José de Sousa

Not to be confused with footballer José Oliveira de Souza.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Oliveiraand the second or paternal family name is de Sousa.

José de Sousa
De Sousa in 2021
Personal information
Full name	José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa [1]
Nickname	"The Special One"
Born	(1974-02-12) 12 February 1974 (age 51) Azambuja, Lisbon, Portugal
Home town	Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain
Darts information
Playing darts since	1994
Darts	20g Trinidad Signautre
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" by Pitbull
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2011– (Tour Card: 2019–)
WDF	2011
Current world ranking	( PDC ) 45 (18 March 2025) [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
PC Finals	Quarter Final: 2021
Masters	Semi Final: 2022
World Series Finals	Last 16: 2021
Other tournament wins
Catalonia Ch'ship 2009, 2012 Catalonia Open 2012 FCD Anniversary Open 2016 Spanish Federation Cup 2017 Vizcaya Open 2017 Bullshooter European Ch'ship 2013 European Tour Events European Darts Grand Prix 2020 Players Championships (x5) Players Championship (Barnsley) 2019 Players Championship (Dublin) 2019 Players Championship (Milton Keynes) 2021 (x2) Players Championship (Niedernhausen) 2021
Medal record Men's Darts Representing   Portugal EDF European Ch'ship 2013 Podčetrtek Men's cricket 2015 Santa Susanna Men's singles 2022 Podčetrtek Men's cricket

José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 12 February 1974) is a Portuguese professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where reached a peak ranking of world number six in 2022. A PDC Tour Card holder since 2019, he won his first PDC major title at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts and played at the 2021 Premier League Darts, where he finished as runner-up. His best World Championship performance is reaching the last 16 at 2023 PDC World Championship.

De Sousa represented Spain at the 2011 WDF World Cup, but played for the Portuguese team afterwards at the PDC World Cup of Darts. He is known among darts fans for his maverick-like scoring, relatively frequent miscounts and unorthodox checkouts in matches.

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. ^[3] In the rest of the year, he won the Catalonia National Championship and the Catalan Open by beating Antonio Jimenez in the final. ^{[4] [5]} De Sousa claimed the 2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship with a win over Franck Guillermont. ^[6] He reached the final of the 2015 Catalan Open, but lost 6–1 to Carles Arola. ^[7]

De Sousa won the 2016 FCD Anniversary Open by overcoming Willem Mandigers 6–1 in the final. ^[8] 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. ^[9]

2019

After a first round defeat at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship to Michael Barnard, De Sousa attended the PDC's European Qualifying School in January 2019. He finished sixth on the EU Order of Merit, which secured him a two-year PDC Tour Card for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. ^{[10] [11]}

At the beginning of March, De Sousa made his debut at the UK Open, reaching the second round by defeating Brian Raman. ^[11]

He made his maiden PDC final at Players Championship 18, but lost to James Wade 8–5. ^[12] De Sousa then became the first Portuguese player to win a PDC title at Players Championship 23. He beat Gerwyn Price 8–1 in the final. ^{[13] [14]}

2020

At the 2020 PDC World Championship he lost 3–0 to Damon Heta in the first round.

In March, De Sousa lost to Lewy Williams 6–4 in the third round of the 2020 UK Open.

In October 2020, De Sousa won his first PDC European Tour title, beating Michael van Gerwen 8–4 in the final of the 2020 European Darts Grand Prix. ^[15] Two weeks later in the 2020 European Championship, De Sousa managed to hit his first televised nine-darter, in a 6–3 win over Jeffrey de Zwaan. ^[16] De Sousa represented Portugal at the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, partnering José Marquês. They defeated Hungary in the first round 5–0, but in the second round they lost to Austria.

De Sousa won his first major title at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts. He defeated James Wade 16–12 in the final and became the first Portuguese winner of a major tournament. He was ranked in the world's top 16 for the first time after winning the event. ^{[17] [18]}

2021

De Sousa qualified for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship as the fourteenth seed. He received a bye to the second round as a top-32-seeded player. He defeated Ross Smith 3–1, but lost to Mervyn King 4–0 in the third round. He finished the year in 15th place in the PDC Order of Merit and was named as one of the 10 competitors in the 2021 Premier League Darts, losing to Jonny Clayton 11–5 in the final. ^[19]

De Sousa won three Players Championship titles during the season, ^{[20] [21] [22] [23]} which contributed to him topping the Players Championship Order of Merit, making him the number one seed for the 2021 Players Championship Finals where he reached the quarter-finals. ^[24]

2022

At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, De Sousa lost to Alan Soutar 4–3 in the third round.

