PDC vs WDF (and the BDO): darts organizations explained

The PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) is the professional tour: a company that runs the events for its Tour Card holders, the Premier League and the World Championship at Alexandra Palace. The WDF (World Darts Federation) is the world federation of national darts bodies: it runs open ranking events and its own world championship at Lakeside. The BDO (British Darts Organisation), the body the PDC's players broke away from, collapsed in 2020 and no longer exists. Tour Card holders cannot play WDF ranked events, so the two circuits are separate.

Sources for every row are listed at the end of the page. The PDC and BDO founding dates come from Wikipedia, the BDO's status from Companies House, the rest from the PDC and WDF websites. English Wikipedia dates the WDF to 1974; the WDF itself says 1976.

The PDC: the professional tour

The PDC began in January 1992 as the World Darts Council (WDC), when 16 top players, "including every previous BDO world champion who was still active", set up their own organisation. The 1993 Embassy World Championship was the last unified world championship (Wikipedia, "Professional Darts Corporation"). German Wikipedia points out that the PDC is "um keinen Verband, sondern um ein gewinnorientiertes Unternehmen": not a federation but a profit-making company.

What the PDC runs, according to its own site:

• The ProTour, "the PDC's series of tournaments for Tour Card Holders", made up of Players Championship and European Tour events from February to November.
• The Premier League, "played over 17 nights between February and May", with eight players; the top four after 16 league nights meet on Finals Night at The O2 in London.
• The Tour Card: since 2011 the PDC has kept an annual list of 128 Tour Card holders (PDC, January 26, 2026). Going into 2026, players who had dropped out of the top 64 of the world rankings lost their card; new cards are won at Qualifying School and on the feeder tours below.
• Televised majors such as the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open and Grand Slam (Wikipedia), and the World Darts Championship with 128 players and a £5 million prize fund for 2026/27 (PDC, February 24, 2026). Its format is on our World Championship page.

How players get into the PDC

• Qualifying School: "any darts player aged 16 and above" can try to win "a two-year PDC Tour Card". Players from the UK and Ireland play the UK Qualifying School, other Europeans the European one, and players from other nations, "like North America", choose.
• Challenge Tour: for players who went to Qualifying School but did not win a Tour Card: 24 events worth £15,000 each; the top two of the final ranking win two-year Tour Cards.
• Development Tour: for players aged 16 to 23, 24 events; the top two win Tour Cards, the top three are invited to the World Championship.
• Women's Series: 24 events for women aged 16 and over; the top three qualify for the World Championship.
• Amateur routes: amateurs can qualify for the UK Open through PDC in the Community and Rileys Amateur Qualifiers.

All from the PDC's "Play PDC events" page, fetched September 25, 2026 (the page still describes the 2025 season in places).

PDC rankings ("Order of Merit")

The PDC renamed its world rankings the "Werner Rankings Ladder" in 2025 (PDC, July 2, 2025); older articles call them the Order of Merit.

• PDC World Rankings: "based on the prize money players earn in ranking tournaments over a two-year period". Places at the World Championship, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and World Masters are handed out from them.
• ProTour Rankings: prize money from Players Championship and European Tour events "over a rolling 12-month period".

The WDF: the world federation

The WDF describes itself as a "world-wide federation of darts bodies" and says it "was founded in 1976". English Wikipedia gives 1974 instead; we use the WDF's own date. "Membership is open to the official National organizing body for Darts in all nations." On September 25, 2026 its members page listed 78 member bodies, one of them with interim membership (our count).

What the WDF runs:

• WDF Cups: the World Cup in odd years and continental cups (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe) in even years, played by national teams.
• WDF majors: the World Masters (the 2027 edition is set for July 6 to 11 in Las Vegas) and the World Championships. Do not confuse it with the PDC's Winmau World Masters, which the PDC revived in 2025 under a name "first held in 1975" (PDC, October 28, 2024). The WDF World Darts Championship has been held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, England, since the first edition in 2022, and since 2024 it runs from late November to early December (Wikipedia). The 2026 edition runs from November 27 to December 6, 2026 at Lakeside, with 48 players in the Open and 24 in the Women's event (WDF event page and qualification criteria of June 2, 2026).
• Ranked open events around the world, which count for the WDF rankings. A player's WDF ranking uses the best 10 results over the previous 12 months (Wikipedia, "World Darts Federation").

