Champions League of Darts

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Champions League of Darts
Tournament information
Venue Motorpoint Arena Cardiff (2016–17)
Brighton Centre (2018)
Morningside Arena (2019)
Location Cardiff (2016–17)
Brighton (2018)
Leicester (2019)
Country United Kingdom
Established2016
Organisation(s) PDC
Format Legs, Group Stage and Knockout
Prize fund £250,000 (2019)
Month(s) PlayedSeptember
Final Year2019
Final champion(s)
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen

The Champions League of Darts, also known as the Paddy Power Champions League of Darts for sponsorship purposes, [1] was a non-ranking darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation held each year in September from 2016 until 2019. Featuring just the top eight players in the PDC, it was played over two days in a group stage, and then knockout format and was the smallest of the PDC's televised premier events.

Contents

It was first held in September 2016 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, the inaugural champion was Phil Taylor. The next two were then won by Mensur Suljović and Gary Anderson, before the final champion was Michael van Gerwen in 2019. Following the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was quietly shelved by the PDC.

The tournament was the first PDC event to be broadcast on the BBC.

History

The details of the inaugural tournament were announced by the PDC on 9 February 2016, in conjunction with the announcement of a new broadcasting deal between the PDC and the BBC. [2] With the PDC 2016 calendar having already been announced in August 2015, a Barnsley round of the PDC Player Championship was moved to accommodate it. [3] A second Champions League tournament was duly announced as part of the August 2016 release of the 2017 calendar. [2] A further two editions were held, before the fifth edition, which was due to be held in 2020, was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was subsequently shelved by the PDC.

In addition to the prize money allocated to players, the tournament was known for a £100,000 cash prize given to the crowd in the event of a nine-dart finish. This prize was believed to be the biggest crowd prize in world sport. [4]

Eligibility

Only the top eight players on the PDC Order of Merit qualified for the inaugural tournament, signifying the best eight players in the PDC (in 2016 based on the order following the World Matchplay in July [2] ). Starting with 2017, the reigning champion was given a guaranteed slot, meaning only the top seven and the champion would qualify if the champion was not in the top eight. [5]

Format

The tournament format is a group stage followed by a knockout stage. The group stage features two groups of four, who meet each other in a round-robin format, i.e. each player playing their group opponents once in a single match. The best two players in each group advance to the semi-finals, the winners meeting in the final. There is no third place play-off. Matches in the group stage are won by the first player to win 10 legs (best of 19), while the knockout stages are first to 11 (best of 21).

Champions League of Darts finals

YearChampion (average in final)ScoreRunner-up (average in final)Prize moneySponsorVenue
TotalChampionRunner-up
2016 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor (98.97)11–5 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen (100.92)£250,000£100,000£50,000 Unibet Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
2017 Flag of Austria.svg Mensur Suljović (87.85)11–9 Flag of Scotland.svg Gary Anderson (98.03)
2018 Flag of Scotland.svg Gary Anderson (101.47)11–4 Flag of Scotland.svg Peter Wright (93.85) Paddy Power Flag of England.svg Brighton Centre, Brighton
2019 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen (100.87)11–10 Flag of Scotland.svg Peter Wright (97.42) Flag of England.svg Morningside Arena, Leicester
2020Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. [6]

Records and statistics

As of 20 October 2019.

Total finalist appearances

RankPlayerNationalityWonRunner-upFinalsAppearances
1 Gary Anderson Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 1122
Michael van Gerwen Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1122
3 Mensur Suljović Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1011
Phil Taylor Flag of England.svg  England 1011
5 Peter Wright Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 0222

High averages

Ten highest Champions League of Darts one-match averages
AveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult
111.23 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2018, Group stage Flag of England.svg Dave Chisnall 10–2
108.31 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 2016, Group stage Flag of Scotland.svg Robert Thornton 10–2
107.49 Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 2016, Group stage Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 10–4
105.67 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2016, Semi-finals Flag of Scotland.svg Gary Anderson 11–5
105.54 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2019, Semi-finals Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gerwyn Price 11–10
105.53 Flag of Austria.svg Mensur Suljović 2018, Group stage Flag of Scotland.svg Peter Wright 10–7
104.13 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2016, Group stage Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 4–10
103.49 Flag of England.svg James Wade 2016, Group stage Flag of England.svg Adrian Lewis 10–3
103.52 Flag of Scotland.svg Peter Wright 2019, Semi-finals Flag of England.svg Michael Smith 11–5
103.40 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2019, Group stage Flag of England.svg James Wade 10–8
Five highest Champions League of Darts losing averages
AveragePlayerYear (+ Round)OpponentResult
104.13 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2016, Group stage Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 4–10
102.89 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 2017, Group stage Flag of England.svg Phil Taylor 9–10
102.49 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Gerwyn Price 2019, Semi-finals Flag of the Netherlands.svg Michael van Gerwen 10–11
102.13 Flag of Scotland.svg Peter Wright 2018, Group stage Flag of Austria.svg Mensur Suljović 7–10
101.48 Flag of Scotland.svg Gary Anderson 2018, Group stage Ulster Banner.svg Daryl Gurney 8–10

Broadcaster

The tournament was the first PDC event to be broadcast on the BBC, after they ended their contract to broadcast rights of the BDO World Darts Championship. [2]

Sponsorship

In 2016 and 2017, the title sponsor of the tournament was bookmaker Unibet, who for the 2016 season were the pre-existing sponsors of the PDC's Masters and European Championship, and the new sponsor of the PDC's World Grand Prix. [7] Since 2018 the tournament has been sponsored by bookmaker Paddy Power.

References

  1. "News | PDC". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "BBC Deal For Champions League of Darts". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  3. "News | PDC". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  4. "Champions League of Darts heads to Leicester with £100,000 up for grabs for fans". Sky Sports . Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  5. Allen, Dave. "New BBC Deal For Unibet Champions League". PDC . Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  6. "Events Update: May & June 2020". PDC. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  7. "Unibet Throw Support Behind Champions League". PDC. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.