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17. January 2025

HYLO® NEXT GEN: young talent series begins its second season

HYLO®  NEXT GEN is an innovative and exciting tournament series created specifically for amateurs and upcoming young players in the darts world. Organised by PDC Europe, this series provides young talent and ambitious players with an opportunity to gain valuable competition experience and further develop their skills. The second season of the young talent series is now beginning.

The mission behind the series: objective and purpose

The main aim of HYLO® NEXT GEN is to offer young, upcoming players a platform where they can test and further develop their skills under professional conditions. The various different play modes and the high match density are designed to promote all areas of participants’ play. The series is therefore helping to sustainably develop darts in the region and offers players an opportunity to qualify for more major tournaments and advance their careers.

A peek behind the scenes: process and structure

The first two tournaments are on 1 and 2 February in Hildesheim. The tournament series covers 15 events in total, split across seven weekends. These events will be in Hildesheim, Sindelfingen, Kalkar and Rust on the shore of Lake Neusiedl in Austria. Every tournament offers space for 256 participants who will face each other in various play modes. These will vary from site to site, including group stages and knockout rounds. A new addition is ‘master out’ mode, which allows a leg to end on a triple for the first time in PDC history. 

Who can compete? Entry requirements

Entry is open to players aged 16 or over from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Crucially, entrants cannot have a PDC Tour Card. This ensures that the tournament is restricted to amateurs and rising talent. Demand for HYLO® Next Gen season passes is huge: registration numbers reached last year’s level after just one day.

More than just fame and glory: prize money and incentives

A total of more than 100,000 euros in prize money will be awarded, with each tournament offering prize money of 7,000 euros. There are also special prizes for special achievements such as 180s, high finishes and short legs. In addition, separate rankings for young talent will help to promote upcoming darts stars. The best female player of the 2025 season will gain a starting place in the Q-School 2026. The best players in the series will qualify for the PDC Europe Super League. From this year onwards, this young talent series is the only route into the HYLO® PDC Europe Super League, which in turn offers an opportunity to qualify directly for the World Darts Championship at the legendary ‘Ally Pally’ in London.

Participants in the first season have already enjoyed some major successes: Niko Springer, Kai Gotthardt and Leon Weber, three Next Gen players from last season, have competed on the PDC pro circuit for the first time this year. In addition, Leon Weber made it to the semi-final of the HYLO® PDC Europe Super League as a Next Gen qualifier and only narrowly missed out on a world championship spot.

It is the biggest opportunity you will get. Anyone can come here, anyone could be in my shoes and en route to Ally Pally.

Kai Gotthardt

Last year, Kai Gotthardt was able to win the Super League and celebrate his debut on the biggest darts stage in the world. His appeal to young talent: ‘It is the biggest opportunity you will get. Anyone can come here, anyone could be in my shoes and en route to Ally Pally. Everyone should come and play at Next Gen. ‘It is the biggest opportunity you could possibly get!’

HYLO® NEXT GEN represents a vital step in promoting darts and offers young talent an opportunity to prove their skills on a major stage, as well as to gain valuable experience. As a PDC Europe partner, we are delighted to be driving the development of darts in the German-speaking world with the HYLO® NEXT GEN tournament series. 

Get involved and secure opportunities 

The season passes for HYLO® Next Gen have all already been snapped up. A limited number of day passes will be made available to purchase three weeks before the event. 

Register and find out more at: PDC Europe – NEXT GEN

Tournament series dates:

Here are the dates for the HYLO® NEXT GEN tournament series:

1.01 February 2025Hildesheim, Halle 39
2.02 February 2025Hildesheim, Halle 39
3.01 March 2025Kalkar, Wunderland
4.02 March 2025Kalkar, Wunderland
5.20 June 2025Rust, Seehotel Rust
6.21 June 2025Rust, Seehotel Rust
7.22 June 2025Rust, Seehotel Rust
8.02 August 2025Sindelfingen, Glaspalast
9.03 August 2025Sindelfingen, Glaspalast
10.09 August 2025Sindelfingen, Glaspalast
11.10 August 2025Sindelfingen, Glaspalast
12.23 August 2025Kalkar, Wunderland
13.24 August 2025Kalkar, Wunderland
14.13 September 2025Hildesheim, Halle 39
15.14 September 2025Hildesheim, Halle 39

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