Ex-World Champion Has Lost PDC Tour Card Before World Darts Championship

A former BDO world champion and a player responsible for one of the most dramatic nine-darters in World Darts Championship history are among those to have lost their PDC Tour Card.

We are just 15 days away from the opening night of this year's World Darts Championship and the anticipation is high following this week's draw.

World number one Luke Littler will begin his title defence against Darius Labanauskas, while Luke Humphries will face Ted Evetts in the bottom half of the draw. Beau Greaves, meanwhile, is set to take on Daryl Gurney.

Away from the most anticipated tournament of the season and 15 professionals will officially lose their PDC Tour Card after the World Darts Championship in January.

It was confirmed following this week's PDC Tour Card holder qualifier that a handful of high-profile names would lose their status on the professional circuit, including Florian Hempel and Jim Williams.

Florian Hempel has lost his PDC Tour Card. Image credit Getty

Hempel, who has been a PDC professional for five consecutive years, currently sits 70th in the live Tour Card race after losing to Robert Grundy in his first-round qualifier for the World Championships.

Reacting to losing his tour card, Hempel told DAZN: “I had big ambitions, I was feeling good, and I had actually trained incredibly well. But when it was ‘Game on!’, my mind was somewhere completely different and the pressure of the season, or of the Tour Card, was simply too much."

“My professional career isn’t over," he added. "Q-School is at the beginning of January, so now it’s about preparing flat-out — unfortunately not for the World Championship, but for the Tour Card, and then it’s back on tour for another two years.”

Jelle Klaasen, a former BDO champion who has numerous WDF titles to his name, including the Dutch Open and Irish Open, will also lose his PDC Tour Card alongside Scotland's William Borland.

Borland is responsible for one of the most iconic moments in Ally Pally history, when he stunned Bradley Brooks in 2021 with a memorable nine-darter in a last-leg shoot-out.

It has also been confirmed that Dylan Slevin, Berry van Peer, Patrick Geeraets, Nathan Rafferty and Jitse Van der Wal will lose their full-time professional status alongside Martijn Dragt, Benjamin Reus, George Killington, Michele Turetta, Tim Wolters and Jules van Dongen.

What happens when you lose your PDC Tour Card?

Those ranked outside the top 64 after the end of the season will lose their PDC Tour Card and return to Q-School to try and reclaim their professional status.

As mentioned in the PDC rules, players who lose their card are removed from the Order of Merit, and their prize money tallies revert to zero unless they regain their card.

"Lapsed members, or players who lose their Tour Card and do not regain it for the following year will be removed from the Orders of Merit after Q School, and if they compete again their prize money tallies will revert to £0 from the day their membership ceased or their Tour Card was lost," the PDC say.

"All players other than the top 64 eligible players and players starting the second year of their Tour Card start the year on £0 on all Orders of Merit after Q School."