José de Sousa
José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 25 February 1974) is a Portuguese professional darts player. He is based in Tarragona and represented Spain at the 2011 WDF World Cup, but played for the Portuguese team afterwards at the PDC. He won his first televised major title at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts. He is known among darts fans for his maverick-like scoring, relatively frequent miscounts and unorthodox checkouts in matches.[3]
| José de Sousa | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
De Sousa in 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Special One" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 February 1974 Azambuja, Lisbon, Portugal | |||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain | |||||||||||||||||||
| Darts information | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Darts | 20 Gram Trinidad Signautre | |||||||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" by Pitbull | |||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2011– | |||||||||||||||||||
| WDF | 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | 14 3 (3 January 2023)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | ||||||||||||||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 16: 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Quarter Final: 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Last 16: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 16: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam | Winner (1): 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
| European Ch'ship | Quarter Final: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Premier League | Runner Up: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Players Ch'ship Finals | Quarter Final: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Masters | Semi Final: 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Series Finals | Last 16: 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other tournament wins | ||||||||||||||||||||
European Tour Events
Players Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
De Sousa qualified for the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship by winning the Western European qualifier, beating Eduardo Lopes in the final. He became the first Portuguese player to qualify for either version of the World Darts Championship. He lost 4–3 in the preliminary round to South Africa's Devon Petersen.[4] In the rest of the year, he won the Catalonia National Championship and the Catalan Open by beating Antonio Jimenez in the final.[5][6] De Sousa claimed the 2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship with a win over Franck Guillermont.[7] He reached the final of the 2015 Catalan Open, but lost 6–1 to Carles Arola.[8]
De Sousa won the 2016 FCD Anniversary Open by overcoming Willem Mandigers 6–1 in the final.[9] In 2017 on the second day of Q School he came close to winning a two-year PDC Tour Card, but lost 5–2 to Royden Lam in the final round.[10]
2019
After a first round defeat at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship to Michael Barnard, De Sousa went to PDC European Q-School in January 2019 and won a Tour Card for the first time, finishing sixth on the Order of Merit to seal at least two years on the PDC ProTour.[11]
He made gradual improvements throughout his first year on tour, and made his maiden PDC final at Players Championship 18, but lost 8–5 to James Wade. De Sousa then became the first Portuguese player to win a PDC title at Players Championship 23. He beat Peter Wright 7–3 in the semi-finals and Gerwyn Price 8–1 in the final.
2020
At the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship he lost 3–0 to Damon Heta in the first round.
In March, De Sousa made his debut at the 2020 UK Open, but lost to Welsh youngster Lewy Williams 6–4 in the third round.
In 2020, De Sousa won his first PDC European Tour title, beating the number 1 ranked player Michael Van Gerwen in the final 8–4, averaging 105,79. His winning checkout was an unorthodox 88 finish of treble 8, double 14, double 18, and with that victory followed the winners prize of £25,000. Two weeks later in the 2020 European Championship, De Sousa managed to hit his first ever televised nine-darter, in a 6–3 win over Jeffrey de Zwaan.[12] Portugal was not on the entry list for 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, but Singapore withdrew from the competition as Harith Lim couldn't fly to Austria. They were replaced by Portugal (represented by de Sousa and José Marquês) and together they defeated team Hungary in the first round 5–0, however, in the second round they lost to team Austria.
Continuing a good run of form, De Sousa won his first major title in the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts. After beating Krzysztof Ratajski and Lisa Ashton in the group stages, he then defeated Dave Chisnall, avenged a group stage defeat to Michael Smith in the quarter-finals, beat Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals, then he defeated James Wade in the final 16–12, winning with a 158 checkout. De Sousa became the first ever Portuguese winner of a major tournament, and broke into the world's Top 16 by winning the event.
2021
De Sousa qualified for 2021 PDC World Darts Championship via PDC Order of Merit as 14th seed. He defeated Ross Smith in the second round 3–1, but lost 0–4 to Mervyn King in the third round, despite averaging 103.62. He finished the year in 15th place in the PDC Order of Merit and secured his tour card, and was named as one of the 10 competitors in the 2021 Premier League Darts.
2022
At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship De Sousa lost 3–4 to Alan Soutar in the third round.
World Championship results
PDC
- 2012: Preliminary round (lost to Devon Petersen 3–4 (legs))
- 2019: First round (lost to Michael Barnard 2–3)
- 2020: First round (lost to Damon Heta 0–3)
- 2021: Third round (lost to Mervyn King 0–4)
- 2022: Third round (lost to Alan Soutar 3–4)
- 2023: Fourth round (lost to Gerwyn Price 1–4)
Career finals
PDC major finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
| Winner | 1. | 2020 | Grand Slam of Darts | James Wade | 16–12 (l) |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2021 | Premier League | Jonny Clayton | 5–11 (l) |
Performance timeline
| Tournament | 2012 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC World Championship | PR | 1R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 4R | |||||||
| UK Open | DNP | 2R | 3R | 6R | 5R | ||||||||
| World Matchplay | DNP | DNQ | 1R | 2R | QF | ||||||||
| World Grand Prix | DNP | DNQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | ||||||||
| European Championship | DNP | DNQ | 2R | QF | 2R | ||||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | DNP | DNQ | W | 2R | DNQ | ||||||||
| Players Championship Finals | DNP | 2R | 3R | QF | 2R | ||||||||
| Non-major televised events | |||||||||||||
| Premier League Darts | DNP | DNQ | F | DNP | |||||||||
| Masters | DNP | DNQ | 1R | SF | 2R | ||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | DNP | 2R | 2R | 2R | |||||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | NH | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | |||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | - | 61 | 15 | 7 | 14 | ||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | EDO DNQ | GDC DNQ | GDG DNQ | GDO DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDG DNQ | DDM DNQ | DDO QF | CDO DNQ | ADC DNQ | EDM DNQ | IDO DNQ | GDT 2R |
| 2020 | BDC DNQ | GDC DNQ | EDG W | IDO 2R | |||||||||
| 2021 | HDT SF | GDT 3R | |||||||||||
| 2022 | IDO 2R | GDC 3R | GDG 2R | ADO 2R | EDO 3R | CDO SF | EDG 2R | DDC 2R | EDM 2R | HDT QF | GDO SF | BDO QF | GDT 3R |
| Performance timeline legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNP | Did not play in the event | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = Round robin) | QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
| SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
Nine-dart finishes
| Date | Opponent | Tournament | Method | ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 October 2020 | Jeffrey de Zwaan | European Championship | 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12 | [12] |
| 8 April 2021 | Nathan Aspinall | Premier League Darts | 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 | [13] |
Notes
- ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.
References
- ^ Dardos en Tarragona: José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (V): profile (Spanish)
- ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ Prenderville, Paul (14 July 2020). "World Matchplay: Jose De Sousa keeps on surprising 18 months into PDC life". Sky Sports.
- ^ World Championship - Night Seven 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
- ^ "2012 Catalonia National Championships Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- ^ "2012 Catalan Open Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- ^ "2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ "2015 Catalan Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ "2016 FCD Anniversary Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ . PDC. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
- ^ "European Q School Tour Card Winners Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ a b Allen, Dave (29 October 2020). "De Sousa hits perfection as Unibet European Championship begins". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ^ Phillips, Josh (8 April 2021). "De Sousa hits nine-darter & equals 180s record on Night Four". PDC. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
External links
- José de Sousa player profile at Darts Orakel