Template - Author: 2020 PDC Rules
The 2020 PDC Order of Merit Rules have now been announced ahead of the start of the new season.
With the PDC Qualifying Schools starting tomorrow in Wigan and Hildesheim, the updated PDC Rules are now complete.
PROFESSIONAL DARTS CORPORATION
2020 TOURNAMENT RULES
- Eligibility
1.1 All players must be a member of the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA) to feature in the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) Order of Merit. Membership is defined as either having been awarded an Honorary Membership, or being in one of the below listed categories:
- A Full Member is defined as a player who has joined the PDPA and holds a PDC Tour Card or a player who has qualified for an event as listed in 1.2; or can be a non-playing Full Member such as a PDPA board member or Honorary Member.
- An Associate Member is defined as a player who has joined the PDPA but does not hold a Tour Card (for example a player who attempted to win a Tour Card through Q School or a player who participates on a Secondary Tour).
- A Day Member is defined as a non-UK national who pays a supplement to their entry fee for relevant qualifying Events for European Tour Events.
- A Secondary Tour Member is defined as a player who is only permitted to play in Challenge or Development Tour Events. For the avoidance of doubt, they are not permitted to play in qualifiers for Premier or ProTour Events unless otherwise allowed under these Rules.
1.2 All players who participate in the following Events must be a Full Member of the PDPA: World Championship (excluding PDPA Associate Members), World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam (excluding BDO qualifiers) UK Open (excluding Amateur Qualifiers and PDPA Associate Members), European Championship, Players Championship Finals (excluding PDPA Associate Members), Masters, World Series Finals (excluding invited non-members), Premier League (excluding Challengers), Champions League.
In the event of a non-PDPA member qualifying for or being invited into an Event through an Order of Merit, a qualifying Event, or PDC Board invitation they must join the PDPA prior to participation in the Event.
1.3 All Full Members who wish to participate in Events must sign and accept the PDC Player Contract and the PDPA Code of Conduct and agree to abide by the Rules of the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA) and pay any appropriate Sanction Fees to the DRA before being allowed to participate in any PDC organised Event.
Associate Members who wish to participate in Events must agree to abide by the Rules of the DRA and pay any appropriate Sanction Fees to the DRA before being allowed to participate in any PDC organised Event.
1.4 Any player who is not in good financial or disciplinary standing with the DRA, PDC or the PDPA or with companies involved with the DRA, PDC or PDPA (including having unpaid outstanding fines or other unpaid sums owing to any such party) will not be allowed to participate in any Event until such time as they are in good standing.
1.5 PDPA membership lasts from the conclusion of one World Championship until the conclusion of the next World Championship and any player who is not a Tour Card holder but qualifies for an Event listed in 1.2 is still required to play at Q School in order to be eligible to participate in that year’s ProTour Events.
1.6 All Events shall be played under the Rules of the Darts Regulation Authority, as covered in the DRA Rule Book published on its website, www.thedra.co.uk.
- Order of Merit
2.1 The PDC operates various Orders of Merit, based on prize money won in its Events.
Events are categorised as follows:
Premier Ranked Events:
World Championship
World Matchplay
World Grand Prix
Grand Slam
European Championship
Players Championship Finals
UK Open
Premier Invitational Events:
Premier League
Champions League
World Series Finals
Masters
World Cup
ProTour Events:
European Tour
Players Championships
Secondary Tour Events:
Challenge Tour
Development Tour
Other Events:
World Youth Championship
World Series
Non-UK Affiliate Tours (as administered by PDC Nordic & Baltic, Eurasian Darts Corporation, DartPlayers Australia, DartPlayers New Zealand, PDC Asian Tour, Championship Darts Corporation (CDC).
2.2 All Events will be scheduled and categorised at the discretion of the PDC Board of Directors, following consultation with the PDPA, but with the final decision resting with the PDC Board of Directors.
2.3 Prize money won in all ranking Events determine a player’s standing in the relevant Orders of Merit. Prize money will be displayed in UK£.
2.4 Any bonus prize money for a nine-dart finish achieved by a player in an Event will be determined by the PDC Board of Directors and announced in advance of the Event. These payments will not count towards any Orders of Merit.
2.5 All prize money paid to PDPA Members in all Events will be paid in UK£ directly by the PDC or its local agents, unless otherwise advertised.
Prize money will be paid in to the bank account nominated by the player to the PDC which must be either in their own name, the name of a company of which they is a Director, the name of their DRA Licensed Agent’s Business Account or in the case of a Development Tour player or other player legally classified as a minor, the name of one or more of their parents/guardians.
2.6 The main Order of Merit is calculated on prize money won by players over a 104 week period and is added to each player’s total at the end of the day on which the Event concludes.
