World Darts Championship 2027: Max Hopp first German to play the Ally Pally for the tenth time – “It means an

Max Hopp has qualified for the 2027 World Darts Championship from 11th place in the Pro Tour ranking – his tenth appearance, a German record. All the facts about the milestone.

Max Hopp is writing German darts history: the 30-year-old has qualified for the PDC World Darts Championship 2027 and will take to the stage at Alexandra Palace for the tenth time. No other German player has ever appeared at the World Championship that often. Hopp secured his ticket mathematically on Thursday via the Pro Tour ranking, where he currently sits in 11th place – comfortably inside the 40 spots awarded through that list. “It means an incredible amount to me,” said Hopp.

Qualification via the Pro Tour: 11th place is more than enough

The World Championship at London's Alexandra Palace runs from 11 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. Alongside the players from the PDC Order of Merit, 40 places are awarded through the Pro Tour ranking, which counts only prize money from Players Championship tournaments. Hopp has earned 52,750 pounds at 26 Players Championship events this season and sits 11th there. He reached at least the second round in 19 of the 26 tournaments – the kind of consistency that earned him his World Championship spot early. In the world rankings, the PDC Order of Merit, Hopp is currently 68th.

“I'm playing one of the strongest seasons I've ever played,” said Hopp, looking at his results this year.

Ten World Championship appearances – a German record

Hopp made his World Championship debut at Alexandra Palace in 2013. With his appearance this coming winter he reaches a milestone no German has achieved before him. “No German has ever played ten World Championships. It's a fact I'm incredibly proud of,” explained the player, who set himself the target around a year ago: “Last year I already sketched out the dream of playing my tenth World Championship at 30.”

The key stages of his World Championship history at a glance:

2013: World Championship debut at Alexandra Palace
2020: best result, reaching the third round
End of 2022: loss of the Tour Card
2025: return to the PDC Tour via Q-School
December 2025: first World Championship appearance after a five-year break, out in round 2
2027: tenth World Championship appearance – a German record

From losing the Tour Card back to the world elite

That Hopp can set this record at all was far from certain for a long time. At the end of 2022 the 2015 junior world champion lost his Tour Card and had to take the detour via the secondary tour. Only in 2025 did he manage his comeback as a PDC professional through Q-School. Since then he has worked his way back step by step – last December he stood in the Ally Pally again after a five-year absence, and now the tenth appearance follows.

“I wanted to prove to myself that it's worth fighting and sticking with it,” Hopp said about that difficult period. It is exactly this backstory that makes the qualification more than a statistical marker for him.

The goal: finally going beyond the third round

For all the joy about the record, one blemish remains on Hopp's World Championship record: in nine appearances he has never gone beyond the third round. His best result dates from 2020, and last winter it was over after the second round. The 30-year-old now wants to attack that mark. “I'm going into the winter very positively and I just want to give it everything at the World Championship,” he announced.

The conditions are as good as they have been in a long time: this season Hopp has shown that he is picking up prize money consistently on the Pro Tour again and regularly reaching the later rounds. Whether that also holds up on the big stage at Alexandra Palace will become clear from 11 December.

German involvement at the 2027 World Championship

Hopp will not be the only German at the 2027 World Championship. According to dartsnews.de, seven more German players have already qualified for the tournament. The draw for the first rounds is still to come; as soon as the pairings are confirmed, we will report on our tournament page.

The facts about the 2027 World Championship at a glance:

Date: 11 December 2026 to 3 January 2027
Venue: Alexandra Palace, London
Max Hopp's qualification: 11th in the Pro Tour ranking (40 places)
Hopp's prize money 2026 (Players Championships): 52,750 pounds from 26 tournaments
Hopp's World Championship appearance: the tenth – a German record

For Max Hopp, the tenth World Championship appearance is the provisional high point of a comeback that has taken him from losing his Tour Card back into the top 11 of the Pro Tour ranking. In December he wants to prove at the Ally Pally that there is more in it than the record.