At just 17 years of age Luke Littler has become CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!
For most darts players, all they want is a tour card! The first step on the ladder - for many a ladder they have fallen off. The top 64 in the Order of Merit have already secured one, a number of players will be in the second year of a 2 year tour card, while challenge tour and development tour winners have won a 2 year card.
For everyone else there is Q-School. A week long slog where one good day can make a players dreams come true.
As usual it is split between the UK event and the European Event. UK Qualifying School will be held at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena, as Wunderland Kalkar in Germany plays host to European Qualifying School.
First Stage will be held across three days, with the eight quarter-finalists from each day qualifying automatically for the Final Stage, while the remaining places in the Final Stage - up to a total of 128 at each venue – are decided from an Order of Merit.
Players who lose their Tour Card at the end of 2024 be exempt through to Final Stage in either the UK or European Qualifying School (entry is still required).
They will be joined at Final Stage by players in the top 16 from the respective 2024 Winmau Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit who do not already have Tour Cards for 2025, who receive free entry.
The top eight players from the final 2024 Women's Series Order of Merit and 2024 PDC Nordic & Baltic Tour will also be invited to compete in First Stage of Qualifying School.
There will be a lot of well known players, including Beau Greaves who has confirmed her entry. Fallon Sherrock and Noa Lynn van Leauven will join the womens champion.
A former World Champion will be playing - John Part! The Canadian is more often seen covering tournaments for Sky, can he get back on as a player? 40 years older than Littler, Andy Hamilton is another World Championship finalist who wants to get back to the top of the game. He will have to perform in this to get back into the elite.
Despite hitting a 9 darter, Christian Kist went out in the first round of the Worlds. He will hope to go further here, along with other names who appeared in the last month such as Alexander Merckx and Darius Labanauskas.
Big John Henderson will be a fan favourite going for a tour card in MK, while Andy Boulton, Daryl Pilgrim, Aden Kirk are among the others looking to get back on the tour.
Danny Jansen is a youngster to look out for, as is Jurjen van der Velde who was beaten finalist in the youth final.
There is likely to be massive numbers, with the first stage from Monday and the final stage Thursday to Sunday. It will be epic!!
Q-School 2025
posted 1 day, 12 hours ago
Expect darts academies to flourish in the next 18 months all over the shop
posted 1 day, 8 hours ago
Given Beaton has retired and Bennett and Taylor will lose their TCs, should be a fair few up for grabs.
posted 1 day, 8 hours ago
comment by Sheriff JW Pepper (U1007)
posted 4 hours ago
Expect darts academies to flourish in the next 18 months all over the shop
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's already happening Sheriff, which is great to see. And you have the ADC running regional tournaments (The Vault) all over the country. Luke winning last night will no doubt turbocharge it.
posted 22 hours, 8 minutes ago
Over 800 players will compete in the 2025 PDC Qualifying Schools next week, with 29 Tour Cards on offer for players to secure a spot on the PDC circuit.
Following a sensational Paddy Power World Darts Championship, the focus now switches to Milton Keynes' Marshall Arena and Wunderland in Kalkar, as players from around the globe set their sights on a coveted two-year Tour Card.
Qualifying School will again feature concurrent events being staged in the UK and Germany, and is split into First Stage and Final Stage across seven days.
A total of 29 PDC Tour Cards will be on offer in Final Stage from January 9-12, with each of the daily winners in the UK and Europe receiving an automatic Tour Card.
The remaining 21 Tour Cards will be allocated to players from the UK and European Q School Final Stage Orders of Merit, and split on a pro-rata basis of total participants in each region.
First Stage will be held across three days, with the last eight players from each day qualifying automatically for Final Stage, while the remaining places in Final Stage - featuring 128 players at each venue – are decided from an Order of Merit.
There will be 474 players in First Stage action at European Qualifying School, with 354 players making the trip to the Marshall Arena for the opening three days of UK Qualifying School.
Players who lost their Tour Card at the end of 2024 will be exempt through to Final Stage in either the UK or European Qualifying School.
They will be joined at Final Stage by players in the top 16 from the respective 2024 Winmau Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit who do not already have Tour Cards for 2025.
Three-time World Champion John Part will headline the high-profile names in action during First Stage of UK Qualifying School, alongside South African star Devon Petersen.
Former Grand Slam champion Scott Waites will also be in action, as 2022 Women’s World Matchplay winner Fallon Sherrock makes her return to home soil in Milton Keynes.
Germany's former World Youth Champion Max Hopp - a winner of two PDC ranking titles - will headline First Stage at European Qualifying School, as he targets a return to the professional circuit.
Women’s Series star Noa-Lynn van Leuven will also feature in Kalkar, as will Belgium’s Brian Raman, New Zealand’s Ben Robb and Poland’s Krzysztof Kciuk.
Australian icon Simon Whitlock will headline the list of Final Stage entries in UK Qualifying School, where he will be joined by fellow veteran star Mervyn King and two-time Women's World Matchplay winner Beau Greaves.
Dutch star Jeffrey de Zwaan and Austria's World Cup runner-up Rowby-John Rodriguez will compete in Final Stage at European Qualifying School, with Czech World Cup duo Karel Sedlacek and Adam Gawlas also eyeing an instant ProTour return.
Matches in the First Stage will be played over the best of nine legs, while the Final Stage encounters will be contested over the best of 11 legs.