PDC Qualifying Schools 2021: Format & entries as 640 players battle it out for 29 Tour Cards

• Barney: I feel reborn
• Sherrock chasing Tour Card

Both the UK and European Qualifying Schools will have a Stage One held across two blocks of three days - February 8-10 and 11-13 - before the Final Stage, which will consist of a maximum of 128 players per venue, is held from February 14-17.

In a new development for 2021, players who lost their Tour Card following the 2020 season have automatically qualified for the Final Stage of Qualifying School, alongside players who finished in the Top 16 of the 2020 Challenge Tour and Development Tour Orders of Merit.

Stage One was open to any darts player aged 16 or above and they will battle it out for the remaining spaces at the two Final Stages - 96 in the UK and 110 in the European.

The UK Q-School has attracted 397 entries, with 32 players automatically going through to the Final Stage, while the European Q-School has 271 entries, with 18 players exempt to the Final Stage.

Apart from those going straight to the Final Stage, eye-catching names eyeing a Tour Card in the UK include Fallon Sherrock, Kevin Painter, Wes Newton, Darryl Fitton, Wayne Warren, Danny Baggish, Mark Dudbridge and Andy Jenkins.

In Germany, the likes of Raymond van Barneveld, Nico Kurz, Richard Veenstra, Anastasia Dobromyslova and Ronny Huybrechts are involved.

Q School Format

First Stage - Stage 1A and 1B

* First Stage will consist of three days of play, with each day's play featuring a random draw without seedings and games over the best of 11 legs.
* Players are split into one of two three-day blocks in the UK and Europe for Stage One.
* With 32 players exempt through to Final Stage in the UK Qualifying School, UK Stage One will be required to produce a total of 96 players.
* With 18 players exempt through to Final Stage in the European Qualifying School, European Stage One will be required to produce a total of 110 players.
* The last four players on each day of Stage 1A and 1B will qualify by right for Final Stage. All other players will receive one point per victory from the first full round onwards on each day (defined as a round played without byes caused by the draw), and the respective three-day blocks will operate their own Order of Merit to provide further qualifiers for Final Stage, as follows:
UK Qualifying School Stage 1A & 1B will each provide 36 players from their respective Order of Merit.
European Qualifying School Stage 1A & 1B will each provide 43 players from their respective Order of Merit.
* Combined Orders of Merit will be used in the UK and Europe respectively (combining players from Stage 1A and 1B who did not initially qualify for Final Stage) to create a reserve list should any player(s) be unable to compete in Final Stage at either venue.
* Players level on Points Won shall be split by Leg Difference, then Legs Won, then Overall Average (based on DartConnect scoring) and then a Play-Off if necessary. Leg Difference and Legs Won only count from games where Points are allocated (complete rounds in First Stage that don't include byes).
* Wins by virtue of a walkover in any round where Points are allocated shall be counted as a 6-0 win. If a player withdraws midway through a match their opponent shall be awarded the win by 6 legs to however many legs the withdrawing player has won at the time of withdrawal.

Final Stage

* The UK Qualifying School Final Stage and European Qualifying School Final Stage will each feature 128 players, comprised as follows (split per venue as per geographical eligibility):
- PDC Tour Card Holders from 2020 who lost their Tour Card.
- Players who finished in the Top 16 of the 2020 PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit
- Players who finished in the Top 16 of the 2020 PDC Development Tour Order of Merit
- Qualifiers from the First Stage of Qualifying School (however many are needed to make up 128 after the above three criteria have been fulfilled)
* Final Stage will consist of four days of play, with each day's play featuring a random draw without seedings and games over the best of 11 legs.
* As each Final Stage has 128 players, the winner on each day at both the UK Qualifying School and European Qualifying School will receive a PDC Tour Card.
* Additional Tour Cards at each event will then be on offer for players from the Final Stage Orders of Merit in the UK and Europe. All players will receive one point per victory from the Last 64 onwards on each day of Final Stage to form the Final Stage Orders of Merit.
* Players level on Points Won shall be split by Leg Difference, then Legs Won, then Overall Average (based on DartConnect scoring) and then a Play-Off if necessary. Leg Difference and Legs Won only count from games where Points are allocated (Last 64 onwards).
* Wins by virtue of a walkover in any round where Points are allocated shall be counted as a 6-0 win. If a player withdraws midway through a match their opponent shall be awarded the win by 6 legs to however many legs the withdrawing player has won at the time of withdrawal.
* The split of the 21 additional Tour Cards across both Qualifying Schools will be allocated pro-rata based on the final number of players who participate in Stage 1A and 1B combined at each Qualifying School plus the players exempt to Final Stage, and will be confirmed ahead of the commencement of Final Stage.

