UK Open
The FA Cup of darts. An unseeded draw, made fresh after every round, so a qualifier from a Rileys club can be pulled out against the world number one.
The most recent UK Open, 6 to 8 March 2026, was won by Luke Littler.
6 to 8 March 2026
The next edition is not on the calendar we hold yet. It will appear on the schedule once the PDC confirms the dates.
It is the only PDC major with an open draw. The draw is random and is made again after every round, rather than set as a bracket at the start, so no player knows their route in advance.
Amateur qualifiers from Rileys clubs play in the early rounds alongside lower-ranked professionals, and now and then one of them goes a long way.
The format
- An unseeded open draw, made again after every round.
- 160 players across eight stages, with lower-ranked players and qualifiers entering first.
- The top 32 on the Order of Merit do not enter until the fourth round, which is the point at which the qualifiers who have survived meet them.
How players qualify
- Order of Merit players enter in bands: 97 to 128 first, then 65 to 96, then 33 to 64, with the top 32 entering at round four.
- 16 places through Rileys amateur qualifiers held around the UK.
- Eight places from the Challenge Tour and eight from the Development Tour.
Fixtures and sessions
How the week is laid out. Sessions are published well ahead and rarely move.
- Two boards run at once through the early rounds, so there is almost always darts on.
- Afternoon and evening sessions across all three days, with the final on Sunday evening.
The draw. The draw is unseeded and random, and it is made again after every round rather than fixed in advance. Nobody has a bracket to look at, which is the whole point of the tournament.
The rounds
The round structure is above under the format, and the schedule has the dates.
Past winners
The last 10 champions, most recent first. Click a name for their ranking and everything else they have won.
Andrew Gilding winning in 2023, at 52 and ranked well outside the elite, is the tournament in one result.
How to watch
Shown live in the UK on ITV4. ITV4 is free to air, so it costs nothing to watch. The schedule page lists which broadcaster has each event.
Is there a free live stream of the UK Open?
Yes, in the UK it is free. Every session is live on ITV4, which is free to air, and you can stream it free on ITVX on a phone, laptop, games console or smart TV. You only need a free ITVX account, plus a TV licence to watch live.
- On TV: ITV4, free.
- Streaming: ITVX, free, live and on catch-up afterwards.
- Outside the UK and Ireland: PDCTV streams every session, on subscription.
Tickets
Sold by session through the PDC ticket shop. Butlin’s Minehead also sells accommodation packages for the weekend. There is more on outlets, the ballot and what to avoid on the darts tickets page.
The other majors
Also here: the world rankings, the full schedule, and a free darts scorer for your own game.
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