THE qualifying field for the 2018/2019 William Hill World Darts Championship has been confirmed, following the last ranking event ahead of the Alexandra Palace spectacular.
Darts' biggest-ever event will see 96 players competing from December 13-January 1 as they battle for £2.5 million in prize money and the Sid Waddell Trophy.
Under the new, expanded format, the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit are seeded and enter at the second round stage.
The first round will feature 32 qualifiers from the ProTour Order of Merit, based on prize money won across 41 non-televised events in 2018, and 32 international qualifiers.
Reigning World Champion Rob Cross will be the number two seed as he defends the title he claimed in sensational fashion 12 months ago with his stunning win over retiring legend Phil Taylor.
World number one Michael van Gerwen is the top seed, while Sunday's Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney is seeded fifth and recent Grand Slam of Darts champion Gerwyn Price is the sixth seed.
Former World Champions Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld occupy the 16th and 17th spots, meaning a potential third round meeting with each other at Ally Pally.
Dutch debutant Danny Noppert heads the field of ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers, alongside Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski, who has won three ranking titles this year.
Daventry's Matthew Edgar claimed the final ProTour Order of Merit qualifying place, with Australia's Corey Cadby having withdrawn from the field.
Lisa Ashton joined Anastasia Dobromyslova as the second female qualifier in the field after winning through Sunday's UK & Ireland Women's Qualifier in Milton Keynes.
The final three places will be confirmed at the last-chance PDC Tour Card Holders' Qualifier in Milton Keynes on Monday, with two places increased to three with PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh having already qualified through the ProTour Order of Merit.
The William Hill World Darts Championship will be broadcast on the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel from December 13-January 1.
A limited number of tickets remain available for sale through pdc.seetickets.com. Click here for full ticket and hospitality information.
The draw for the William Hill World Darts Championship will be made on Sky Sports News at 5.30pm on Monday November 26.
2018/2019 William Hill World Darts Championship
PDC Order of Merit Qualifiers (Seeded)
1 Michael van Gerwen
2 Rob Cross
3 Peter Wright
4 Gary Anderson
5 Daryl Gurney
6 Gerwyn Price
7 Mensur Suljovic
8 Simon Whitlock
9 James Wade
10 Michael Smith
11 Ian White
12 Dave Chisnall
13 Darren Webster
14 Joe Cullen
15 Jonny Clayton
16 Adrian Lewis
17 Raymond van Barneveld
18 Stephen Bunting
19 Mervyn King
20 Steve Beaton
21 Kim Huybrechts
22 Steve West
23 John Henderson
24 Jelle Klaasen
25 Alan Norris
26 James Wilson
27 Kyle Anderson
28 Jamie Lewis
29 Jermaine Wattimena
30 Benito van de Pas
31 Cristo Reyes
32 Max Hopp
ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers
Danny Noppert
Krzysztof Ratajski
Ricky Evans
Jeffrey de Zwaan
Steve Lennon
Chris Dobey
Martin Schindler
Josh Payne
Gabriel Clemens
Ryan Joyce
Richard North
Keegan Brown
Mickey Mansell
Robert Thornton
Jan Dekker
Nathan Aspinall
Ron Meulenkamp
Brendan Dolan
William O'Connor
Vincent van der Voort
Michael Barnard
Toni Alcinas
Paul Nicholson
Simon Stevenson
Luke Humphries
Jeffrey de Graaf
Dimitri Van den Bergh
Alan Tabern
Wayne Jones
Ross Smith
Ryan Searle
Matthew Edgar
International Qualifiers
2018 PDC Asian Tour Top Four - Lourence Ilagan, Royden Lam, Noel Malicdem, Paul Lim
2018 PDC Unicorn Development Tour Order of Merit top two non-qualified players - Ted Evetts, Geert Nentjes
2018 PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour Order of Merit top non-qualified player - Cody Harris
PDC Nordic & Baltic Top Two - Darius Labanauskas, Daniel Larsson
EADC Champion - Boris Koltsov
Oceanic Masters Champion - James Bailey
DPA Order of Merit Winner - Raymond Smith
DPNZ Qualifier - Craig Ross
German Superleague Champion - Robert Marijanovic
South-West Europe Qualifier - Jose De Sousa
South-East Europe Qualifier - Rowby-John Rodriguez
West Europe Qualifier - Yordi Meeuwisse
East Europe Qualifier - Karel Sedlacek
PDC China Qualifier - Yuanjun Liu
Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay Champion - Kevin Burness
North American Championship Winner - Jeff Smith
CDC Top Ranked American Player - Chuck Puleo
CDC Top Ranked Canadian Player - Jim Long
PDJ Japanese Qualifier - Seigo Asada
African Qualifier - Devon Petersen
South American Qualifier - Diogo Portela
UK Ladies Qualifier - Lisa Ashton
Rest of the World Ladies Qualifier - Anastasia Dobromyslova
Indian Qualifier - Nitin Kumar
Plus three players from PDC Tour Card Holders' Qualifier (Nov 26)