The World Darts Federation is delighted to announce our intentions for the 2020 season and a brand new world ranking structure.
The WDF are fully committed to establishing two new major tournaments within the next 12 months.
The first will be a ‘World Masters’ style multi-board event for men, women and youth that will provide the opportunity for players from all member countries to compete, including the winners of every WDF sanctioned event in the calendar year.
We will also be launching an end of season finale in the traditional format of a staged ‘World Championship’ type event, where the top men, women and youth players within our global system have the opportunity to become WDF champions.
The WDF ranking system now includes over 100 events from almost 50 countries in 2020 and is explained in detail below. These include a number of “Gold” events, which will see their champions promoted directly into our new major competitions.
We will also look forward to announcing news of additional staged international events under the WDF banner in the near future.
Further details on the dates, location, prize fund and the full qualification criteria for our new major tournaments will be released as soon as it is available.
Our WDF youth system is also a priority. It will be fully reviewed in the coming weeks and further details of qualification for the majors will be announced.
We would like to emphasise that 2020 will be a transitional year for the World Darts Federation and that no tournament restrictions will be made regarding seeding, format or prize money. A clear structure and definitive rules with regards to the 2021 WDF calendar and the world ranking system, tournament seeding, playing format and prize structure will be issued in due course.
WDF world rankings criteria for 2020
Our ranking structure has been modified with new categories of Gold, Silver and Bronze. Men’s and Women’s events are given the same grading for each event.
Gold events are worth double Silver, which in turn are worth double Bronze.
An additional ‘Platinum’ category has been added for our new major events. As the largest darts tournament in the world in terms of player participation, the Dutch Open has also been awarded ‘Platinum’ points.
PLATINUM GOLD SILVER BRONZE Winner 270 180 90 45 Runner Up 167 111 56 28 Semi Final 103 68 34 17 Quarter Final 64 43 21 11 Last 16 39 26 13 6 Last 32 26 17 9 Last 64 13 9
The WDF main ranking tables will continue as annual rolling tables and the new points system will be implemented for events in 2020 during this transitional year. The best 10 results (highest points value) per player will count towards their overall ranking and this will be effective on the rolling table immediately.
Tournament grading for 2020 has been transferred from the previous WDF ranking system, based on entries in 2019. All European events previously graded as ‘Major’ or ‘1’ have now been given ‘Silver’ status, with events previously graded as ‘2’ or 3’ given ‘Bronze’. Events outside of Europe are graded by the WDF in cooperation with the respective national governing bodies.
With the valued support of a number of our leading WDF nations, the following events have been upgraded to ‘Gold’ status. They will see their men’s and ladies champions qualify directly into our WDF Championship at the end of the season.
Gold tournaments will also award places for the top 4 into our ‘Masters’ event. Finalists of Silver and the winners of Bronze events also automatically qualify.
WDF Regional Rankings Tables
Every WDF ranking event in 2020 will also be included in our new regional tables created for both men and women across the world. The best 8 results (highest points value) obtained by a player within the region of their nation will count towards their regional ranking.
(Gold events will be awarded Silver points on the regional tables only).
UK/Ireland
(England, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
North Europe
(Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden)
East Europe
(Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine)
West Europe
(Austria, Belgium, Catalonia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland)
Asia
(Brunei, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand)
Australia New Zealand Canada USA
Please note that Egypt’s WDF event will be included in our East Europe region.
Ethiopia and South Africa, plus our member nations from South America and the Caribbean do not currently run WDF ranked events, but will be given the opportunity to qualify via international playoffs.
The WDF’s aim is to ensure that there are various pathways for all players across all regions to reach the pinnacle of the WDF system.
Updated information available in WDF Calendar and WDF Tables page
kai Stachowiak has released this “Networking” image under Public Domain license.
