The World Darts Federation and DartConnect have signed a 5-year agreement to collaborate on technology, programs and competitions to promote and grow the sport of darts globally. Since their first joint venture at the 2019 WDF World Cup in Romania, the two entities have continually worked together to develop initiatives that can unite players from around the world.
The global pandemic challenged both organisations to adapt to a new virtual environment, that included several success stories, including the 2020 World Virtual Cup and the 2021 Challenge Weekends. With great anticipation, both organisations look forward to the return of in-person competition in 2021, while jointly developing a new integrated, customised tournament experience tailored specifically for WDF sanctioned events.
This joint effort will also include a dedicated DCTV channel for WDF sanctioned competitions, providing a community network for participating events. Though it is not obligatory to use at WDF ranked tournaments, those organisers that do choose DartConnect will be provided with the tools and programs they need to dramatically reduce the amount of effort required to register and seed players, make draws and conduct competitions, report results and most importantly, improve the player experience on the oche. There will be a direct integration with iDarts database and the WDF website to provide timely updates with results, statistics and rankings tables. These updates will occur in phases over the coming months.
Bill Hatter, WDF President: “We encourage all of our member nations to work with the WDF and DartConnect to incorporate this platform into all competitions. We already have early commitments from Australia, Romania, Scotland and Wales, plus the British Open weekend and many WDF ranked events in Canada and the United States. This is a great start to demonstrate what our two organisations are capable of together. We look forward making WDF competitions more accessible to players of all levels, not to mention making tournament organisation easier for our officials around the world.”
Richard Ashdown, WDF Chief Development Officer: “We are excited to work with DartConnect and continue the success that we experienced at the 2019 WDF World Cup. DartConnect will be utilised at this year’s World Masters in the Netherlands and for the historic return of the World Championship at the Lakeside. Beyond the World Cup, we look forward to integrating the platform into the WDF’s Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe Cups, ensuring that every live match and result is available in real time to fans across the globe.”
David Macher, CEO & Founder of DartConnect: “Our mission statement, from day one, has been to “Get more people, to play more darts, more often”. By making the sport more accessible and allowing players to focus on the match, and not the scoring and logistics of the competition itself, we achieve higher participation, and they achieve better performance. We look forward to extending this mission to WDF sanctioned events, ensuring they are always best in class.”
The World Darts Federation is the global governing body for darts, representing over 70 nations. In addition to providing a global player ranking system, the WDF organises and promotes major events including the Lakeside World Championship, the World Masters and the WDF World Cup. Learn more at www.dartswdf.com
DartConnect is the pioneering darts platform, using technology to make the make the game more accessible for competition organisers, players and fans at all levels. Launched in 2014, DartConnect has been providing services for tournaments, leagues & players, for both online and in-person environments. Learn more at www.dartconnect.com
