🇬🇧 Information for Q-School Players
A Q-School Player is a player who participated in the most recent PDC Q-School without having previously won an NDL Open Tournament day or earned a Q-School Ticket through the NDL Final Stage. Former or current PDC Tour Card holders are not considered Q-School Players. Until the 2024/25 season, Q-School Players were excluded from all Newcomer Darts League events.
The following rules apply to Q-School Players:
- Q-School Players are only eligible to compete in NDL Open Tournament Singles events. They are not eligible to participate in any other tournament formats, including Mystery Doubles Tournaments or Online Battles.
- Participation is restricted exclusively to NDL Open Tournament Singles events.
- Q-School Players may only participate if they have purchased a Q-School Player Day Ticket. A maximum of 16 Q-School Player entries are available for each Open Tournament day.
- Q-School Players who purchase a regular day or weekend ticket are not permitted to use that ticket as a Q-School Player if all Q-School Player places are already filled. In this case, the ticket may be transferred to a regular player or will expire unused.
- A Q-School Player ticket may be transferred to a regular player.
- A regular player's ticket may only be transferred to a Q-School Player if Q-School Player places are still available.
- Q-School Players will normally compete in a separate group stage on the tournament day and join the main knockout bracket at a later stage, provided the number of Q-School Players allows for this format. The final decision rests with the NDL Operator (Tournament Director).
- Q-School Players must identify themselves to the NDL Operator (Tournament Director) upon arrival on the tournament day to ensure they are placed in the appropriate Q-School Player group stage.
- Q-School Players who fail to identify themselves and compete in the regular group stage will forfeit any claim to prize money or ranking points if this is discovered later.
- If it is discovered during the tournament that a Q-School Player has competed or is competing in the regular group stage, the player will be disqualified for that tournament day. All completed group stage matches will subsequently be recorded as losses with no legs won. If the violation is only discovered during the knockout stage, the completed group stage results will remain unchanged, but the player will still be disqualified immediately. Statements such as "I didn't know," "Nobody told me," or "It wasn't written anywhere" will not be accepted.
- Q-School Players receive NDL ranking points for participating in Open Tournaments. However, they may only continue to earn additional ranking points through further Open Tournaments.
- Complimentary entry tickets won at NDL Cup Tournaments may only be redeemed proportionally towards Open Tournament entry fees.
- Q-School Players are eligible to qualify for the NDL Final Stage by either:
- winning an Open Tournament (direct Final Stage qualification), or
- qualifying through the official NDL ranking system in accordance with the Final Stage qualification regulations.
14. After qualifying for and participating in the NDL Final Stage by winning a Q-School Ticket (finishing in places 1–4), a Q-School Player will no longer be classified as a Q-School Player for the following season and will instead be considered a regular NDL player.
15. If only a small number of Q-School Players are present, they may be integrated into the regular tournament field. In this case, they will be treated the same as all other participants. The organiser reserves the right to apply this procedure and will make the decision on the tournament day.
For detailed information about the tournament format, the current rankings, the ranking points system, and additional information, please visit:
For any questions, please contact:
[email protected]