Dobromyslova becomes world number 1 in the WDF rankings overtaking Karin Krappen. Trina Gulliver remains third. 21 – A court case in the Netherlands ends with the judge unable to find enough evidence regarding an existing contract between the PDC and the organisers of the two Dutch tournaments, the International Darts League and World Darts Trophy. Without PDC players and a television agreement, the IDL is postponed indefinitely and the WDT's future remains doubtful. 24 – Wales win the WDF Nations Cup at the Rhydycar Leisure Centre in Merthyr Tydfil. The five man team of Robert Hughes, Gareth Holt, Wayne Warren, Martin Phillips and Mark Webster beat England 13–8 in the final.
March 1 – Phil Taylor picks up the Southern Players Championship title at the Brentwood Centre in Essex. He beat Chris Mason, Wayne Mardle, Adrian Lewis and James Wade to take his first PDC Pro Tour title of the year. Despite his "lack of form", it was his fifth title in his last six tournaments – with only the World Championship missing from the collection. 1 – Steve West wins the Finnish Open with a 5–4 final victory over Robert Wagner. Sari Nikula beat Tarja Salminen in an all-Finland final for the women's title. 2 – Colin Lloyd takes his second PDC Pro Tour title of the year by beating Phil Taylor in the Southern Regional Final of the UK Open in Brentwood, Essex. Four Dutch players reach the last eight of the event. 15 – St Helens player Alan Tabern won the North West Players Championship in Wigan beating Chris Mason in the final. 16 – Phil Taylor wins the North West Regional Final of the UK Open in Wigan in a deciding leg shootout against Adrian Lewis. 22 – The PDC Pro Tour moves to Germany for the weekend where Phil Taylor claims another Players Championship title. He beats rival Raymond van Barneveld in the final. Colin Lloyd takes the PDC tour's rollover prize of £12,400 for hitting a nine dart finish against Colin Monk. 23 – Phil Taylor completes a perfect weekend in Germany by winning a third successive Pro Tour title. He hit a nine dart finish in the last 16 against Ronnie Baxter and beats Wayne Jones in the final. Dave Askew also hit a nine-darter in his third round defeat to James Wade. 25 – Bob Anderson is confirmed as the eighth and final player in the Legends Tour due to start in May. 27 – Adrian Lewis misses his Premier League match against Phil Taylor in Birmingham due to illness. Terry Jenkins is asked to play twice in the night, with Lewis's match rescheduled the following week. 29 – Phil Taylor's successful month continues in Telford with his fourth successive Pro Tour Title – the Midland Players Championship defeating Colin Lloyd in the final. 30 – Phil Taylor wins his fifth successive title, all in the month of March winning the Midland Regional Final of the UK Open – the last of the eight regionals. He beat Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-final and Brendan Dolan in the Telford final.
April 2 – The dates are set in December for the 2008 Winmau World Masters, this year avoiding a clash with the Grand Slam of Darts. 5 – The British Darts Organisation announce a new BDO Grand Prix series of five events to be televised by Setanta Sports from May to September, the Welsh Open, International Open, Gold Cup, British Classic and British Open. 11 – The PDC announce that the qualification criteria for the 2008 Grand Slam will include the Winmau World Masters event from 2006 allowing Michael van Gerwen a place in the event. 12 – Phil Taylor wins a sixth successive PDC Pro Tour title by winning the Antwerp Darts Trophy. It takes his unbeaten run in floor events to 42 matches. 12 – Ross Montgomery wins the England Open, his first WDF ranked title, beating Gary Anderson in the final. Trina Gulliver claimed the women's title. 14 – Nuts TV are confirmed as the UK broadcaster for the US Open in May. Challenge broadcast the inaugural 2007 event. 19 – Mervyn King wins his first PDC Pro Tour title at the Scottish Players Championship in Glasgow. He ends Phil Taylor's winning streak at 44 matches in floor events and later beat Mark Dudbridge in the final. Colin Osborne achieved a nine dart finish in his first round match against Lionel Sams. 26 – Raymond van Barneveld wins his first PDC Pro Tour title of 2008 beating Colin Osborne in the Open Holland Masters. 28 – The International Darts League and World Darts Trophy are effectively killed off by the failure of an appeal by their organisers over PDC players participation agreements.IDL & WDT defunct Google translation
