DARTSLIVE The World (stylized as THE WORLD) is a series of soft-tip darts tournaments held annually in various venues around the world since 1985.

Overview

The World is a tournament series organized by Japanese soft-tip darts company Dartslive.Dartslive History, Dartslive.com It is also referenced as the Soft-Tip World Championship, although several other organisations have held tournaments with that name. Typically, a season consists of five to nine tournaments, called stages, which are broadcast via dartslive.tv. Usually, one stage is held in Europe and North America each, with the other tournaments set throughout East Asia. An annual ranking is composed of stage results during the season. In 2011–13, 2016, and 2018, a Grand Final has been held at the end of the year, with players being invited according to their ranking position,Players decided for THE WORLD 2013 GRAND FINAL!, Dartslive.com as well as, since 2016, a wild card tournament.Grand Final, darts-theworld.com

The World stages are open to both men and women, with a special award being given to the best female player at every event, the only exception being the 2016 (unranked) Premium Stage, where a separate women's event was staged. Matches are played in the formats 701-Master Out and Cricket.

The most recent Grand Final champion is Royden Lam, whereas the 2019 annual ranking has been won by Boris Krcmar. Previous seasons have been won by Ronald L. Briones (2011), Lourence Ilagan (2012), Paul Lim (2013, 2016–17), and Krcmar (2014–15, 2018).Annual Ranking, darts-theworld.com

The four best-placed players in the ranking are invited to the biannual Super Darts event in JapanSuper Darts Information, dartslive.com

Grand Final champion Lim has been invited to the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship as part of a partnership between Dartslive and the Professional Darts Corporation.PDC in DARTSLIVE link-up, pdc.tv Lim also qualified to the 2014 PDC Worlds through the annual ranking.Current World Championship Field, pdc.tv

Two steel tip World Champions have also won stages at The World: three-time World Champion John Part, and 2014 BDO World Champion Stephen Bunting. Many other PDC and BDO players have participated in The World events.

The 2019 stage in Hong Kong had been cancelled due to the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests.Cancellation Announcement of THE WORLD STAGE 5 HONG KONG, darts-theworld.com

Dartslive announced that in 2020, for the first time a stage would be held in Spain.THE WORLD 2020 Dates Confirmed! First Spain STAGE in history to take place!, darts-theworld.com However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled in its entirety.THE WORLD 2020 season cancellation notice, darts-theworld.com

Once travel and visitation restrictions were lifted in Japan in August 2022, DARTSLIVE announced a Premium Stage to be held later that month in Tokyo, and soon after a second premium stage to be held in Singapore at the end of November. THE WORLD 2022 Singapore stage

For 2023 DARTSLIVE announced there would be three events under ”The World” banner, but as stand alone events rather than having an annual ranking. The first stage was announced to be played on June 11, 2023, in Taichung, Taiwan. The second stage was announced to be in Tokyo, Japan on August 19, 2023. The third stage was announced to take place in Malaysia on October 22, 2023. The World 2023 announcement On March 22, 2023, it was announced that SUPERDARTS 2024 would include 4 “The World” stage winners from 2023, hinting at a possible 4th stage for 2023 or the possibility of the Japan stage once again having a separate men’s and women’s stage.

For the 2024 season, “The World” stages were replaced with qualifiers for DARTSLIVE Superdarts 2025, and were held at “DARTSLIVE Open” events across various countries. Additional qualifiers have been announced for 2025 which reflects that these qualifiers could replace “The World” stages for the foreseeable future.

