Gary Anderson no longer has to play a qualifying tournament: will he return to the Euro Tour in 2024?

Next Wednesday and Thursday, the last two Players Championship tournaments of the season will be played. At stake for some players is qualification for the Players Championship Finals and the WorldDartsChampionship.

But looking further ahead, these two tournaments are also important for the start of the new Pro Tour season in February 2024. Indeed, the top-16 players on the Pro Tour Order of Merit will be allowed to compete in the first two Euro Tour tournaments of 2024.

The first two Euro Tours of 2024 are in Wieze, Belgium (March 8-10) and Munich, Germany (March 30-April 1). Big names like Dave Chisnall, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith and Danny Noppert will be seeded for these tournaments anyway.

Gary Anderson is also firmly in the top-16 for now. The Scot did not play any Euro Tour tournaments from 2017 to 2022, but showed up twice on the Euro Tour in 2023 to improve his (Pro Tour) ranking. However, then Anderson had to participate in qualifying tournaments first.

Thanks to good performances at floor tournaments, including three Players Championship titles, Anderson has returned to the top-16 of the Pro Tour rankings. This allows 'The Flying Scotsman' to participate in the Euro Tour tournaments without playing qualifying tournaments first. The choice then lies entirely with Anderson, whether he wants to go down (some) Euro Tours again.

Looking lower on the Pro Tour Order of Merit, we do see Peter Wright, Joe Cullen and Nathan Aspinall outside the top-16. They were a fixture in the top-16 for many years and were thus automatically qualified for the Euro Tours each time. Unless these players earn some prize money quickly, it seems they will first have to play qualifying tournaments in 2024 in order to be able to participate in the Euro Tour tournaments again.