What if players don't win a tour card?

Players who do not win a PDC Tour Card but compete in at least the first day of their allocated Qualifying School dates will become PDPA Associate Members and be eligible to compete on the PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour in 2021. Players who do not intend on competing in all days must compete at least in Day One of their allocated dates, due to the Covid-19 protocols in place for these events.

The 2021 Challenge Tour will feature a minimum of eight events before the end of June 2021, subject to government restrictions, with details of further events and all dates to be confirmed in due course.

2021 PDC UK Qualifying School Allocations

Stage 1A (182 Players)

• David Airey
• Patrick Aldoescu
• Craig Anderson
• Daniel Anstiss
• James Bailey
• Alex Ball
• Jamie Barrowman
• Chas Barstow
• Dave Bayton
• Carl Beattie
• Nicholas Bell
• Christopher Bent
• Paul Berriman
• Nathan Boon
• Sam Booth
• Philip Borthwick
• John Bowles
• Fred Box
• Andrew Broll
• Dale Brooke
• John Brown
• Lee Budgen
• David Calvert
• Chris Campbell
• Sam Cankett
• Francis Carragher
• Jake Carter
• Jimmy Chojnowski
• Ricky Clarke
• Brett Claydon
• Derek Coulson
• Barrie Cox
• Jordan Crabtree
• Roger Crook
• Matt Crowley
• Niall Culleton
• Barry Davies
• Daniel Day
• Christopher Dominey
• Ben Dulley
• Jamie Durrant
• Steve Earley
• David Edwards
• Micheal Fearon
• Darryl Fitton
• Liam Fowkes
• Jason Gallagher
• Stephen Gallimore
• Joe Geraghty
• Amit Gilitwala
• Stephen Gilligan
• Nathan Girvan
• Wayne Glover
• Martin Green
• Kai Haddock
• Corrine Hammond
• Luke Hardy
• Rikki Harrison
• Kelvin Hart
• Rhys Hayden
• Danny Haygreen
• Ben Hazel
• Jason Heaver
• Deta Hedman
• Jack Hegarty
• Sam Hewson
• Steve Hine
• Cameron Hodgson
• Ryan Hogarth
• Jason Hogg
• Ashley Holgate
• Scott Hope
• Peter Hudson
• Dale Hughes
• John Imrie
• Matt Jackson
• Nick Jennings
• Steven Kirkham
• Hamond Kumar
• David Ladley
• Mark Lawrence
• Eddie Lovely
• Neil MacDougall
• Ross MacDougall
• Ian Mackenzie
• Joe Main
• Jack Main
• Jason Marriott
• Scott Marsh
• Gordon Mathers
• Kenneth Matthews
• Josh McCarthy
• Kevin McDine
• Shaun McDonald
• Jim McEwan
• Shane McGuirk
• Tommy McKay
• Simon McKenner
• Liam Meek
• Cameron Menzies
• Paul Mitchell
• Arron Monk
• Danny Moore
• Kurt Morgan
• Wayne Morgan
• Shaun Moughtin
• Jack Neary
• Tony Newell
• Wes Newton
• Mike Norton
• Keith O'Neill
• Ben Oldroyd
• Rikki Oversby
• Matt Padgett
• Kevin Painter
• Joey Palfreyman
• Josie Paterson
• John Power
• Martin Pratt
• Dave Prins
• Haupai Puha
• Chris Quantock
• Ben Quenby
• Andrew Quinn
• Dan Read
• James Richardson
• Steven Riches
• Greg Ritchie
• Mark Robinson
• Paul Rowley
• Craig Rust
• John Scott
• Connor Scutt
• Craig Searle
• Jaikob Selby-Rivas
• Matthew Shadwick
• Adam Shanks
• Fallon Sherrock
• Coni Singh Nagi
• Joe Singleton
• Richard Smith
• Adam Smith-Neale
• Ben Songhurst
• Simon Sparrow
• Gareth Starling
• James Stephenson
• Charlie Symons
• Tony Thom
• Kevin Thomas
• Mick Todd
• Aaron Turner
• Curtis Turner
• Robert Turner
• Graham Usher
• Jamie Venning
• Michael Venton
• Jack Vincent
• Wayne Wall
• Mike Warburton
• Sam Ward
• Wayne Warren
• David Wawrzewski
• Stuart White
• Scott Williams
• Harry Williams
• Lorraine Winstanley
• Dean Winstanley
• Lloyd Wintle
• James Woodhouse
• Brian Woods
• Robert Yelding
• Mark Yelding

