ThePDC secondary tours are semi-professionaldarts tours organised by theProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) open to players without aPDC Tour Card. The three secondary tours operated by the PDC are the Challenge Tour, Development Tour and Women's Series. Each tour consists of a year-long series of knockout tournaments which each carry their own prize money. Like thePDC Pro Tour, each of the Secondary Tours maintains its ownOrder of Merit which ranks players according to their total prize money won in each calendar year.[1] Players at the top of their respective Orders of Merit are able to qualify for certain televised PDC major events such as theWorld Championship.[2][3] In the case of the Challenge and Development Tours, the top two eligible players win PDC Tour Cards for the following season, while players on all three tours can win free entry to the following season's Q-School (the qualifying tournament for a Tour Card) by achieving a high rank.[4][5]
In addition to the three secondary tours, the PDC also sanctions several Affiliate Tours, which are largely operated in regions outside of theBritish Isles by local organisations. The Affiliate Tours have a similar structure to the secondary tours and some offer qualification to televised tournaments.[1][6] However, these qualification opportunities are fewer than those offered to the secondary tours and none offer Tour Cards.[4][6]
Several PDC major winners have participated in the secondary tours, including World ChampionsMichael van Gerwen,Rob Cross andLuke Humphries who won secondary tours prior to their World Championship successes.[7][8] Many winners of televised women's darts tournaments have won Women's Series events, including multiple-timeBDO Women's World Darts Championship winnersTrina Gulliver,Lisa Ashton andMikuru Suzuki and the reigning and three-timeWDF Women's World Darts Champion,Beau Greaves.[9][10] In February 2025, Beau Greaves became the only player to have led all three secondary tours at the same time.[11]
The PDC Challenge Tour (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the PDCWinmau Challenge Tour) is open to all players who attended that season's Q-School but failed to win a Tour Card. The Challenge Tour maintains an Order of Merit which tracks the prize money won across all tournaments in a calendar year, with the Challenge Tour winner being the player that wins the most money.[1] Both the Challenge Tour winner and runner-up receive Tour Cards for the following season, while players ranked 3–16 qualify automatically to the final stage of Q-School and are exempt from paying an entry fee.[4][5]
Four PDC majors offer places to Challenge Tour players. The Challenge Tour winner receives an invitation to theGrand Slam of Darts, while the top three players receive invitations to theWorld Championship.[6][12] Additionally, theUK Open and the preliminary stage of theWorld Masters offers places to the top eight players from the previous season's Challenge Tour who do not have a Tour Card by the time the competition is held.[1]
Currently, the tour consists of 24 events, rising from 16 events in 2014, the year the Tour was founded.[13] The first winner of a Challenge Tour tournament wasJamie Robinson, who beatMatthew Edgar 5–4 in the final of the first event.[14] In 2016,Rob Cross became the first future PDC World Champion to win a Challenge Tour event, though formerBDO World Champion andPDC World Matchplay runner-upRichie Burnett won an event in 2015.[15][16]Luke Humphries,Nathan Aspinall andRitchie Edhouse have all won Challenge Tour events before winning PDC titles. Additionally, BDO World ChampionsScott Mitchell andScott Waites, PDC World Championship runners-upKirk Shepherd andAndy Hamilton and PDC World Cup winnerJohn Henderson all won Challenge Tour titles in the later years of their careers while no longer holding PDC Tour Cards.[17] In 2024,Noa-Lynn van Leuven became the first woman to win a Challenge Tour event, whileBeau Greaves became the first woman to win multiple Challenge Tour events in 2025.[18][19] To the end of the 2024 season, 34nine-dart finishes had been hit on the Challenge Tour, withMatt Dicken the first to achieve the feat in the tour's inaugural season.[20]Fallon Sherrock's nine-darter in Event 9 of the 2023 season made her the first, and so far only, woman to achieve the feat in a PDC competition.[20][21]