All prize money shall count for two years and be removed from the main Order of Merit 104 weeks after it was won, regardless of the corresponding position in the calendar of any Events.
No Premier Event shall count three times towards the main Order of Merit, with the earliest of the three removed if necessary.
2.7 The calendar of Events and Orders of Merit will be published on pdc.tv, the PDC’s official website and it will be the responsibility of the individual players to ensure they are aware of all details.
2.8 Invitations to and seedings for ranked Premier and European Tour Events will be based on the relevant Orders of Merit at the closing date for entries or qualification for the Event in question (as per Section 3).
Seedings for Players Championship Events will be based on the relevant Order of Merit at the time of the draw being made – usually the day of the event.
2.9 Players will need to have participated in a minimum of one ProTour or Premier Event over a rolling 104-week period to be eligible to qualify for Premier Ranked Events through the main Order of Merit or be eligible to win a Tour Card.
Once a player has not participated in one ProTour or Premier Event over a rolling 104-week period, they will be removed from the Order of Merit.
2.10 Only prize money won by players when PDPA members shall appear on the Orders of Merit. Lapsed members, or players who lose their Tour Card and do not regain it for the following year will be removed from the Orders of Merit after Q School, and if they compete again as Full, Honorary, Associate or Day Members their prize money tallies will revert to £0 from the day their membership ceased or their Tour Card was lost.
Non-Tour Card holders who qualify for a one-year Tour Card by virtue of their ranking at the end of the previous year will retain their prize money won during the previous year on the Order of Merit.
Prize money won by Amateur Qualifiers (who are not PDPA Associate Members) in the UK Open or BDO representatives in the Grand Slam will not count towards the Main Order of Merit. For the avoidance of doubt, PDPA Associate Members who have not qualified for the UK Open through their Challenge or Development Tour Order of Merit position are permitted to participate in Amateur Qualifiers for the UK Open.
2.11 All prize money won in all PDC Events (not sanctioned affiliate tours) will be subject to a 2% levy, to be paid directly to the PDPA in the form of deductions from prize money.
- Invitations and Seedings
3.1 Invitations, seedings and structures for Premier Events are played according to the following criteria.
2020 Masters (non-ranked)
Cut-off date: January 1 2020
Seeds: Top 16 in Order of Merit (drawn in seed pattern)
Qualifying Players:
Top 16 in Order of Merit
2020 UK Open Finals
Cut-off date: February 23 2020
Seeds: Tour Card holders will enter from round one onwards depending on their position on the main Order of Merit as follows:
97 – 128: first round
65 – 96: second round
33 – 64: third round
1 – 32: fourth round
Qualifying Players:
128 Tour Card Holders
Top 8 from the 2019 Development Tour Merit Table and Top 8 from the 2019 Challenge Tour Merit Table who remain PDPA Associate Members in 2020. Associate Members from 2019 who become Full Members for 2020 will qualify as Full Members and further places will be offered to players from each of the final 2019 OOM Tables using the Development Tour first, then the Challenge Tour one player at a time, until all 8 places are filled.
16 Amateur Qualifiers (non-PDPA Full Members) from specific Events
2020 World Cup
Cut-off date: May 17 2020
Seeds:Top 8 ranked nations based on combined Order of Merit ranking (lowest total = highest seed)
Qualifying Players:
32 pairs representing different nations selected at the discretion of the PDC
2020 World Matchplay
Cut-off date: July 5 2020
Seeds: Top 16 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:
Top 16 in Order of Merit.
Top 16 in ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified
2020 Champions League
Cut-off date: July 26 2019
Seeds: Top 8 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:
Previous year’s winner plus top 7 on Order of Merit not otherwise qualified drawn in two groups of four as per seed pattern
2020 World Grand Prix
Cut-off date: September 20 2020
Seeds: Top 8 in Order of Merit
Qualifying Players:
Top 16 in Order of Merit.
Top 16 in ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified
2020 European Championship
Cut-off date: October 18 2020
Seeds: Top 32 in European Tour Order of Merit (drawn in seed pattern)
Qualifying Players:
Top 32 in European Tour Order of Merit
2020 World Series Finals
Cut-off date: September 8 2020
Seeds: Top 8 in World Series Merit Table
Qualifying Players:
Top 8 in World Series Merit Table.
Top 4 in Order of Merit not otherwise qualified.