Stage 1B (181 Players)

• Ben Adams
• Antony Allen
• Cameron Anderson
• Frankie Ansell
• Danny Aplin
• Darren Armstrong
• Jason Askew
• Daniel Baggish
• Michael Baker
• Danny Ballard
• Brian Barnett
• Carl Batchelor
• Marc Benton
• Darren Beveridge
• James Bishop (Reading)
• Jack Boardman
• Steven Bradley
• Wayne Brill
• Rachel Brooks
• Jordan Brooks
• Neilie Brouder
• Anthony Brown
• Kevin Burness
• Stephen Burton
• Gary Butcher
• Ben Cheeseman
• Emlyn Clark
• Jamie Clark
• Lee Cocks
• Jarred Cole
• Reece Colley
• Ryan Craddock
• Chris Craven
• Terry Creed
• Jason Cullen
• Henry Cutting
• Lewis Dare
• Lee Davies
• Rhys Davies
• Adrian Devine
• Anastasia Dobromyslova
• Mark Dudbridge
• James Duncan
• Richie Edwards
• Martin Edwards
• Kev Edwards (Newcastle)
• Robbie Ellis
• Brad Ellis
• Luke Ely
• Mark Esson
• Kieran Evans
• Lee Evans
• Sean Fisher
• Glenn Fitzpatrick
• Rhys Flynn
• Wayne France
• Nick Fullwell
• Ryan Furness
• Liam Gallagher
• Billy Gallie
• Kevin Garcia
• Glenn Gibson
• Callum Goffin
• Dan Green
• Carter Guiney
• Brian Hallas
• Ryan Harrington
• Sam Harris
• Frederick Harrison
• Lee Hayes
• Jonathan Hayllor
• Killian Heffernan
• Lyndon Hextall
• Chris Hogg
• Paul Holloway
• Bradley Holme
• Justin Hood
• Sam Hunter
• Andy Jenkins
• Adam Jenkinson
• Prakash Jiwa
• Darren Johnson
• Jake Jones
• Kyran Jones
• Dean Jones (Wales)
• Coby Jones-Swanson
• Ian Jopling
• Mark Kingdon
• Aden Kirk
• Veljko Knezevic
• Dino Konstantis
• Daniel Lauby
• Daniel Lee
• Ian Lever
• Colin Littlecott
• Alex Long
• Thomas Lovely
• Martin Lukeman
• Derek Lumley
• Bleddyn Lyons
• Owen Maiden
• Jon Mansell
• Shaun Matthews
• Daniel Maystone
• Simon McCall
• Andre Luke McGill
• Andy McGovern
• Jimmy McKirdy
• Stephen McNally
• Barry Morgan
• Adam Mould
• Russell Murphy
• David Neads
• David Nicholson
• Alan Norris
• Shane O'Connor
• John O'Shea
• Colin Osborne
• Robert Owen
• Lee Palfreyman
• Ryan Palmer
• Reece Pauling
• Lloyd Pennell
• Brad Phillips
• Ian Plumb
• Andrew Poole
• Diogo Portela
• Shane Price
• Lewis Pride
• Tony Procter
• Bradley Quelch
• Stuart Reeve
• Todd Richardson
• Kyle Richardson
• Ronnie Rickner
• Robert Rickwood
• Scott Ridler
• Peter Rigler
• Ben Rigler
• Ross Rimmer
• Jamie Robinson
• Johnny Rooney
• Mark Ryan
• Luke Smith
• Suzanne Smith
• Justin Smith
• Alan Soutar
• Gary Stafford
• Freddy Still
• John Teal
• Martin Thomas
• Wayne Thomas
• Bruce Troup
• Martyn Turner
• A.J. Urmston-Toft
• Graham Vernon
• Richie Walsh
• Scottie Walters
• Jock Watt
• Karl Webster
• John West
• Lee Whitworth
• Christopher Wickenden
• Joshua Williams
• Stu Wilson
• Christopher Wood
• Richard Wood
• Jonathan Wynn
• José Marquês
• Janis Mustafejevs
• Paul Whitworth

