128 players are granted
PDC Tour Cards, which enables them to participate in all Players Championship events, the
UK Open, and qualifiers for all European Tours and select televised events.
Tour Cards The 2026 PDC Tour Cards were awarded to: • (64) The top 64 players from the
PDC Order of Merit after the
2026 World Championship • (28) Qualifiers from
2025 Q-School not ranked in the top 64 of the
PDC Order of Merit following the World Championship • (2) Two highest qualifiers from the
2024 Challenge Tour (
Wesley Plaisier and
Christian Kist) • (1) The highest qualifier from the
2024 Development Tour (
Sebastian Białecki) •
Niko Springer, who also earned a Tour Card through the 2024 Development Tour, entered the top 64 in his first year on tour. Therefore, one extra Tour Card was awarded at 2026 Q-School. • (2) Two highest qualifiers from the
2025 Challenge Tour (
Stefan Bellmont and
Darius Labanauskas) • (2) Two highest qualifiers from the
2025 Development Tour (
Beau Greaves and
Owen Bates) • (16) The daily finalists from the 2026 Q-Schools. Afterwards, the playing field was complemented by the highest qualified players from the Q-School Orders of Merit until the maximum number of 128 Tour Card players had been reached.
Q-School PDC Qualifying School (or Q-School) is split into two different events:
UK Q-School for British and Irish players, held at the
Arena MK in
Milton Keynes, England; and
European Q-School for the rest of Europe, held at
Wunderland Kalkar in
Kalkar, Germany. Non-European players can choose which Q-School to compete in. There are two stages in Q-School: • The First Stage, played between 5–7 January, was entered by any darts player who registered to compete. The players who reached the last 16 of each of the three days qualified for the Final Stage alongside other players coming from a First Stage Order of Merit ranking, producing a full list of 128 players for each Final Stage. • The Final Stage, held between 8–11 January, consisted of all players qualified from the First Stage plus the players exempted to the Final Stage; players who were exempted were those who lost their PDC Tour Cards after the
2026 World Championship, and those who finished from third to sixteenth in the
2025 Challenge Tour and
Development Tour Orders of Merit who did not have PDC Tour Cards yet. In a change from prior years, players from lower in the First Stage Order of Merit came in after the first day to replace Tour Card winners, with the intent of consistently having a 128-player field at both Q-Schools. The final two players of each day's play in the Final Stage were given a PDC Tour Card. The remaining Tour Cards were then awarded to players in qualifying positions on the respective UK and European Q-School Orders of Merit. A total of 29 PDC Tour Cards were distributed—13 at UK Q-School and 16 at European Q-School.
UK Q-School Order of Merit • • • • •
European Q-School Order of Merit • • • • • • • • ==Players Championships==