Between 4 and 8 invited players at discretion of PDC board
Between 4 and 8 qualifiers from a Full Member qualifier
2020 Grand Slam of Darts
Cut-off date: November 5 2020
Seeds: Top 8 qualified from Order of Merit (one drawn per group)
Qualifying Players: [TO BE CONFIRMED]
2020 Players Championship Finals
Cut-off date: November 5 2020
Seeds: Top 64 in Players Championship Order of Merit (drawn in seed pattern)
Qualifying Players:
Top 64 in Players Championship Order of Merit
2020/21 World Championship
Cut-off date: November 29 2020
Seeds: Top 32 in Order of Merit seeded through to Last 64
Qualifying Players:
Top 32 in Order of Merit
Top 32 in the ProTour Order of Merit not otherwise qualified
32 invitations at the PDC’s discretion (international qualifying Events, PDPA qualifier, PDC Secondary and Affiliate Tours). Full criteria to be published in 2020.
For the avoidance of doubt, as per rule 3.6 below, in the event of a player in any qualifying Order of Merit for any above listed Event not being eligible to participate in the Event, all players beneath the non-eligible player will move up one place until all places have been filled.
3.2 In the case of ties in any Order of Merit (money won) or Merit Table (points won), the countback rule will apply; this will be the cumulative money or points won by a player in the previous four eligible Events in the Order of Merit or Merit Table where a tie has occurred. In cases where there is still a tie, this countback will continue one Event at a time until there is a separation.
If two or more players cannot be separated by countback over the entire eligible period of the relevant Order of Merit, the player ranked highest in the main Order of Merit shall be deemed to be highest ranked, with countback continuing indefinitely until a split can be made after the initial four Events on the main Order of Merit.
If this procedure does not produce a separation, a play-off will be organised between the affected players.
3.3 Seedings for Premier Events will be ordered as follows:
TOP HALF: 1-(16)-8-(9)-4(13)-5-(12)
BOTTOM HALF: 2-(15)-7-(10)-3-(14)-6-(11)
Seedings for European Tour Events will be as per Premier Events but the top and bottom halves will alternate across Events. To clarify, in odd numbered Events on the European Tour the number one seed will be in the top half but in even numbered Events the halves will switch positions.
Seedings for Players Championship Events, and the World Championship are ordered as follows:
TOP HALF: 1-32-16-17-8-25-9-24-4-29-13-20-5-28-12-21
BOTTOM HALF: 2-31-15-18-7-26-10-23-3-30-14-19-6-27-11-22
Seedings for the 64-player Players Championship Finals are ordered as follows:
TOP HALF: 1-64-32-33-16-49-17-48-8-57-25-40-9-56-24-41-4-61-29-36-13-52-20-45-5-60-28-37-12-53-21-44
BOTTOM HALF: 2-63-31-34-15-50-18-47-7-58-26-39-10-55-23-42-3-62-30-35-14-51-19-46-6-59-27-38-11-54-22-43
3.4 For PDC ranked events qualification and seedings will be determined by the relevant Order of Merit on the closing date for each particular Event.
The Orders of Merit in operation are as follows:
- PDC main Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a rolling 104-week period in Premier Ranked and ProTour (European Tour and Players Championship) events;
- European Tour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won in that calendar year’s European Tour Events;
- Players Championship Order of Merit: comprised of all money won in that calendar year’s Players Championship Events;
- ProTour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won over a rolling 52-week period in European Tour and Players Championship Events;
- Development Tour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won in that calendar year’s Development Tour Events;
- Challenge Tour Order of Merit: comprised of all money won in that calendar year’s Challenge Tour Events.
3.5 Seedings for Players Championship Events and European Tour Events, and qualification for Premier Events through the ProTour Order of Merit will be determined on a 52-week rolling basis with 32 seeds per Players Championship Event and 16 per European Tour Event (or as many as entries permit). Seedings will be determined by the rolling 52-week ProTour Order of Merit up to and including the most recent Event completed for Players Championship Events and as of the entry cut-off date for European Tour Events.
3.6 If a player withdraws from a Premier Event due to personal or disciplinary reasons before the draw for the Event has been announced by the PDC, the next highest available non-qualified player from the Order of Merit (or if required in the case of the World Championship, the qualifying route) through which the unavailable player qualified will be invited to participate in the Event. In this instance, the players ranked below the unavailable player will all move up one place in the seedings, where appropriate.
3.7 If a player withdraws from a Premier Event due to personal or disciplinary reasons after the draw for the Event has been made, the next available non-qualified player from the relevant Order of Merit (or if required in the case of the World Championship, the qualifying route) through which the withdrawn player qualified will be invited to participate in the Event and will take the place of the withdrawn player directly in the draw with no alteration made to seedings if applicable. This does not apply to the UK Open where no replacement player shall be named.