Its rule book is the WDF Playing and Tournament Rules, which national federations such as the German DDV build on.

What happened to the BDO

The BDO was founded on January 7, 1973, ran the first World Professional Darts Championship in 1978, and set the rules for British darts for decades, including the 2.37 m throw distance (Wikipedia, "British Darts Organisation"). After the split, many of its best players moved to the PDC. Following irregularities at the 2019 World Masters, the WDF demoted the BDO to associate member, and prize money for the 2020 World Championship was cut (Wikipedia).

Press and Wikipedia say the BDO "went into liquidation in September 2020". The UK company register is more precise (checked September 25, 2026):

Either way, the BDO no longer runs any darts. The WDF took over the Lakeside venue with its own world championship from 2022.

If you search for "BDO darts rules": the BDO rules no longer apply anywhere. Steel tip amateur darts is played under the WDF rules or a national federation's version of them; PDC events use the DRA rules. Both are summarized in our darts rules guide.

Can you play in both?

Not at the same time. The WDF's ranking rules say: "Current PDC Tour Card holders cannot take part in any WDF Ranked Tournaments" (WDF World Ranking Systems Criteria, Seniors, rule 2.05, revision of August 17, 2026). The rule names current Tour Card holders. The PDC had already ruled out playing both world championships in the same season when the WDF moved its event to December for the 2023 edition (Wikipedia, "WDF World Darts Championship").

National bodies (WDF members)

For league and club darts you deal with your national body or its regional associations, not with the PDC. A few of the member bodies listed by the WDF, with the name their own website shows (all checked September 25, 2026):

England's member body is listed at englanddarts.co.uk, but the site did not load for us, so we could not confirm its name. The address listed for the Republic of Ireland now shows an unrelated site, so we do not name a body for Ireland. Soft tip darts has separate bodies, for example the National Dart Association (NDA) in the US and the DSAB in Germany. More on joining a league in find and join a darts league.

Play like the pros at home

Whichever tour you follow, the game is the same: 501, double out. In Darts Counter you can set up a PDC-style set match (switch the checkout mode to Double Out once, a fresh install starts on Straight Out), and it keeps your 3-dart average for every leg, the number every TV graphic shows.

Keep reading

• World Championship format: sets, legs and the tie-break at Alexandra Palace
• Darts rules: WDF and DRA rules side by side
• Darts tournament formats: knockout, groups and round robin
• Find and join a darts league

Sources

Written by FLAME Apps, maker of Darts Counter since 2015. All sources fetched 2026-09-25. The pdc.tv pages load their text with JavaScript; we read them through the PDC content service that feeds those pages.

• PDC, Play PDC events: Qualifying School, Challenge Tour, Development Tour, Women's Series, UK Open amateur qualifiers
• PDC, Rankings: World Rankings (two years), ProTour Rankings (rolling 12 months), Premier League format
• PDC, PDC ProTour: "the PDC's series of tournaments for Tour Card Holders"
• PDC, 2026/27 World Championship qualifying structure, February 24, 2026: 128 players, £5 million prize fund
• PDC news, read through the PDC news service: Tour Card holders for 2026, January 26, 2026; Werner Rankings Ladder, July 2, 2025; Winmau World Masters, October 28, 2024
• DRA Rules 2026, in force from March 31, 2026 (Darts Regulation Authority)
• WDF, World Ranking Systems Criteria, Seniors, rev 50, August 17, 2026, rule 2.05
• WDF, World Championship 2026 and qualification criteria, June 2, 2026
• WDF, World Masters 2027
• WDF, Organisation: founded 1976, membership, WDF Cups and majors
• WDF, Members: member bodies and websites
• UK Companies House, British Darts Organisation Limited, 01270325 and British Darts Organisation Enterprises Limited, 01499298
• Wikipedia, Professional Darts Corporation (revision of September 20, 2026)
• Wikipedia, British Darts Organisation (revision of June 20, 2026)
• Wikipedia, World Darts Federation (revision of August 11, 2026)
• Wikipedia, WDF World Darts Championship (revision of May 3, 2026)
• Wikipedia (German), Darts (revision of September 16, 2026): the PDC as a company
• Websites of the member bodies named in the table (site titles read September 25, 2026)