2021 Unicorn World Youth Championship field & format confirmed

Bradley Brooks (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Reigning champion Bradley Brooks will headline the 32-player field for the PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship in Minehead on Sunday.

An abridged World Youth Championship will be held on Sunday November 28, with the early rounds taking place during the day before the final is held on stage during the final session of the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals.

The 32-player field will initially be split into eight groups of four to play off in a round-robin format over the best of seven legs, with the top eight ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit seeded.

The top two players from each group will then progress to the knockout stage from the last 16 onwards, with games played over the best of nine legs down to the semi-finals.

The finalists will then take to the Main Stage at the Butlin's Minehead Resort after the second semi-final in the Players Championship Finals to play off over the best of 11 legs for the title.

With the PDC Unicorn Development Tour having been split into UK and European circuits this year and continued restrictions limiting the number of global qualifiers able to travel to the UK, the World Youth Championship has taken a 32-player format this year, with prize money of £45,000 on offer.

The ten age-qualified PDC Tour Card Holders automatically secured a place in the World Youth Championship, while five international qualifiers will also compete in Minehead.

The remainder of the field is comprised of qualifiers from the UK and European Development Tour Orders of Merit.

From the original field of qualifiers, Mike van Duivenbode and Bence Katona have withdrawn, and will be replaced by Lewis Pride and Maikel Verberk, the next-ranked players from the respective UK and European Orders of Merit.

Update (Nov 26): Nico Kurz has withdrawn and been replaced by Jack Male.

2021 PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship
Sunday November 28, Butlin's Minehead Resort
Qualifying Players:
PDC Tour Card Holders:
Keane Barry, Bradley Brooks, John Brown, Ted Evetts, Adam Gawlas, Geert Nentjes, Callan Rydz, Ciaran Teehan, Lewy Williams, Niels Zonneveld
International Representatives: Tobias Fischer, Shusaku Nakamura, Victor Manuel Rodriguez, Owen Roelofs, Lee Lok Yin
UK Development Tour Qualifiers: Nathan Rafferty, Keelan Kay, Dom Taylor, Reece Colley, Liam Meek, Jarred Cole, Cameron Anderson, Joshua Richardson, Lewis Pride, Jack Male
European Development Tour Qualifiers: Rusty-Jake Rodriguez, Fabian Schmutzler, Sebastian Bialecki, Jurjen van der Velde, Niko Springer, Kevin Doets, Maikel Verberk

Seeded Players:
1 Callan Rydz
2 Bradley Brooks
3 Ted Evetts
4 Keane Barry
5 Ciaran Teehan
6 Lewy Williams
7 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
8 Adam Gawlas

Prize Fund:
Winner £10,000 + place in 2021/22 World Championship & 2022 Grand Slam of Darts
Runner-Up £5,000 + place in 2022 Grand Slam of Darts
Semi-Finalists £2,500
Quarter-Finalists £1,750
Last 16 Losers £1,000
Third in Group: £750
Fourth in Group £500
Total: £45,000

NB: As per PDC Rule 6.9, if the World Youth Champion has already qualified for the William Hill World Darts Championship, no further place shall be offered. This would mean that an additional qualifying place is then available on Monday's Tour Card Holder Qualifier.