José de Sousa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Oliveira and the second or paternal family name is de Sousa.
Not to be confused with footballer José Oliveira de Souza.
José de Sousa
Personal information
Full nameJosé Augusto Oliveira de Sousa[1]
NicknameThe Special One
Born (1974-02-25) 25 February 1974 (age 47)
Azambuja, Lisbon, Portugal
Home townTorrejón de Ardoz, Spain
Darts information
Playing darts since1994
Darts20 Gram Trinidad Signautre
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" by Pitbull
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC2011–
WDF2011
Current world ranking9 Decrease 1 (12 September 2021)[2]
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 32: 2021
World MatchplayLast 16: 2021
World Grand PrixLast 32: 2020
Grand SlamWinner (1): 2020
Premier LeagueRunner Up: 2021
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2020
UK OpenLast 16: 2021
Players Ch'ship FinalsLast 16: 2020
MastersLast 24: 2021
Other tournament wins
Catalonia National Ch'ships 2009, 2012
Catalonia Open Darts 2012
FCD Anniversary Open 2016
PDC World West European Qualifying 2011
Soft Tip Bullshooter European Ch'ship 2013
Spanish Federation Cup 2017
International Open Vizcaya 2017

European Tour Events

European Darts Grand Prix 2020

Players Championships

Players Championship (BAR) 2019
Players Championship (DUB) 2019
Players Championship (MK) 2021 (x2)
Players Championship (NIE) 2021

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 and unorthodox checkouts in matches.[3]

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]

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.

In March 2020, 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 ) 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.

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.

World Championship results[]

PDC[]

Televised 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 England James Wade 16–12 (l)
Runner-up 1. 2021 Premier League Wales Jonny Clayton 5–11 (l)
  1. ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline[]

Tournament 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
PDC World Championship PR DNQ 1R 1R 3R
UK Open DNQ 2R 3R 6R
World Matchplay DNQ 1R 2R
World Grand Prix DNQ 1R
European Championship DNQ 2R
Grand Slam of Darts DNQ W
Players Championship Finals DNQ 2R 3R
Non-major televised events
Premier League Darts DNQ F
Masters DNQ 1R
PDC World Cup of Darts DNP 2R 2R
Career statistics
Year-end ranking - - - - - - 161 61 15
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[]

See also: Nine-dart finish
José de Sousa televised nine-dart finishes
Date Opponent Tournament Method ref
29 October 2020 Netherlands 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; T19, T20, D12 [13]

References[]

  1. ^ Dardos en Tarragona: José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (V): profile (Spanish)
  2. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDC. 12 September 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  3. ^ Prenderville, Paul (14 July 2020). "World Matchplay: Jose De Sousa keeps on surprising 18 months into PDC life". Sky Sports.
  4. ^ World Championship - Night Seven Archived 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
  5. ^ "2012 Catalonia National Championships Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  6. ^ "2012 Catalan Open Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  7. ^ "2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  8. ^ "2015 Catalan Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  9. ^ "2016 FCD Anniversary Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  10. ^ "2017 PDC Qualifying School Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  11. ^ "European Q School Tour Card Winners Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Allen, Dave (29 October 2020). "De Sousa hits perfection as Unibet European Championship begins". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  13. ^ Phillips, Josh (8 April 2021). "De Sousa hits nine-darter & equals 180s record on Night Four". PDC. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

External links[]

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