If this occurs at the World Championship or other Premier Event where the replacement player is invited directly in to a round other than the earliest round of the Event and misses an earlier round, they will only be awarded prize money due for the earliest round of the Event should they lose his first match. However, should they win his first match, prize money will be awarded as normal.
3.8 Full Members may choose to enter their own nation or region’s World Championship qualifying Event and/or the PDPA Full Members qualifier. The PDPA Full Members qualifier will be the last qualifying Event held and will offer the appropriate number of spots required to complete the field for the Event. Therefore, all other qualifying Events must conclude prior to the PDPA Full Members qualifier being held.
If a player qualifies through their own nation or region’s World Championship or World Youth Championship qualifying Event as well as his position on an Order of Merit, they will be deemed to have qualified through that route and not through the relevant Order of Merit and so the next non-qualified player on the relevant Order of Merit will be invited to participate.
In the event of a player qualifying through his own nation or region’s World Championship or World Youth Championship qualifying Event also being in a seeded position for the relevant Event, the seeded position shall take precedence over the qualifying position.
3.9 Any player who declines an invitation to any Event may be denied an invitation to that or other future Events at the discretion of the PDC Board of Directors.
- ProTour
4.1 Tour Cards for 2020 will be awarded to the following players:
Top 64 x eligible PDPA Members from the PDC Order of Merit following the completion of the 2019/20 World Championship.
29 x Tour Card Holders from 2019 Q School and 2018 Secondary Tours who are not ranked in the Top 64 of the Order of Merit
2 x top ranked players not otherwise qualified for a Tour Card from the 2019 Challenge Tour Order of Merit
2 x top ranked players not otherwise qualified for a Tour Card from the 2019 Development Tour Order of Merit
8 x automatic qualifiers from 2020 UK Q School
4 x automatic qualifiers from 2020 European Q School
Remaining 19 places to be filled by Q School Order of Merit, allocated pro rata across the UK and European Q Schools depending on final entry numbers.
If any players from the above list choose not to take up their Tour Card or are deemed ineligible due to DRA sanction by a deadline determined by the PDC, extra places will be allocated to players from Q School on an alternate basis (Q School with the most entries first) from the relevant Q School Merit Table.
The Top 64 eligible players from the Order of Merit at the end of the 2019/20 World Championship will receive a one-year Tour Card. The remaining qualifiers will receive a two-year Tour Card as their Order of Merit total will revert to £0 from January 2 2020 whereas the Top 64 retain their money won.
Players who lose their Tour Card and then regain it immediately either by winning through the next Q School or through a Secondary Tour Order of Merit will be awarded a two-year Tour Card with their prize money totals reverting to £0 from the day their Tour Card was regained.
If a player who qualifies for a Tour Card through being in the top two of the 2019 Challenge or Development Tour Order of Merit is also in the Top 64 of the Order of Merit then they will receive a one-year Tour Card due to their Order of Merit position. Their money from the previous year will remain valid and their Tour Card place will pass to the next highest ranked unqualified player from the 2019 Challenge or Development Tour Order of Merit.
If a player is in the top two of both the Challenge and Development Tour Orders of Merit then the Challenge Tour shall take priority and any further places shall pass down the Development Tour Order of Merit.
4.2 Entry to all Players Championship Events is open initially to Full Members.
All Players Championship Events will have a 128-player draw. In instances where the number of Full Members entering a Players Championship Event does not reach 128, Associate Member entries shall then be accepted in order of Challenge Tour Order of Merit position as of the Event entry deadline to make the total number of entries up to 128.
The exception to the above position is if Associate Members win a Premier Ranked or ProTour Event they shall be placed as first alternate in order of their main Order of Merit position.
If this total still does not reach 128, byes will be awarded in seed order. If this total still does not reach 96, all 32 seeds will receive a bye and additional byes will be awarded on a random basis.
For example, if there is one bye, it will go to seed one; if there are two byes they will go to seeds one and two etc.
4.3 Entry to European Associate Member qualifier is open to any player who played at least one day at either the UK or European Qualifying Schools in 2020 but did not win a Tour Card, unless they are from an East Europe Nation, a PDC Nordic and Baltic Nation, or of the appropriate nationality for the Host Nation Qualifier for that particular event. There is no entry fee and no other players are allowed to take part as Day Members.
4.4 Day Members are permitted to take part in up to two Host Nation Qualifying Events in any One Calendar Year upon payment of the appropriate Entry Fee which includes Day Membership Fee. Once a Day Member has played in a second Host Nation Qualifier that player may not participate in any further Qualifying Events that year. There are no restrictions on the number of entries in the PDC Nordic and Baltic and East European Qualifiers in 2020.
Entry to European Tour Tour Card Holder Qualifying Events is open to all Tour Card Holders.
