Qualifying Schools will be held in the UK and Europe to allow players the chance to secure a full-time spot on the PDC ProTour with a two-year Tour Card.

Stars including five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld, former UK Open and World Grand Prix champion Robert Thornton and World Championship finalists Kevin Painter, Mark Dudbridge and Kirk Shepherd are set to be in action in Qualifying School.

This year’s battle to secure Tour Cards in Milton Keynes and Niedernhausen will be split across First Stage – to be held in two three-day blocks from February 8-10 & 11-13 – and Final Stage, which will take place from February 14-17.

The top 64 players following the 2020/21 William Hill World Darts Championship retain their Tour Card status for 2021, alongside 31 players who won a Tour Card last January.

In addition, the top two players from each of the final 2021 PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit earned a two-year Tour Card for 2021-22, seeing David Evans, Ritchie Edhouse, Keane Barry and Berry van Peer step onto the ProTour this year.

That leaves 29 Tour Cards to play for across the two Qualifying Schools, with 12 places initially going to the last two on each day at the UK Qualifying School and the winner on each day at the European Qualifying School.

The remaining 17 places will be allocated to the respective Qualifying School Orders of Merit, being split pro-rata based on entries. Entries for the 2021 PDC Qualifying Schools close at 1400 GMT on Monday January 18. Click here for more information.