May 1 – The Premier League group stages end with Adrian Lewis taking the final semi-final place by holding Wayne Mardle to a draw. He joins the top 3 players in the world Phil Taylor, James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld who had already qualified. 11 – Anastasia Dobromyslova, the women's world champion, is amongst the Holsten Pils pub qualifiers for the PDC 2008 UK Open. Fellow BDO players, Robert Thornton and Scott Waites also qualify. 12 – Barry Hearn confirms that Alexandra Palace will be the venue for the PDC World Darts Championship until 2012 after signing a four-year contract with the venue. 18 – Phil Taylor retains his US Open title beating Colin Lloyd in the final. Lloyd's run to final guarantees him a place in the Grand Slam of Darts for the next two years. 18 – The Welsh Open, Setanta Sports first televised darts event from the new BDO Grand Prix, is won by Gary Anderson who beats the previous year's winner Mark Webster in the final. 21 – Robert Thornton joins the PDC.Thornton joins PDC planetdarts.tv Thornton becomes the first high-profile switch of 2008 and following Michael van Gerwen in 2007, it's the second consecutive year that the incumbent Winmau World Masters champion has left the BDO before defending the title. Thornton was also the BDO's number one ranked player at the time of the switch. 24 – Dutchman Willy van der Wiel wins the Norway Open beating Scotland's Paul Hanvidge in the final. Carina Ekberg beat Scotland's Louise Hepburn in the Women's final. 26 – Phil Taylor wins the Premier League for the fourth successive year. He beat Adrian Lewis 11–1 in the semi-final with a 112.68 average then James Wade 16–8 with a 108.36 average. Wade had earlier defeated world number one, Raymond van Barneveld in the other semi-final. 30 – The BetFred League of Legends kicks off at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet. Opening night wins for Keith Deller, Dave Whitcombe and Eric Bristow, who beat Bobby George in a repeat of the 1980 World final.
June 5 – Women's' World Champion Anastasia Dobromyslova loses narrowly in the deciding leg of her first round match at the UK Open to World Masters Champion Robert Thornton. 7 – Phil Taylor hits his fourth UK Open nine dart finish in Bolton during a 9–1 win over Jamie Harvey. 7 – The Swiss Open title is taken by Dutchman Joey ten Berge who beat England's Dave Prins 3–2 in the final. The women's event is won by Carla Molema who beat Irina Armstrong in the Women's Final by 2 sets to 1. 8 – James Wade adds his third PDC major title by winning the UK Open in Bolton. He beat Gary Mawson in the final. Raymond van Barneveld beat Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals for the third successive year. The Dutchman then lost to Mawson in the semi. 11 – Co Stompé becomes the latest BDO player to switch to the PDC.Co Stompe joins PDC circuit planetdarts.tv 14 – Phil Taylor claims his eighth PDC Pro Tour title at the Players Championship in Bristol beating Alan Tabern in the final. 14 – It is confirmed that Shaun Greatbatch is diagnosed with cancer and is in hospital undergoing tests. No further details were confirmed. 15 – Dennis Priestley wins his first Pro Tour title since February 2007 at the second Players Championship in Bristol. He beat Kevin Painter 3–2 in the final. 15 – Davy Richardson won the Setanta Sports televised BDO British International defeating Scotland's Ross Montgomery by 4 sets to 1. Francis Hoenselaar took the women's title 3–2 over Patsy Fletcher. 20 – Week two of the BetFred League of Legends in Blackburn saw Dave Whitcombe make it two wins from two with a 7 legs to 4 victory over Bobby George who has now lost both his matches. Cliff Lazarenko got his first win of the league, beating Eric Bristow 7–3. Following his draw with Bob Anderson, Peter Evison earned his first league win with a 7–5 win over Keith Deller. On the final match of the evening, Anderson brushed aside John Lowe 7–2. Lowe has also lost both his matches. 23 – John Raby passes away after a long battle against motor neurone disease and cancer. His promotions company, JR Darts helped with organisation of tournaments in the PDC from its infancy. Barry Hearn said without Raby, "we might not have had a PDC." He had been inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame in 2007.PDC Statement – John Raby planetdarts.tv