Fourth seed Littler, 17, lost January’s world final to Luke Humphries, while Sherrock was the first woman to win matches at the tournament five years ago.

Humphries will start his title defence against Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito.

The tournament begins on 15 December at London’s Alexandra Palace.

The 2023 world champion and second seed Michael Smith will play Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven – the first first transgender woman to qualify for the tournament.

Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen faces the winner of James Hurrell against Jim Long.

The top 32 seeds enter in the second round, with the final taking place on Friday, 3 January 2025.

Peter Wright is drawn to play Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto while Scotland’s fellow two-time champion Gary Anderson will be up against Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting.

Nick Kenny and Stowe Buntz meet in the first round for the chance to face 2007 world champion Raymond van Barneveld in round two.

Rob Cross will play Scott Williams or Niko Springer in the second round while another former champion, Welshman Gerwyn Price, faces Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry.

If the seeds all go through, then Humphries will meet Van Barneveld in round three while Van Gerwen is slated to face Anderson.

Humphries and Littler would potentially meet in the semi-final should they progress.

“I’m sure we’ll be up for it. We have three or four matches to win before that. We bring the best out of each other – we always play well,” said Littler, who has won 10 titles in a remarkable first season as a professional.

“It’s been crazy, the ride I have been on.”

The teenager beat Humphries to win the Premier League in May, while the 29-year-old won their final showdown in the Players Championship on Sunday.

“It is good for the sport – it is a friendly rivalry when we play each other,” said Humphries.

World Darts Championship 2025 draw

(Seedings in brackets. Seeds enter in second round)

First quarter

(1) Luke Humphries (England) v Thibault Tricole/Joe Comito

(32) Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands) v Nick Kenny/Stowe Buntz

(16) James Wade (England) v Jermaine Wattimena/Stefan Bellmont

(17) Peter Wright (Scotland) v Wesley Plaisier/Ryusei Azemoto

(8) Stephen Bunting (England) v Alan Soutar/Kai Gotthardt

(25) Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands) v Madars Razma/Christian Kist

(9) Damon Heta (Australia) v Connor Scutt/Ben Robb

(24) Mike de Decker (Belgium) v Luke Woodhouse/Lourence Ilagan

Second quarter

(4) Luke Littler (England) v Ryan Meikle/Fallon Sherrock

(29) Ritchie Edhouse (England) v Ian White/Sandro Eric Sosing

(13) Danny Noppert (Netherlands) v Ryan Joyce/Darius Labanauskas

(20) Ryan Searle (England) v Mensur Suljovic/Matt Campbell

(5) Rob Cross (England) v Scott Williams/Niko Springer

(28) Gian van Veen (Netherlands) v Ricardo Pietreczko/Xiaochen Zong

(12) Nathan Aspinall (England) v Cameron Menzies/Leonard Gates

(21) Andrew Gilding (England) v Martin Lukeman/Nitin Kumar

Third quarter

(2) Michael Smith (England) v Kevin Doets/Noa-Lynn van Leuven

(31) Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland) v Richard Veenstra/Alexis Toylo

(15) Chris Dobey (England) v Stephen Burton/Alexander Merkx

(18) Josh Rock (Northern Ireland) v Karel Sedlacek/Rhys Griffin

(7) Jonny Clayton (Wales) v Mickey Mansell/Tomoya Goto

(26) Daryl Gurney (Northern Ireland) v Florian Hempel/Jeffrey de Zwaan

(10) Gerwyn Price (Wales) v Kim Huybrechts/Keane Barry

(23) Joe Cullen (England) v Wessel Nijman/Cameron Carolissen

Fourth quarter

(3) Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) v James Hurrell/Jim Long

(30) Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland) v Chris Landman/Lok Yin Lee

(14) Gary Anderson (Scotland) v Jeffrey de Graaf/Rashad Sweeting

(19) Ross Smith (England) v Jim Williams/Paolo Nebrida

(6) Dave Chisnall (England) v Ricky Evans/Gordon Mathers

(27) Gabriel Clemens (Germany) v Niels Zonneveld/Robert Owen

(11) Dimitri van den Bergh (Belgium) v William O’Connor/Dylan Slevin

(22) Martin Schindler (Germany) v Callan Rydz/Romeo Grbavac

The 29-year-old secured his seventh major title and retained the trophy he first won in 2023 after recovering from a shaky start at Butlin’s Minehead Resort in Somerset.

Littler, who won the Grand Slam of Darts last week, hit checkouts of 170, 164 and 136 as he threatened to overturn an early deficit, but Humphries held his nerve to win the last three legs.

Teenager Littler missed chances at double tops in the first and second legs and Humphries took control as he landed a 12-dart leg to make it 5-1.

Littler responded with his maximum 170 checkout and broke back to reduce the deficit further to 6-4.

But Humphries then took successive legs to edge closer to victory and, when Littler missed a dart at double 20, he nailed it to complete his strong finish and keep hold of the trophy.

Earlier, Littler had defeated Mike De Decker 10-3 in the quarter-finals and followed that up by beating Ross Smith in the semis 11-9, before facing Humphries, who had overcome Ryan Joyce 10-5 and Dirk van Duijvenbode 11-8 on his way to the final.

“I’m really, really proud of that one to be honest,” Humphries said.

“I didn’t feel myself this week playing-wise, I felt like I was a dart behind in a lot of the scenarios but there’s something that Luke does to you. He really drives me, makes me want to be a better player and I enjoy playing him.

“He let me in really early in that first session to go 4-1 up, I never looked back and I’m proud that I didn’t take my foot off the gas. These big games are what I live for.

“Luke is a special talent and he was right – I said to him I’ve got to get these [titles] early before he wins them all.

“I’d love to be up here and hitting 105 averages like Luke is all the time but he’s a different calibre, he’s probably the best player in the world right now but there’s something about me that never gives up.

“This is a great way to go into the Worlds.”

Littler, who lost the World Championship final to Humphries last year, said: “It was tough, missed a few doubles and if you don’t take chances early on, it’s a lot to come back.

“I hit the 170 and the 164 but just didn’t have enough in the end.

“It’s been a good past two weeks. I just can’t wait to go home, chill out, obviously practise at home for the Worlds. That’s it now, leading up to the big one.”

Luke Littler struck again Thursday night in Premier League Darts. 17 Year old ‘The Nuke’ secured his fourth weekly title in Aberdeen, cementing his lead in the competition.

With two rounds of play remaining, Littler has taken a big step toward securing first place. He has an eight-point lead over number two Luke Humphries, who is now also certain of the playoffs.

Earlier in the evening, Littler was one arrow away from elimination in his first match against Nathan Aspinall. The 17-year-old teenage sensation squandered a 5-3 lead and then saw Aspinall miss a matchdart on tops. Littler survived that match 6-5 before wiping the floor with Michael Smith and winning his semi-final match 6-1 thanks to an average of 110.

At the other end of the bracket, Cross qualified for his second weekly final in a row by beating Michael van Gerwen (6-5) and Luke Humphries (6-5). ‘Voltage’ could then briefly hope for a weekly title in Aberdeen, as a 12-darter in the seventh leg put him ahead 4-3 in the final against Littler.

Littler then equalized with an 80 finish and broke his English compatriot with a 15-darter after starting the ninth leg with seven perfect darts. ‘The Nuke’ then sealed the match with a 14-darter.