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The PDC Development Tour (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the PDCWinmau Development Tour) is open to all players over the age of 16 who were aged under 24 the day after the previous season's World Championship.[1] In contrast to the Challenge Tour, Tour Card holders are eligible to play in Development Tour events if they are ranked outside the top 64 in thePDC Order of Merit. Additionally, there is no requirement for players to have played in the previous season's Q-School.[1]
Like the Challenge Tour, the top two Development Tour players at the end of the season receive Tour Cards for the following season, while players ranked 3–16 receive free entry to the final stage of Q-School.[4][5] The Development Tour offers the same qualification routes to television tournaments as the Challenge Tour, with the top-ranked player qualifying for theGrand Slam, the three best players qualifying for theWorld Championship and the eight best players that do not gain new Tour Cards over the winter qualifying for the next season'sUK Open and the preliminary stage of theWorld Masters.[1][6][12] Additionally, once invitational and eligible Tour Card holder places have been filled, the Development Tour Order of Merit is used to fill the remaining spaces at thePDC World Youth Championship.[1]
The tour was founded in 2011 as the PDC Youth Tour and was briefly named the PDC Challenge Tour in the 2013 season, before becoming the Development Tour in 2015.[22] The first winner of a Development (then Youth) Tour event wasAdam Hunt, who beatJosh Jones 4–2 in the final of the first event in 2011.[23]Michael van Gerwen won four titles and the Order of Merit in the inaugural season, and later went on to become one of the most successful players of all time.[24][25] In 2012,Michael Smith became the next Youth Tour event winner who would go on to become a PDC World Champion, followed byLuke Humphries in 2017 andLuke Littler in 2023.[26][27][28] Other PDC major winners that won events on the Development Tour before winning senior major titles areJoe Cullen,Dimitri Van den Bergh,Mike De Decker andJosh Rock.[29] To the end of the 2024 season, 24 nine-dart finishes had been hit on the Development Tour, with the first being hit by Michael Smith in the second event of the tour's first edition.[20]
The PDC Women's Series is open to all female players over the age of 16. Like the Development Tour, female Tour Card holders are eligible to play so long as they are outside the top 64 of thePDC Order of Merit. Unlike the Challenge Tour and Development Tour, no Tour Cards are awarded to the best performers of the Women's Series, though the top eight players are invited to the first stage of Q-School and are exempt from the entry fee.[5]
Like the other secondary tours, the winner of the Women's Series qualifies for theGrand Slam of Darts.[12] Eight players qualify for theWomen's World Matchplay, the PDC's only all-female televised tournament, through a separate Order of Merit tracking money won on the Women's Series in an approximately 12-month period prior to the event, which traditionally occurs in July.[1] The three players at the top of Women's Series Order of Merit (excluding the Women's World Matchplay Champion) qualify to theWorld Championship, guaranteeing that at least four places in the tournament are occupied by women.[2] Additionally, the top 8 players without Tour Cards qualify to the preliminary stages of the next season'sWorld Masters.[1]
The Women's Series was founded in 2020 as a mini-tour of four events to determine the two female qualifiers for theWorld Championship, replacing the previous women's qualifier.[30] This occurred at the same time as the demise of theBritish Darts Organisation, which previously organised the majority of women's darts events.[31] The Women's Series became a full Tour in 2021, expanding to 12 events in two locations (though three were originally planned).[32] It further expanded to 20 events in 2022 and its current 24 events in 2023.[33][34]