4.5 European Tour Events will be played with a 48-player main draw consisting of the top 16 ranked entered players from the ProTour Order of Merit at the Entry deadline and 32 qualifiers.
The top 16 ranked entered players from the ProTour Order of Merit at the Entry deadline will be exempted and seeded in to the last 32 where they will play the 16 winners from the matches involving the 32 qualifiers.
Invited players who lose in their first match of the Event shall not be credited with prize money on the Order of Merit, ProTour Order of Merit or European Tour Order of Merit, however they shall still receive full prize money payment.
An Invited player may opt to enter the relevant qualifier for the Event in order to ensure any prize money won, even if that player loses his first game, counts on the relevant Orders of Merit. In order to be placed in the qualifier, a player must inform the PDC of his request in writing at the time of entry.
A player who qualifies for a European Tour Event as a qualifier but later becomes a seed due to the withdrawal of one or more other players shall be credited with their prize money on the relevant Orders of Merit regardless of how far they progress in the Event.
The last 48 round shall be drawn at random with no seeding.
The 32 qualifiers shall come from the following qualifying Events:
- Tour Card Qualifier: shall produce 24 players from those entered and eligible under Rule 4.3. Tour Card Holders from all Nations are required to enter this Qualifier.
- Associate Member Qualifier; shall produce two players from those entered and eligible under Rule 4.3
- Host Nation Qualifier: the highest two ranked players on the ProTour Order of Merit from the Host Nation, who are outside the Top 16 from the ProTour Order of Merit as at the Entry Deadline. (If there is only one or there are no players then those places shall revert to the Host Nation Qualifier). Additionally a knockout qualifier shall produce between two and four players from those entered and eligible under rules 4.3 and 4.4. Associate Members with the same nationality as the location of the relevant Event are eligible to enter and in this instance any player with that nationality may not enter the Associate Member qualifier for that particular event.
- PDC Nordic & Baltic Qualifier: shall produce one player from those entered and eligible under rule 4.3 and 4.4. Players with the following nationalities are eligible to enter: Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
- East Europe Qualifier: shall produce one player from those entered and eligible under rule 4.4. Players with the following nationalities are eligible to enter: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and any state not listed here which falls within the EADC region.
- In the case of the 2020 European Tour Event to be staged in Gibraltar, the Host Nation qualifiers shall be allocated to a stand-alone qualification process for Gibraltar based Associate and Day Members.
In the case of the 2020 European Tour Events in Prague and Budapest Czech and Hungarian players shall not be permitted to enter the East Europe qualifier when they have their own Host Nation Qualifier
All qualifying Events are to be played with a single-elimination format of a minimum of best of seven legs.
Tour Card Qualifying Events shall be seeded from the ProTour Order of Merit based on the OOM on the day of the Qualifier, depending on the number of qualifying places with one seed per place available. Other qualifying events may be seeded based on alternative criteria by prior agreement of the PDC with the relevant qualifying organiser.
If a player withdraws from a European Tour Event due to personal or disciplinary reasons after the cut-off date for the Event Entries and before the commencement of the Tour Card Holder Qualifier the next available non-qualified player from the ProTour Order of Merit as at the Entry deadline date will be invited to participate in the Event. In this instance, the players ranked below the unavailable player will all move up one place in the seedings, where appropriate.
If one or more players withdraw from a European Tour Event due to personal or disciplinary reasons after the Tour Card Holder Qualifier for the Event, extra places shall be awarded to the Host Nation qualifying Event. In this instance, the players ranked below the unavailable player at the cut-off date will all move up one place in the seedings, where appropriate unless the draw has already taken place, in which case the replacement player shall be entered in to the seed position in the draw but as an unseeded player.
4.6 There is no entry fee for players to enter ProTour Events, including Tour Card Holder and Associate Member Qualifiers for European Tour Events.
Any player who enters and subsequently withdraws from an Event will be subject to rule 4.14.
The PDC may, at its discretion, implement entry fees for Events staged in territories deemed to be ‘developing territories’, such as Nordic & Baltic and East Europe.
4.7 The closing date for entries for the main draw of Players Championship Events will be 1400 UK time on the Tuesday the week before each Event is due to be played for weekend Players Championship events (for the avoidance of doubt, this is 11 days before a Saturday Event). For the midweek Players Championship Events in 2020, the closing dates will be 1400 UK time on Tuesday August 25 for PC 23-24, Tuesday September 1 for PC 25-26, Tuesday October 20 for PC 29-30,
Associate Members shall be informed as soon as possible after this deadline whether their entry has been successful.
Only Associate Members who entered by the appointed deadline shall be considered for ‘top up’ places if not all Full Members enter an Event.
