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

The biggest tournaments can all be watched on television. Dartsnieuws has put together a rundown of the ten biggest televised tournaments on the PDC calendar.

World Darts Championship

This is the most prestigious darts tournament. The event is played every year around the Christmas and New Year period at Alexandra Palace in London. The winner will be crowned world champion and lift the Sid Waddell Cup. The current world champion collects the top prize of 500,000 pounds.

The first edition of the PDC World Darts Championship took place in 1994. Dennis Priestley won the world title at the expense of Phil Taylor. However, ‘The Power’ went on to win fourteen of his sixteen world titles with the PDC.

Participants in the World Darts Championship consist of 96 players. The world’s top 32 will receive invitations, as well as 32 players through the Pro Tour. The line-up is complemented by 32 international qualifiers.

Premier League Darts

This event is known as the best darts competition in the world. Eight of the best darts players participate in this and compete against each other for sixteen weeks. The four best players then enter the play-off round in the seventeenth week.

Premier League Darts was founded in 2005 and visits large arenas every week. Initially it was only in England and Ireland, but now host cities in the Netherlands and Germany are also widely visited.

After the World Cup of Darts, the Premier League is the tournament with the largest prize pool. It contains no less than 1,000,000 pounds. Of this amount, 275,000 is awarded to the winner of the Premier League Darts. Prize money in these tournaments does not count towards the world ranking.

World Match Play

The iconic tournament in Blackpool is also referred to as the World Cup of the summer by some. The World Games have been part of the PDC calendar since 1994.

Winter Gardens in Blackpool has hosted the World Matchplay since the tournament’s inception. The world’s top 16 ranked and sixteen best Pro Tour players can participate.

Winner of this event received the Phil Taylor Trophy. This British darts legend won the World Matchplay no less than sixteen times. There will be £800,000 in prize money awarded at World Matchplay, with £200,000 awarded to the winner.

Grand Slam Darts

Another iconic tournament on the PDC calendar is the Grand Slam of Darts. The tournament was held for the first time in 2007 and differentiates itself in several ways from other major tournaments on the PDC calendar.

In the early years, BDO players also took part in the Grand Slam of Darts. Darts legends such as Andy Fordham, Martin Adams, Darryl Fitton and Tony O’Shea were also able to compete with the world’s top in Wolverhampton.

Currently players can only qualify through the PDC circuit in various ways. The 32 participants were first divided into eight groups of four players each. The best players then advance to the knockout phase. Trophy at the Grand Slam of Darts named after darts legend Eric Bristow, who became BDO world champion five times. He died on April 5, 2018.

World Grand Prix

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

The World Grand Prix was one of the first PDC majors. The first edition was held in 1998. The world’s top 16 ranked and sixteen best Pro Tour players were allowed to participate.

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

European Championship

The European Championships is the only ranking major not played in England. Participants in this event include 32 of the best players of the Euro Tour season.

The tournament has been part of the PDC calendar since 2008 and has since attracted many host cities. Previously, this tournament took place in Frankfurt, Hoofddorp, Dinslaken, Düsseldorf, Mülheim, Hasselt, Göttingen, Oberhausen and Salzburg, but now Dortmund is hosting the European Championship.

The prize pool for this tournament includes prize money of £500,000. The winner of the European Championships will take home the top prize of £120,000.

British Open

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

The event is also known as the ‘FA Cup of Darts’ because it uses an open draw and because sixteen ‘Amateur Qualifying Rileys’ are also allowed to participate in this major.

The UK Open was first played in 2003. In its 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. The winner will receive the top prize of £110,000.

Players Championship Final

We’ll be staying in Minehead for a while, as the Players Championship Final will also be played there. It is traditionally the last televised tournament before the World Cup of Darts.

The Players Championship Finals were first held in 2009. At that time, the top 32 Players Championship Order of Merit players were permitted to participate, but since 2016 the number of players has been expanded to 64 players. The 64 players who perform best in thirty Players Championship tournaments will receive an invitation.

The prize pool for this tournament includes prize money of £600,000. The winner of the Players Championship Final will take home the top prize of £120,000.

World Darts Cup

At the World Darts Cup, 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 World Cup of Darts was held in 2010, but currently only pairs matches are played in this country’s tournament. The four highest ranked countries automatically qualify for the knockout phase. The remaining 36 countries compete in twelve groups of three countries each for a place in the top sixteen. After the group stage, an elimination schedule will be carried out to determine which country will be able to lift the trophy.

In the early years, the World Darts Cup 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). Over the past five years, Scotland (twice), Wales (twice) and Australia (once) have emerged victorious.

Teacher

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 has been played in Milton Keynes since 2015.

From 2013 to 2020, the player pool consisted of the top 16 world ranking players, but in 2021 the player pool was expanded to 24 players. The top eight of the PDC Order of Merit entered from the second round.

This event usually takes place a month after the World Darts Cup final. In terms of prize money, this tournament is also the smallest major tournament. £275,000 has been made available for the tournament. The winner will receive £65,000. Prize money in these tournaments does not count towards the world ranking.