Initially,Lisa Ashton andFallon Sherrock dominated the Women's Series, winning all but two of the 2020 and 2021 events between them, withDeta Hedman andMikuru Suzuki winning the other two events.[35][36] However, after starting to participate midway through the 2022 season,Beau Greaves has dominated the Women's Series. Despite missing the first 12 events in 2022, Greaves won all eight remaining events to qualify for the2023 World Championship.[9][37] In 2023, Greaves won half the events, a feat which she bettered in 2025 by winning 18 events, including an 86-match winning streak across the last 13 events of the season.[38][39] In 2024,Noa-Lynn van Leuven challenged the Greaves-Ashton-Sherrock triumvirate, becoming the firsttransgender player to win Women's Series events, collecting four titles and qualifying for the World Championship.[40][41] Other than Greaves, Sherrock, Ashton and van Leuven, Mikuru Suzuki,Gemma Hayter andRobyn Byrne are the only players to win multiple Women's Series titles.[42][43][44]
| Stage reached | Challenge/Development Tour | Women's Series |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | £3,000 | £2,500 |
| Runner-up | £2,000 | £1,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £1,000 | £750 |
| Quarter-finalists | £750 | £500 |
| Last 16 | £350 | £300 |
| Last 32 | £250 | £200 |
| Last 64[b] | £100 | £75 |
| Total | £20,000 | £15,000 |
The Affiliate Tours are mostly regional tours sanctioned, but not directly run by, the PDC. With the exception of the Junior Darts Corporation, an organisation offering multiple tours for players under the age of 18, most share the format of the secondary tours, where multiple knockout tournaments are held through the year and prize money won contributes to a single Order of Merit.[46] The Next-Gen Europe tour (which servesGerman-speaking Europe) differs slightly, offering prize money both for the stage reached in a tournament and performance-based bonus money for high scores, high checkouts and short legs.[47] Additionally, both the Next-Gen Europe and Championship Darts Corporation (for American and Canadian players) use modified tournament formats on their tours. These include set-play rather than legs, double-in double-out and the addition of a group stage.[47][48] Alongside their tours, some PDC affiliates also organise standalone affiliate events, which are often televised in their region.
| Affiliate Tour | Region covered | Associated Affiliate Event | Qualifiers from Affiliate Tour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Championship[6] | Other tournaments | |||
| PDC Asian Tour | Asia | Asian Championship | Top 5 players and Asian Championship finalists | Asian Championship winner qualifies for theGrand Slam of Darts.[12] Top 16 players and highest-ranked players from some nations qualify for the Asian Championship.[49] |
| PDC Nordic and Baltic | TheNordic countries and theBaltic states | Nordic and Baltic Championship | Top 2 players and Nordic and Baltic Championship winner | Top 8 players get free entry to the first stage of Q-School.[5] Top 24 players qualify for Nordic and Baltic Championship.[50] |
| PDC Europe Next-Gen | Germany,Austria,Switzerland,Luxembourg andLiechtenstein[47] | PDC Europe Super League | PDC Europe Super League Winner | Top 20 players and top 4 youth players qualify for the PDC Europe Super League.[47] |
| Dartplayers Australia | Australia | ANZ Premier League | Top player and ANZ Premier League winner | Top 3 players qualify for ANZ Premier League.[51] |
| Australian Darts Association | Oceania | ANZ Premier League | Top player and ANZ Premier League winner | Top 2 players qualify for ANZ Premier League[51] |
| Dartplayers New Zealand | New Zealand | ANZ Premier League | Top player and ANZ Premier League winner | Top player and 1 other top-16 player to ANZ Premier League[51] |
| Championship Darts Corporation | Canada and theUnited States | North American Championship, Continental Cup and Cross-Border Challenge | Major winners and top-ranked American and Canadian | North American Championship winner qualifies forGrand Slam of Darts.[12] Qualification for majors based on CDC Order of Merit and nationality. |
| PDC China | China | China Premier League and China Championship | China Championship winner | Top 8 players qualify for the China Championship. Top 6 players qualify for the China Premier League. |
| Championship Darts Latin and Caribbean America | The Americas, excluding the United States and Canada | N/a | Qualifying tournament winner | N/a |
| African Continental Tour | Africa | N/a | Qualifying tournament winner | N/a |
| Junior Darts Corporation | Open to players worldwide aged 10-18, but based in theUnited Kingdom | Many competitions, including a World Championship.[52] | N/a | Four players selected for theWorld Masters.[1] |