Any variation from this will be advertised on pdc.tv. The PDC reserves the right to alter these times in the Event of logistical issues. The list of entries will be published on pdc.tv before each Event.
4.8 All PDPA members must enter through the PDC’s online entry system or via their local affiliate organisation (as stated in the Event rules and advertised at www.pdc.tv). All non-PDPA members must enter through the PDC’s local affiliate organisation with entry not accepted until payment is made by the appointed deadline.
4.9 Entry in to Events, whether as a Full, Associate or Day Member of the PDPA constitutes acceptance of all PDC, PDPA and DRA rules.
4.10 All ProTour main draw matches will be best of 11 legs up to and including the quarter-finals, and then the semi-finals will be best of 13 legs and the final will be best of 15 legs.
4.11 All Players Championship Events will start at 1200 local time, with registration closing at 1100. Any player not registered by 1100 will be omitted from the draw without exception.
Any variation from this will be advertised on www.pdc.tv. Players’ attention is drawn to Events which take place the day after a Premier Event, as these may start later for operational reasons.
4.12 Draws for Players Championship Events will be conducted following the closure of registration, with seedings adjusted accordingly if an entered player who was due to be seeded has not registered.
Draws for European Tour Events will be conducted at the PDC’s discretion and with the intention of ensuring players have the most possible time to plan their travel arrangements for the Event.
4.13 All ProTour Events will be played in a bracket format throughout with no re-draw after any round.
4.14 Players who wish to withdraw from an Event they have entered must do so in writing to the PDC prior to the closing date if they wish to apply for a refund of their entry fee (if applicable), which will only be considered with the support of a doctor’s certificate (not self-certified) or if they have a serious family issue with supporting evidence.
Players who enter but decide not to travel, or wish to otherwise withdraw from an Event, are requested to inform the PDC as a courtesy.
Players who enter and then subsequently withdraw from a ProTour or Premier Event after the cut-off date will receive standardised fines from the DRA which will increase with each offence and may result in a suspension.
Where no other player is disadvantaged by the withdrawal (such as an Event without a cap on entries or an Event where the relevant player’s place in the draw can be filled without any implications on any other player or the Event) the DRA may choose not to impose a sanction at its own discretion.
For clarity, these fines will be as follows for 2020:
First offence: £300
Second offence: £600
Third offence: £1200
Fourth offence: DRA referral
Following a 12-month consecutive period without offence, a player’s ‘slate shall be wiped clean’ in relation to these offences.
4.15 Where stage matches are played at Events, the bull up shall be conducted in the practice room at a time to be advised to players by the Tournament Director or Players Marshal.
4.16 The PDC/PDPA will use their best endeavours to supply a marker at Players Championship Events but players must assume that marking will be their own responsibility.
Each European Tour qualifier and Players Championship Event will operate on a “loser marks” basis and it is a condition of participation that the losing player of each match marks the following game, if a marker has not been provided, as directed by Tournament Officials. In genuine cases of inability to mark, a player may arrange for someone else to mark the next match on their behalf. It is the player’s responsibility to ensure that someone replaces them and that this person can mark to a competent standard and is dressed as per the DRA rules.
If a player arranges someone to mark on their behalf, the Player must notify the Board Official or Tournament Director giving the identity of the person with whom they have made the arrangement.
In either case, the marker must be in place immediately following the completion of the previous game.
Where players are required to mark themselves, the first game on each board will be marked by the last player listed on the schedule of matches for that board.
4.17 Players may be asked by Tournament Officials to move from the board to which they were originally allocated to another board. These and other reasonable requests from Tournament Officials must be adhered to immediately to help the smooth running of the Event.
Players are requested to note this rule particularly in respect of Players Championship Events at which selected boards are to be streamed on the internet. Any player who refuses a request to play on a board selected for streaming will be disqualified from the Event and rule 4.18 will apply in respect of their prize money.
4.18 Players who are timed out, fail to complete or who otherwise miss their scheduled match shall be awarded loser money for that round and be eliminated from the Event unless their withdrawal instigates a referral to the DRA in which case their prize money payment will be withheld subject to the DRA’s investigation and not appear on any Order of Merit until that investigation has been concluded.
A player who benefits from a bye but then loses the match in the round in to which they were placed as a result of the bye shall only be awarded prize money based on the previous round. For example, if a player receives a bye from the first round in to the second round of an Event, but then loses in the second round, they shall only receive and be awarded first round loser prize money. However, if they wins their second round match but lose in the third round, they shall be awarded third round loser prize money.
4.19 If a player intends competing in any Event despite suffering from illness or injury which may affect their performance, they must report this to the Tournament Director in advance. Failure to do this may result in a DRA referral.
