2020 edition of the Champions League of Darts not expected to take place
Wednesday 22 April 2020 12:54, UK
The World Cup of Darts is the latest big-name event to be postponed after the PDC confirmed that May and June's ranking events had been called off.
On Wednesday, in line with many other sports and as had been anticipated, darts effectively shut down until the late summer with more tournaments called off.
The newly-launched PDC Home Tour is keeping players, and fans, occupied, but ranking events, and life as a professional player is now effectively on hold until July at the earliest.
"In the unlikely event of restrictions being eased to make tournament play possible before July, the PDC would advise players appropriately of any plans," an announcement from the PDC confirmed.
The World Cup, scheduled for Hamburg, and five planned European Tour events in May and June - in Graz, Budapest, Riesa, Sindelfingen and Trier - will not now take place as scheduled. The four Players Championship events along with Development Tour and Challenge Tour weekends have also been postponed.
Germany last week extended their restrictions on mass gatherings to the end of August, meaning that the four European Tour events in the country which had been rescheduled for July and August cannot now take place as planned.
As well as the World Cup being put on hold, the World Series was suspended earlier in April, with the PDC 's New York debut put back a year to 2021 and there is also an expectation that the Champions League of Darts will not take place.
The Hungarian Darts Trophy has been scheduled for what was the Champions League weekend but with ranked events understandably the PDC's priority and doubts still in place over any precise resumption to the Tour, the unranked Champions League looks set to not take place.
Darts has been suspended since mid-March as the coronavirus pandemic places life across the world on hold. The Premier League, which was due to finish in May, will not resume until July 30 and now the European and Pro Tour have gone the same way.
Full list of affected events
May 1-3 - Hungarian Darts Trophy (ET6) - NOW September 4-6
May 2-3 - Development Tour 9-12
May 15 - European Tour 8 TCH Qualifier
May 16-17 - Players Championship 13-14
May 22-24 - International Darts Open (ET7)
May 29-31 - European Darts Grand Prix (ET2)
June 6-7 - Challenge Tour 9-12
June 13-14 - Players Championship 17-18
June 15 - European Tour 9-10 TCH Qualifiers
June 18-21 - BetVictor World Cup of Darts
June 20-21 - Development Tour 13-16
June 26-28 - European Darts Matchplay (ET8)
July 3-5 - German Darts Championship (ET9)
July 10-12 - German Darts Open (ET10)
July 31-August 2 - German Darts Grand Prix (ET4)
August 7-9 - European Darts Open (ET3)
Watch coverage of the PDC Home Tour via the Sky Sports app, every night throughout April and available to download now on - iPhone & iPad and Android
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