World Darts Championship: PDC confirm capacity crowds will return to Alexandra Palace later this year

Gerwyn Price will defend his World Championship title in front of a capacity crowd at Alexandra Palace; this year's showpiece begins on Wednesday, December 15, as 96 players battle it out for the £500,000 top prize

Image: The PDC has confirmed this year's World Championship will be held in front of a capacity crowd at Alexandra Palace

The PDC has confirmed Alexandra Palace will welcome back a capacity crowd for the 2021/22 World Darts Championship, which gets under way on December 15.

Last year's tournament was predominantly played behind closed doors, with a reduced number of fans in attendance for the opening night before coronavirus restrictions saw the remainder of the event staged behind closed doors.

Nevertheless, over 3,000 fans will be able to attend all 28 sessions of the sport's biggest showpiece, which will see world No 1 Gerwyn Price bidding to retain the Sid Waddell Trophy.

Image: Gerwyn Price defeated Gary Anderson to clinch World Championship glory in January

The festive feast of darts begins on Wednesday, December 15 and will run through to the final on Wednesday, January 3, with 96 players from around the globe competing for £2.5m in prize money.

The nine days of action before the Christmas break will see the tournament whittled down to 32 players, with the third and fourth rounds played in four days between Christmas and New Year from December 27-30.

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The quarter-finals take place on New Year's Day, the semi-finals on January 2, before the champion is crowned on January 3.

The sport's premier events were held in empty arenas for a 14-month period from March 2020, although the latter stages of this year's Premier League marked the return of fans, with around 1,000 in attendance to see Jonny Clayton lift the title on debut in Milton Keynes.

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However, the World Matchplay has hosted the biggest darting crowd since lockdown began, after 2,000 fans filled the iconic Winter Gardens from Monday evening, following the lifting of restrictions in the UK.

Watch the World Matchplay from the iconic Winter Gardens all the way through until Sunday, July 25. Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts

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