4.20 The World Series Finals, Grand Slam and World Championship PDPA qualifying events shall be open to Tour Card Holders only.
- UK and European Q Schools
5.1 Both the UK and European Q Schools shall comprise four separate one-day Events, all played over a best of nine leg format under standard ProTour rules. The entry deadline shall be 1400 on January 13 2020 for both UK and European Q Schools.
Players from the UK, Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar shall play in the UK Q School. Players from all other European Nations shall play in the European Q School. Players from other nations may choose in which Q School to participate.
5.2 Tour Cards shall be awarded to the finalists of each day’s play at the UK Q School and the winner of each day’s play at the European Q School. Once a player has been awarded a Tour Card they shall not play in the remainder of Q School. The remaining Tour Cards will be awarded to the remaining players who occupy the qualifying positions in the Q School Merit Table which shall be comprised of points as awarded in 5.3. Places will allocated to the relevant UK & European Q School Merit Tables on a pro-rata basis from the final entry numbers.
Entrance to Q School constitutes acceptance of a Tour Card, if so earned by a player’s performance. If a player earns a Tour Card by virtue of his performance at Q School but declines a Tour Card, they are not eligible to appear on the Q School Merit Table or play in ProTour (including qualifiers) or Secondary Tour Events in 2020
5.3 A Merit Table for each Q School shall be compiled with players awarded one point per win from the first round which is drawn without byes to determine the allocation of any additional Tour Cards as necessary. Wins by virtue of a walkover from this round onwards shall be counted as a 5-0 win. If a player withdraws midway through a match their opponent shall be awarded the win by 5 legs to however many legs the withdrawing player has won at the time of withdrawal.
If two or more players are tied on points, they will be separated in the ranking list by (in order until they can be split): legs won and leg difference. Results from the preliminary round before the first round drawn without byes are disregarded for this countback. If the players cannot be split, a play-off will be organised.
5.4 Entry to the Q School shall cost £400 plus a £50 2020 DRA Sanction Fee and be paid in advance. The player shall then be deemed to be an Associate Member of the PDPA for the year providing the player participates in at least one day of Q School. Players who achieve their Tour Card must upgrade to Full PDPA membership at a cost of an additional £100 in order to be granted their Tour Card.
5.5 The players who finished in the top eight of the final 2019 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit and who were not awarded a Tour Card for 2020 will be invited in to the 2020 Q School. If any of these players achieve a Tour Card through the Q School, they must pay £100 for PDPA membership and £50 DRA Sanction Fee before a Tour Card is granted to them.
- Challenge Tour / Development Tour / World Youth Championship
6.1 Entry to Challenge Tour Events is open only to all players who participated in the 2020 Q Schools but did not obtain a Tour Card.
6.2 Entry to Development Tour Events and the World Youth Championship and its associated qualifiers is open to all players who are aged 23 or under and 16 or over on January 2 2020 Players who are ranked in the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit on the cut-off date of an Event are not eligible to enter those Development Tour Events. Players who turn 16 during 2020 shall be eligible to enter Development Tour Events or World Youth Championship qualifiers once their 16th birthday has passed.
All Tour Card Holders meeting the age requirements shall automatically be entered in to the draw for the World Youth Championship for that year and must inform the PDC before the date of the draw whether they wish to participate or not.
6.3 The World Youth Championship starts at the Last 96 round and is comprised of a minimum of 16 invitations, plus any players who under rule 6.2 have qualified by virtue of holding a Tour Card with all remaining places up to 96 bring taken from the final 2020 Development Tour Order of Merit, using countback as per rule 3.2 if required to determine positions.
6.4 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Events and the World Youth Championship are played under the same rules and regulations as ProTour Events where not otherwise specified in this section.
Registration and start times for Challenge and Development Tour Events will be advertised in advance of each Event on pdc.tv as they may vary due to entry levels or logistical reasons.
6.5 Development Tour matches are played over the best of seven legs up to the last eight and then best of nine legs from the last eight to the final. Challenge Tour matches are played over the best of nine legs.
The World Youth Championship is played over the best of 11 legs from the knock-out stage with group matches the best of nine legs. The group stage will consist of three players per group who will play each other once with two points awarded per win. In the event of a tie on points within the groups, players will be separated by leg difference. If two players have the same leg difference then the head-to head result between the two players will be used to determine positions. If all three players have the same leg difference then a three-way nine-dart-shoot out will be played.
6.6 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Events are played with an open draw with no seedings or exemptions. There are generally two Events per day, however this is subject to change.