List of stage finals

Stage Results, darts-theworld.com

Year Stage Champion Runner-Up Prize Money Location Total 2011 1 Lourence Ilagan Jaypee Detablan N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 2 John Part Ronald L. Briones N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 3 Royden Lam Lourence Ilagan N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 4 Ronald L. Briones Randy van Deursen N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 5 Ray Carver Amin Abdul Ghani N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 6 Paul Lim Benjamin Dersch N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 7 Ray Carver Watanyu Charoonroj N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 8 David Fatum John Kuczynski N/AHKD 100,000 HKD 30,000 Hong Kong 2011 Grand Final Paul Lim Sho Katsumi HKD 1,900,000 HKD 1,000,000 HKD 300,000 Hong Kong 2012 1 Paul Lim Scott Kirchner HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 2 Sho Katsumi Ronald L. Briones HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 3 Keita Ono Lourence Ilagan HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 4 Royden Lam Haruki Muramatsu HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 5 Lourence Ilagan Paul Lim HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 6 Royden Lam Paul Lim HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 7 Lourence Ilagan Scott Miller HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Las Vegas 2012 8 Ray Carver Paul Lim HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2012 Grand Final Takehiro Suzuki Christian Perez HKD 2,284,000 HKD 1,000,000 HKD 300,000 Hong Kong 2013 1 Ronald L. Briones Takehiro Suzuki HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2013 2 Scott Kirchner Paul Lim HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2013 3 Stephen Bunting Benjamin Dersch HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 France 2013 4 Ronald L. Briones Ray Carver HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Korea 2013 5 Lourence Ilagan Paul Lim HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 China 2013 6 Lourence Ilagan Yuri Eguchi HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Las Vegas 2013 7 Christian Perez Lourence Ilagan HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2013 8 Stephen Bunting Royden Lam HKD 200,000 HKD 100,000 HKD 32,000 Hong Kong 2013 Grand Final Lourence Ilagan Christian Perez HKD 2,316,000 HKD 1,000,000 HKD 300,000 Hong Kong 2014 1 Adrian Gray Yuri Eguchi $55,400 $15,000 $6,000 Macau 2014 2 Haruki Muramatsu Shaun Narain $55,400 $15,000 $6,000 France 2014 3 Boris Krcmar Shaun Narain $55,400 $15,000 $6,000 China 2014 4 Darin Young Shintao Inoue $55,400 $15,000 $6,000 Japan 2014 5 Boris Krcmar Darin Young $55,400 $15,000 $6,000 Las Vegas 2015 1 Lourence Ilagan Hyungchul Park $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 Macau 2015 2 Adrian Gray Hyungchul Park $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 Singapore 2015 3 Leonard Gates Paul Lim $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 France 2015 4 Sho Katsumi Jeremiah Millar $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 Canada 2015 5 Shintaro Inoue Norhisame $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 Malaysia 2015 6 Randy van Deursen Boris Krcmar $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 China 2015 7 Boris Krcmar Kenichi Ajiki $33,600 $10,000 $5,000 Taipeh 2016 1 Boris Krcmar Hyungchul Park $31,400 $12,000 $5,000 Las Vegas 2016 2 Alex Reyes Leonard Gates $31,400 $12,000 $5,000 France 2016 3 Paul Lim Mitsumasa Hoshino $31,400 $12,000 $5,000 Taipeh 2016 Premium Stage (Men) Keita Ono Boris Krcmar N/A N/A N/A Japan 2016 Premium Stage (Women) Mana Kawakami Sayuri Nishiguchi N/A N/A N/A Japan 2016 4 Paul Lim Boris Krcmar $31,400 $12,000 $5,000 South Korea 2016 5 Tengku Shah Howei Tsai $31,400 $12,000 $5,000 Malaysia 2016 Grand Final Boris Krcmar Hyungchul Park $122,000 $50,000 $20,000 Hong Kong 2017 1 Alex Reyes Harith Lim $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Las Vegas 2017 2 Paul Lim Francis Emonts $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 France 2017 3 Prussian Arceno Kenichi Ajiki $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Taichung 2017 4 Leonard Gates Lourence Ilagan $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Japan 2017 5 Chris Lim Boris Krcmar $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Malaysia 2017 6 Paul Lim Alex Reyes $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Hong Kong 2018 1 Leonard Gates Paul Lim $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Las Vegas 2018 2 Boris Krcmar Royden Lam $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 France 2018 3 Boris Krcmar Paul Lim $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Japan 2018 4 Lourence Ilagan Royden Lam $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Taichung 2018 5 Boris Krcmar Royden Lam $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Malaysia 2018 Grand Final Royden Lam Boris Krcmar $62,000 $30,000 $10,000 Hong Kong 2019 1 Royden Lam Owen Williams $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 France 2019 2 OWEN WILLIAMS Michael Rasztovits $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 France 2019 3 Paul Lim James Law $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Japan 2019 4 Kai Fan Leung M Tatsunami $36,200 $15,000 $6,000 Taichung 2022 1 (Men) Jun Matsuda Toru Suzuki ¥1,200,000 ¥600,000 Tokyo, Japan 2022 1 (Women) Kosuzu Iwao Natsumi Iwata ¥600,000 ¥300,000 Tokyo, Japan 2022 2 Keita Ono Boris Krcmar $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Singapore 2023 1 Tetsuya Fujiwara Seigo Asada $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Taiwan 2023 2 (Men) Teppei Nishi Susumu Kasuya $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Tokyo, Japan 2023 2 (Women) Natsumi Iwata Miyu Miyawaki $14,600 $5,000 $2,000 Tokyo, Japan 2023 3 Tomoya Goto Yuta Hayashi $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2026 1 Chris Lim Minseok Choi $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2026 2 Yuta Hayashi Boris Krcmar $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Taichung 2026 3 Mitchell Lawrie Harkui Muramatsu $22,200 $10,000 $4,000 Tokyo, Japan

Records and statistics

(Players with minimum two The World stage titles) RankPlayerNationalityWonRunner-upFinals1Boris Krcmar Croatia98172Paul Lim Singapore88163Lourence Ilagan Philippines84124Royden Lam Hong Kong5495Ronald Briones Philippines3256Leonard Gates United States314Ray Carver United States3148Keita Ono Japan3149Sho Katsumi Japan213Alex Reyes United States21311Stephen Bunting England202Adrian Gray England202

References

External links Official Website of THE WORLD Official Website of Dartslive