These are the top 10 biggest darts tournaments within the PDC

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) hosts a wide range of darts tournaments throughout the year, ranging from major televised tournaments to smaller floor tournaments and regional events.

The biggest tournaments are all televised. Dartsnews has compiled an overview of the 10 biggest televised tournaments on the PDC calendar.

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World Darts Championship

This is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of darts. The event is played annually around the Christmas and New Year period at Alexandra Palace in London. The winner is crowned world champion and gets to hold up the Sid Waddell Trophy. The world champion currently collects the top prize of 500,000 pounds.

The first edition of the World Darts Championship at the PDC took place in 1994. Dennis Priestley then won the world title at the expense of Phil Taylor. However, 'The Power' would go on to win 14 of his 16 world titles at the PDC after that.

The field of participants at the World Darts Championship consists of 96 players. The top-32 of the world rankings will receive an invitation, as well as 32 players through the Pro Tour. Completing the lineup are 32 international qualifiers.

Premier League Darts

This event is known as the best darts competition in the world. The eight best darters compete in it and compete against each other for sixteen weeks. The four best players then compete in the playoffs in the seventeenth week.

The Premier League Darts was founded in 2005 and visits major arenas on a weekly basis. At first only in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but today it also visits playing cities in the Netherlands and Germany.

After the World Darts Championship, the Premier League is the tournament with the largest prize pool. It contains as much as 1,000,000 pounds. Of this, 275,000 goes to the winner of the Premier League Darts. The prize money at this tournament does not count toward the world rankings.

World Matchplay

The iconic tournament in Blackpool is also referred to by some as the summer World Championship. The World Matchplay has been part of the PDC calendar since 1994.

The Winter Gardens in Blackpool has hosted the World Matchplay since the inception of this tournament. The top 16 players in the world rankings and the 16 best Pro Tour players are allowed to compete.

The winner of this event will receive the Phil Taylor Trophy. The English darts legend has won the World Matchplay no less than sixteen times. There is 800,000 pounds of prize money distributed at the World Matchplay, of which 200,000 pounds goes to the winner.

Grand Slam of Darts

Another iconic tournament on the PDC calendar is the Grand Slam of Darts. The tournament first took place in 2007 and distinguished itself from the other major tournaments on the PDC calendar in several ways.

Indeed, in the early years, BDO players also competed in the Grand Slam of Darts. So darts legends like Andy Fordham, Martin Adams, Darryl Fitton and Tony O'Shea could also compete with the world's top players in Wolverhampton.

These days, players can only qualify through the PDC circuit in various ways. First, the 32 participants are divided into eight groups of four players each. The best players then advance to the knockout stage. The cup at the Grand Slam of Darts is named after darts legend Eric Bristow, who became a five-time world champion with the BDO. He passed away on April 5 in 2018.

World Grand Prix

A dreaded but also unique tournament on the calendar is the World Grand Prix. This is the only event where players must not only end legs with a double, but also open with a double.

The World Grand Prix is one of the first PDC majors. The first edition was held in 1998. The top-16 world rankings and the 16 best Pro Tour players are allowed to compete in it.

Since 2021, the Morningside Arena in Leicester has hosted the World Grand Prix. The prize pool includes 600,000 pounds. The winner will receive the grand prize of 120,000 pounds.

European Championship

The European Championship is the only ranking major not played in the United Kingdom. The field of competitors for this event includes the 32 best players of the Euro Tour season.

The tournament has been part of the PDC calendar since 2008 and has worn out quite a few playing cities since then. In the past, the tournament took place in Frankfurt, Hoofddorp, Dinslaken, Düsseldorf, Mülheim, Hasselt, Göttingen, Oberhausen and Salzburg, but today Dortmund hosts the European Championship.

The prize pool for this tournament includes £500,000 in prize money. The winner of the European Championship will take home the grand prize of 120,000 pounds.

UK Open

The UK Open is a tournament that is especially popular with the public. With 160 participants, the UK Open is the largest televised tournament on the calendar in terms of attendance.

The event is also known as the "FA Cup of Darts" because an open draw is used and because sixteen "Rileys Amateur Qualifiers" are also allowed to compete in this major.

The UK Open was first played in 2003. In the early years it took place in Bolton, but since 2014 the UK Open has been held at Butlin's Resort Minehead. The prize pool contains 600,000 pounds. The winner receives the top prize of 110,000 pounds.

Players Championship Finals

We will stay in Minehead for a while, as the Players Championship Finals will also be played there. This is traditionally the last televised tournament prior to the Darts World Cup.

The Players Championship Finals were first held in 2009. Back then, the top-32 players on the Players Championship Order of Merit were allowed to compete, but since 2016, the field of participants has expanded to 64 players. The 64 players who perform the best at the thirty Players Championship tournaments, receive an invitation.

The prize pool for this tournament includes 600,000 pounds of prize money. The winner of the Players Championship Finals will take home the grand prize of 120,000 pounds.

World Cup of Darts

At the World Cup of Darts, players do not operate individually but play as a team and for their country. Forty countries participate in this tournament and each country consists of two players.

The format of this tournament has changed several times since the creation of the World Cup of Darts in 2010, but nowadays only pairings are played at this country tournament. The four highest ranked countries are automatically qualified for the knockout phase. The remaining 36 countries compete in 12 pools of three countries each for a spot in the last sixteen. After the pool phase, a knockout schedule will be played to determine which country gets to lift the cup.

In the early years, the World Cup of Darts was dominated by England (Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis) and the Netherlands (Raymond van Barneveld first with Co Stompé and later with Michael van Gerwen). In the past five years, it has been Scotland (twice), Wales (twice) and Australia (once) who have run away with the final victory.

 

Masters

The Masters is one of the newest major tournaments on the PDC calendar. The first edition was held in Edinburgh in 2013. After two years in Scotland, the Masters have been played in Milton Keynes since 2015.

From 2013 through 2020, the entry field consisted of the top 16 players in the world rankings, but in 2021 the entry field was expanded to 24 players. The top eight players on the PDC Order of Merit will enter from the second round.

The event usually takes place a month after the World Darts Championship final. In terms of prize money, this tournament is also the smallest major. There is 275,000 pounds made available for this tournament. The winner will receive 65,000 pounds. Prize money at this tournament does not count toward the world rankings.

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