2021 PDC Rules Announced February 7 2021
1. 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:
(i) 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.
(ii) 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).
(iii) A Day Member is defined as a non-UK national who may pay a supplement to their entry fee for relevant qualifying Events for European Tour Events.
(iv) 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 Amateur 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) and Premier 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 the PDC Player Contract and accept the PDPA Code of Conduct and Constitution 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.