The 2020 Professional Darts Corporation calendar has been confirmed, with over 150 days of darts to take place on the circuit next year including a first visit for the PDC European Tour to Hungary.
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Another exciting year will begin with Qualifying School from January 16-19, with simultaneous events being held in the UK and Germany as players bid to secure coveted PDC Tour Cards to compete on the ProTour.
The Ladbrokes Masters sees the top 16 return to action in Milton Keynes from January 31-February 2 for the first televised event following the conclusion of the William Hill World Darts Championship on New Year's Day.
The Unibet Premier League season then begins on Thursday February 6 at the new P&J Live arena in Aberdeen, beginning the 17-night tour of the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany.
The tournament will then move to Nottingham, Cardiff and Dublin during the remainder of February before the visit to Westpoint Exeter on Thursday March 5, which is followed by further league nights in Liverpool and Newcastle and a double-header at Rotterdam Ahoy on March 25-26, which includes Judgement Night.
The remaining players will then compete across the final seven league nights in a bid to secure Play-Off places, beginning on Thursday April 2 in Belfast before moving to Sheffield, Manchester, Berlin, Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds to conclude the regular season, with the Play-Offs seeing the destiny of the title confirmed on Thursday May 21 with the semi-finals and final at The O2 in London.
The 30 Players Championship events to be held in 2020 will begin with three double-headers during February ahead of the Ladbrokes UK Open, which will take place from March 6-8 at the Butlin's Minehead Resort.
The European Tour kicks off in March with events in Sindelfingen and Leverkusen, with April's event in Munich followed in May with tournaments in Graz and Riesa either side of the first visit to Hungary as Budapest plays host to a tournament from May 8-10.
Following a first event in Trier, Germany from June 26-28, the European Tour will then return to Hildesheim and Jena on the first two weekends of July. Dutch city Leeuwarden will also host the European Tour for the first time from September 11-13, ahead of the annual visit to Gibraltar a fortnight later.
The venue for the 12th European Tour event will be confirmed in due course, while both Prague and Copenhagen remain potential future venues after staging European Tour events in 2019.
The World Cup of Darts will be held from June 18-21 in Hamburg, before the hugely popular Betfred World Matchplay takes place from July 18-26 in Blackpool.
Both the Paddy Power Champions League of Darts and World Series of Darts Finals will move forward in the calendar to September, ahead of the BoyleSports World Grand Prix in Dublin in October.
The European Championship will return to Dortmund from October 29-November 1, with the Grand Slam of Darts taking place from November 14-22 in Wolverhampton.
The Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals at the Butlin’s Minehead Resort takes place from November 27-29, with the dates for the 2020/2021 William Hill World Darts Championship to be confirmed during 2020.
The European Tour event in Leeuwarden in September will be followed by a Players Championship double-header, with Barnsley, Wigan, Hildesheim and Dublin continuing to host ProTour events during 2020.
Both the Challenge Tour and Development Tour circuits will again see five weekends take place, each featuring four events per weekend, during the year. Four weekends on each tour will be held in Wigan, with Hildesheim also hosting the Development Tour and Milton Keynes hosting the Challenge Tour.
“We’ve enjoyed some remarkable growth in recent years and 2020 will be another exciting year on the PDC circuit,” said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn. “As always, the year begins with Qualifying School and this really is the land of opportunity for ambitious darts players.
“It’s encouraging to see another new country, Hungary, joining the European Tour circuit alongside new destinations within Germany and the Netherlands, and the 30 Players Championship events will form the backbone of the ProTour in giving all players their chance to qualify for our televised tournaments.
“In addition, we will continue to support our affiliated tours worldwide as the sport maintains its incredible worldwide growth, while we also look ahead with excitement to the 2020 World Series of Darts.”
Details of 2020 World Series of Darts events will be confirmed in due course for the international events to be held throughout the year around the world, having visited America, Germany, Australia and New Zealand during 2019.
Tickets for the 2020 Unibet Premier League will go on sale in October 2019, with a Priority Sale period for PDCTV-HD Annual Subscribers from Thursday October 3 and General Sale from Thursday October 10.
Ticket information for the 2020 Ladbrokes Masters will be announced in due course.
Weekend Break Packages for the Ladbrokes UK Open at the Butlin’s Minehead Resort can be booked through www.bigweekends.com.
Ticket information for all events will be confirmed at www.pdc.tv/tickets once finalised.
Entry information for the 2020 PDC Qualifying Schools will be announced in due course at www.pdc.tv/QSchool.
* All dates and venues are correct at time of publication. Any changes would be advertised at www.pdc.tv and made in accordance with advertised PDC rules.