Final Stage (32 players exempt to Final Stage)

• Scott Baker
• Michael Barnard
• Barrie Bates
• Richie Burnett
• Gavin Carlin
• Matt Clark
• Robert Collins
• Joe Davis
• Matthew Dennant
• Nathan Derry
• Andrew Gilding
• Adrian Gray
• Rhys Griffin
• Adam Huckvale
• Keelan Kay
• Jamie Lewis
• Scott Mitchell
• Joe Murnan
• Richard North
• David Pallett
• Nathan Rafferty
• Reece Robinson
• Kirk Shepherd
• Simon Stevenson
• Scott Taylor
• Dom Taylor
• Robert Thornton
• Conan Whitehead
• Carl Wilkinson
• Jim Williams
• Lewis Williams
• Jon Worsley

2021 European Qualifying School Allocations

Stage 1A (127 Players)

• Mark Albert
• Marcel Althaus
• Eynur Babayev
• Sandor Ballo
• Toms Balodis
• Mindaugas Barauskas
• Moreno Blom
• Jiri Brejcha
• Mario Brescakovic
• Michael Bruder
• Gheorghe Calagiu
• Tim Darmstadter
• Kristiaan de Boer
• Geert De Vos
• Jeffrey De Zeeuw
• Rene Eidams
• El Abbas El Amri
• Marcel Erba
• Markus Erhard
• Sven Fiedler
• Alex Flohr
• Andreas Frei
• Adam Gawlas
• Sören Giese
• Nauris Gleglu
• Kai Gotthardt
• Antonius Greebe
• Jürgen Grupp
• Fredi Gsellmann
• Michael Hahn
• Sven Haltmayer
• Ricoh Handt
• Niels-Joergen Hansen
• Niels Heinsoe
• Simeon Heinz
• Leo Hendriks
• Elias Henkel
• Moritz Hilger
• Sven Hilling
• Roland Hol
• Artur Jaa
• Andreas Jaguttis
• Danny Jansen
• Andreas Toft Jorgensen
• Danny Kaiser
• Alexander Kastner
• Felix Kleeberg
• Jens Kniest
• Karsten Koch
• Gillian Koehoorn
• Thomas Kohnlein
• Boris Koltsov
• Patrik Kovacs
• René Kruit
• Nico Kurz
• Chris Landman
• Tomas Ledl
• Pero Ljubic
• Adis Ljubijankic
• Fabian Lorenz
• Kevin Luhr
• Patrick Maat
• Remo Mandiau
• Daniel Meyer
• Jeroen Mioch
• Steven Morrison
• Eric Mundo
• Kenny Neyens
• Steven Noster
• Marco Obst
• Baran Uzdemir
• Dennie Olde Kalter
• Jonathan Parvaneh
• Berry Pater
• Patrick Peters
• Lasse Petersen
• Ricardo Pietreczko
• Wesley Plaisier
• Michael Plooy
• Patrick Plötz
• Sebastian Pohl
• Ivan Springborg Poulsen
• Lorenzo Pronk
• Davy Cheers
• Marko Puls
• Michael Rasztovits
• leon Reijnders
• Franz Roetzsch
• Malte Schleinitz
• Moritz Schmitz
• Francois Schweyen
• Niko Springer
• Daniel Sprudzs
• Sebastian Steyer
• Michael Stoeten
• Stefan Taferner
• Erik Tautfest
• Olaf Thies
• Egor Tvorogov
• Michael Unterbuchner
• Raymond van Barneveld
• Johannes van de Weerd
• John Van de Weerd
• Patrick van den Boogaard
• Jeremy van der Winkel
• Jeffrey Van Egdom
• Eimardo Van Engelen
• Philip Van Gasse
• Lorenzo Van Hove
• Mikel van Maastrigt
• Justin van Tergouw
• Gian van Veen
• Roberto Vandaele
• Mario Vandenbogaerde
• Richard Veenstra
• Rients Visser
• Paul Wacanno
• Cedric Waegemans
• Nico Wagner
• Lukas Wenig
• Jens Wittlinger
• Tim Wolters
• Jens Ziegler
• Erwin Ziermeier

