THE eyes of the darting world will be on Wigan next week, with the 2014 Qualifying School set to see over 300 players bidding to win Tour Cards to be professionals on the PDC ProTour.
The fourth staging of Qualifying School will see four days of action held at the Robin Park Tennis Centre from Wednesday January 15-Saturday January 18.
Each day will see the last four players from an open draw win an automatic two-year Tour Card, giving them full professional status on the PDC ProTour.
In addition, further Tour Cards will be available to players from the Qualifying School Order of Merit, which sees ranking points awarded to players' finishing positions on each day of play.
The final number of additional places has yet to be confirmed, with the four Lakeside Championship semi-finalists to be offered Tour Cards, but the PDC can confirm that a further two spots will be available after Co Stompe and Steve Coote resigned their Tour Cards for 2014.
In addition, all players who do not win a Tour Card will assume PDPA Associate Member status, guaranteeing them entry to all 16 PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour events to be staged in 2014, with each offering £10,000 in prize money.
PDPA Associate Members can also enter the six UK Open Qualifiers, the eight European Tour Qualifiers and the World Championship's PDPA Qualifier.
The field of stars already registered for the 2014 PDC Qualifying School includes Australian ace Kyle Anderson, who hit a nine-dart finish in the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship last month.
Other stars from the World Championship who will compete in Qualifying School include German teenager Max Hopp, Northern Ireland's Colin McGarry and Austria's Zoran Lerchbacher, English ace Ian Moss and Holland's Mareno Michels.
Former PDC major winners Peter Manley and Peter Evison are also bidding to win back their status on the circuit, alongside 2005 UK Open runner-up Barrie Bates.
Previous Tour Card Holders looking to win back their place on the PDC ProTour include Alex Roy, Matt Clark, Nigel Heydon, Adrian Gray, Mark Hylton, Antonio Alcinas, Richie Howson, Andrew Gilding, Brian Woods, Mark Lawrence and Terry Temple,
Former Lakeside Champion Christian Kist has also entered Qualifying School, and is joined in moving onto the PDC circuit by fellow Dutchmen Ron Meulenkamp and Benito van de Pas.
Entry to the 2014 PDC Qualifying School closes at 12pm (Midday GMT) on Monday January 13.
Entries are ONLY being taken online through www.pdpa.co.uk/about/membership/ and costs £250.
Full information is available at the PDPA website via the link above, and players are advised to leave sufficient time ahead of Monday's deadline to complete their registration.