The World Youth Championship Last 96 will include 32 seeds, being based on the Main Order of Merit with the remaining positions based on the final 2020 Development Order of Merit, and will be played down to a Final. The Final will then be scheduled during a PDC Premier or Invitational Event at a later date (expected to be at the 2020 Players Championship Finals).
6.7 All prize money in Challenge Tour and Development Tour Events won will count towards separate one-year Orders of Merit.
6.8 The Development Tour entry fee is £25 per Event. Challenge Tour entry is £50 per Event. Entries must be made online prior to 1400 the Friday preceding the weekend’s Events. There is no entry fee for the World Youth Championship.
6.9 The following incentives are on offer to players competing in the Challenge Tour, Development Tour and World Youth Championship:
- The two highest ranked players on the 2020 Development Tour Order of Merit and then the highest ranked player on the 2020 Challenge Tour Order of Merit receive an invitation to the 2020/21 World Championship.
NOTE: if any of the players who achieve the above otherwise qualify for the 2020/21 World Championship, or reject their invitations, further places shall be offered to other players from the relevant Order of Merit until the places are filled.
- The finalists of the 2020 World Youth Championship will be included on the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts qualification criteria list subject to the entry criteria as stated in rule 3.1 of this document.
- The winner of the 2020 World Youth Championship receives an invitation to the 2020/21 World Championship.
NOTE: if any of the players who achieve the above otherwise qualify for the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts or 2020/21 World Championship, or reject their invitations, no further places shall be offered.
- The top two players on the final 2020 Challenge and Development Tour Orders of Merit who have not otherwise won Tour Cards for 2021 and 2022 will receive two-year Tour Cards.
NOTE: if any of the players who achieve the above otherwise qualify for a Tour Card or reject their invitations, places will be offered further down the Challenge and Development Tour Orders of Merit. In the event a player achieves the above from both the Challenge and Development Tours, the Challenge Tour will take priority.
- The players who finish third to eighth (countback applied in event of ties) on the 2020 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit will receive free entry to the 2021 Q School.
NOTE: in the event that any of the players who achieve the above qualify otherwise for a Q School place or reject their invitations, places will not be offered further down the Challenge and Development Tour Orders of Merit.
- General
7.1 Participation in all PDC Events is subject to players adhering to the Darts Regulation Authority rulebook. Special attention is drawn to the rules referring to behaviour and dress code.
7.2 The PDC reserves the right to remove any Event from the calendar without prior notice but will endeavour not to add any Event to the calendar without a minimum of three months’ notice.
7.3 The PDC accepts no responsibility for any loss, financial or otherwise, incurred by any player or other person in relation to the change in an Event’s date, location or schedule providing such change is advertised on pdc.tv more than three months before the opening day of the relevant Event.
In the event of a change occurring within three months of the opening day of an Event, the PDC will enter into good faith negotiations with any player who can prove they have incurred non-refundable or changeable travel or accommodation expenses for themselves only.
7.4 The PDC reserves the right to consult with the PDPA to add to or amend any or all of these rules at any time to meet any purpose deemed to be necessary at that time by the PDC’s Board of Directors.
7.5 All match results and prize money awarded shall be recorded in all stages of all PDC Premier, ProTour and Secondary Events and this information shall be published as soon as possible after an Event has been concluded on pdc.tv.
7.6 A Player who wishes to participate in a PDC or PDC affiliated event where nationality is a determining factor for eligibility must prove the following in order to satisfy the PDC’s criteria for nationality:
– The player was born in that nation OR
– The player holds a valid passport for that nation OR
– The player has continuous residency (defined as their primary or permanent home in the nation) for five consecutive years immediately preceding the date of the relevant event.
` In cases where a player is holding dual citizenship, the player will be required to determine their primary nationality at the time of entering the relevant event and may not then change nationality for a period of five years.
In cases where a qualifying event is being staged by a local PDC affiliated organisation, the PDC’s eligibility rules shall take precedence over those of the local organisation in respect of whether a player is permitted to enter the event or not. In contentious cases, the player’s eligibility must be approved in writing by the PDC before the player is permitted to participate in the event. A player who enters an event and is subsequently denied permission to participate for reasons of eligibility of their nationality shall b entitled to a refund of their entry fee but no further liability shall be accepted by the PDC or its affiliate organisation.
This ruling has been implemented following consultation with the PDPA and both the PDC and PDPA are aware there are a larger number of unique and specific cases regarding player nationalities.
Therefore, the PDC reserves the right to alter or adapt this ruling at its sole discretion in the interests of fairness and sporting integrity.
7.7 This document will remain in force until the completion of all 2020 Events unless otherwise advised. Amendments will be announced on the PDC’s official website www.pdc.tv and unless otherwise stated will come in to force immediately from time of announcement.
