The WSoD provides a great opportunity for some non-tour card or lower-ranked players to have a chance at making the WSoD Finals in September if they take advantage of the opportunities given.
Several players did that, punching their ticket to be one of the 32 players heading to Amsterdam.
On the other hand, the qualifying routes for the World Series of Darts can sometimes result in notable players being left out of one of the more premier tournaments on the calendar.
Notable players who didn’t qualify for 2025 WSoD Finals
Let’s take a look at a few of the notable names not competing this upcoming weekend.
MORE: 2025 PDC World Series of Darts Finals qualifiers announced
Gary Anderson
Anderson was one of the best players in the world during the 2010s and into the early 2020s.
He has since dropped off a bit in the rankings, but has had a positive performance over the last 18+ months, which has pushed him to his current world number 12 spot.
He’s the highest-ranked player on the Main OoM not competing in Amsterdam this year, marking the third straight year that he won’t participate.
Anderson isn’t sitting out due to not qualifying, but he actually declined his invitation to compete.
Martin Schindler
Schindler is having another great year on the Pro Tour.
He is still looking for a breakout performance at a ‘TV major’, with a semifinal appearance at the World Cup of Darts as his best result in 2025 in a TV event.
He’s currently second on the Pro Tour OoM and third on the European Tour OoM.
The world number 18 won’t be competing in the Finals, with 2023 as the only year he’s competed in the tournament.
MORE: 2025 World Series of Darts Finals: Draw, schedule, prize money and format explained
Gian van Veen
Van Veen had his shot at making the Finals, but unfortunately fell just short.
He lost to veteran Gabriel Clemens in a match that determined one of the six players who’d be competing in Amsterdam via the World Series Finals Qualifier.
After finishing as the world number 27 at the end of 2024, he is now the current world number 17.
Outside of the European Championship, he’ll be defending very little prize money to finish the year, so he could look to make a big leap to finish off the best year of his career so far.
Dimitri Van den Bergh
Dimitri is a former finalist in the event and will be breaking a five-year streak of competing at the WSoD Finals.
The current world number 22 has dropped 11 spots since the end of 2024.
He’s already missed out on big events like the World Matchplay in 2025, and is in danger of missing out on the World Grand Prix, European Championship and Players Championship Finals in the coming months.
MORE: What PDC darts events/tournaments are happening in September?
Michael Smith
After years of dominating the PDC circuit, Smith has struggled a lot in 2025.
He has dealt with injuries, causing him to play poorly in matches and has also forced him to take time off.
Van den Bergh and Smith are in similar positions regarding the danger they face in qualifying for important events to finish the year.
Smith dropped significantly from his world number two position after losing ranking money from his 2023 WC title.
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