Stage 1B (126 players)

• Jonas Aplowski
• Arsen Ballaj
• Andrew Beeton
• Stefan Bellmont
• Kevin Blomme
• Eric Boyer
• Joel Breitenmoser
• Patrick Bulen
• Pascal Burock
• Matt Campbell
• Sam Coenders
• Kevin Costantini
• Jeffrey De Graaf
• Jandirk de Groot
• Joey de Jong
• Mathieu De Loos
• Ryan De Vreede
• Jean-Pierre Delcourt
• Dominik Diemer
• Martijn Dragt
• Alexander Draisbach
• Klaus-Dieter Einenkel
• Alexander Elijah
• Johan Engstrom
• Levy Frauenfelder
• Leonard Gates
• Marcel Gerdon
• Dominique Goldberg
• Joaquim Goncalves
• Michael Hausler
• Teuvo Haverinen
• Florian Hempel
• Jerry Hendriks
• Jimmy Hendriks
• Joshua Hermann
• Kai Herwede
• Tobias Hoentsch
• Ole Holtkamp
• Dragutin Horvat
• Peter Hubinger
• Ronny Huybrechts
• Marco Jansen
• Christian Jentschke
• Thomas Junghans
• José Justicia
• Murat Kapar
• Hatman Karaca
• Fetih Kaya
• Sebastian Keine
• Christian Kist
• Daniel Klas
• Alexander Klein
• Daniel Klose
• Robbie Knops
• Florian Koenig
• Thomas Kohlmann
• Arjan Konterman
• Sergio Scratches
• Tom Veje Kristensen
• Bent Lambertsen
• Zoran Lerchbacher
• Christopher Lindl
• Chengan Liu
• Ole Luckow
• Fabian Maier
• Willem Mandigers
• Robert Marijanovic
• Gary Mawson
• Tim May
• Erik Meulenmeesters
• Hakar Mezory
• Sven Miesen
• Roemer Mooijman
• Ignacio Moreno Gaston
• Nic Mueller
• Mirko Muhlheim
• Georgios Nanos
• Claus Bendix Nielsen
• Stefan Nilles
• Marcel Notzon
• Karel Papezik
• Luc Peters
• Daniele Petri
• Colin Philippi
• Mike Poge
• Mike Rava
• Goran Repic
• Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
• Owen Roelofs
• Brian Rohmann Andersen
• David Rosi
• Nils Schierbrock
• David Schlichting
• Nico Schlund
• Miro Seemann
• Daniel Skoda
• Kay Smeets
• Michal Smejda
• Dustin Straver
• Veniamin Symeonidis
• Eduard Szabo
• Danny Tessmann
• Dominik Thiel
• Laurent Toussaint
• Thibault Tricole
• Patrick Tringler
• Gijsbert Van Malsen
• Erik van Manen
• Danny van Trijp
• Marvin van Velzen
• Kevin Van Wauwe
• Maikel Venema
• Davyd Venken
• Veijo Viinikka
• Gino Vos
• Mike Wedler
• Steve Wollener
• Sandro Wyss
• Di Zhuang
• Marcel Zwally
• Julian Zwergel

Final Stage (18 players exempt to Final Stage)

• Toni Alcinas
• Sebastian Bialecki
• Christian Bunse
• Jan Dekker
• Kevin Doets
• Marko Kantele
• John Michael
• Damian Mol
• Geert Nentjes
• Brian Raman
• Rowby-John Rodriguez
• Martin Schindler
• Benito van de Pas
• Vincent Van der Meer
• Jitse Van der Wal
• Maikel Verberk
• Niels Zonneveld

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