At the end of January, at the 2022 PDC Masters, he reached the semi-finals of the event for the first time, after defeating Simon Whitlock 10–9 in a last-leg decider. ^[25]

In mid-July, at the 2022 World Matchplay, he reached the quarter-finals of the event for the first time, after defeating Rob Cross 11–8. ^[26]

2023

De Sousa achieved his best world championship result at the 2023 World Championship by reaching the fourth round. Starting in the second round, he came back from 2–0 down to defeat Simon Whitlock 3–2. ^[27] He produced another comeback victory in the third round, beating Ryan Searle 4–3 despite a 3–0 deficit to set up a fourth-round tie against world number one Gerwyn Price. ^[28] De Sousa suffered a 4–1 defeat to Price. ^[29]

He reached a ranking final at Players Championship 10 but lost 8–3 to Dirk van Duijvenbode. ^[30]

2024

De Sousa suffered a surprise early exit in the second round of the 2024 World Championship, losing 3–1 to qualifier Jeffrey de Graaf. ^[31] In the opening round of the Belgian Darts Open, he faced 2024 World Championship runner-up Luke Littler in Littler's European Tour debut. De Sousa led 5–4 but missed two match darts, allowing Littler to win the match 6–5. ^{[32] [33]}

De Sousa failed to qualify for a ranked major event in the second half of 2024, although he did qualify for the World Series Finals through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier. ^[34] He lost 6–5 to Michael Smith in the first round. ^[35]

2025

For the first time since 2018, De Sousa failed to qualify for the 2025 PDC World Championship, having dropped outside the top 32 in the PDC Order of Merit ranking, and not progressing through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier. ^[36]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2012: Preliminary round (lost to Devon Petersen 3–4) (legs)
• 2019: First round (lost to Michael Barnard 2–3) (sets)
• 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)
• 2024: Second round (lost to Jeffrey de Graaf 1–3)

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	2024	2025
PDC World Championship	PR	1R	1R	3R	3R	4R	2R	DNQ
PDC World Masters	DNP	DNQ		1R	SF	2R	DNQ	Prel.
UK Open	DNP	2R	3R	6R	5R	5R	4R	4R
World Matchplay	DNP	DNQ	1R	2R	QF	1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	DNP	DNQ	1R	2R	1R	1R	DNQ
European Championship	DNP	DNQ	2R	QF	2R	2R	DNQ
Grand Slam of Darts	DNP	DNQ	W	2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNP	2R	3R	QF	2R	1R	DNQ
Non-ranked televised events
Premier League Darts	DNP			F	DNP
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNP		2R	2R	2R	RR	RR
World Series of Darts Finals	NH	DNQ		2R	DNQ	DNP	1R
Career statistics
Season-end ranking (PDC)	-	62	15	7	14	25	45

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
2023	BSD DNQ	EDO 1R	IDO 3R	GDG 3R	ADO DNQ	DDC DNQ	BDO 2R	CDO 2R	EDG 2R	EDM 1R	GDO 3R	HDT 2R	GDC DNQ
2024	BDO 1R	GDG 1R	IDO 2R	EDG 1R	ADO 1R	BSD 1R	DDC 1R	EDO DNQ	GDC 1R	FDT DNQ	HDT DNQ	SDT DNQ	CDO DNQ

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
2019	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR 3R	BAR SF	WIG 4R	WIG F	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	BAR W	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	DUB 3R	DUB W	BAR 4R	BAR 1R
2020	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL F	MIL 4R	MIL 4R	NIE 4R	NIE 3R	NIE 4R	NIE 3R	NIE SF	COV SF	COV F	COV 1R	COV F	COV 1R
2021	BOL 2R	BOL 1R	BOL 4R	BOL 4R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL QF	MIL 4R	NIE W	NIE QF	NIE 1R	NIE 2R	MIL 2R	MIL W	MIL W	MIL 1R	COV SF	COV F	COV 2R	COV SF	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	BAR QF	BAR 4R	BAR 3R
2022	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	WIG QF	WIG 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	NIE QF	NIE 2R	BAR QF	BAR SF	BAR 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	NIE 1R	NIE 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR DNP	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R
2023	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	WIG 3R	WIG F	LEI 1R	LEI 3R	HIL 2R	HIL 4R	LEI 2R	LEI SF	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R
2024	WIG QF	WIG 4R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	LEI 3R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 1R	WIG QF	LEI 1R	LEI 1R

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

Nine-dart finishes

See also: Nine-dart finish

José de Sousa televised 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	[16]
8 April 2021	Nathan Aspinall	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	[37]

Notes

1. (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

References

1. Dardos en Tarragona: José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (V): profile (Spanish)
2. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 18 March 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
3. World Championship - Night Seven Archived 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
4. "2012 Catalonia National Championships Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
5. "2012 Catalan Open Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
6. "2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
7. "2015 Catalan Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
8. "2016 FCD Anniversary Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
9. "2017 PDC Qualifying School Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
10. Phillips, Josh (15 January 2019). "European Q School Tour Card Winners Confirmed". PDC . Retrieved 15 January 2019.
11. Prenderville, Paul (25 November 2020). "World Matchplay: Jose De Sousa keeps on surprising 18 months into PDC life". Sky Sports . Retrieved 8 February 2025.
12. Phillips, Josh (23 June 2019). "Wade Wins Fourth Title Of 2019 At PC18". PDC.
13. Phillips, Josh (10 September 2019). "De Sousa makes history at PC23". PDC.
14. "Jose De Sousa makes history at Players Championship 23 in Barnsley". Sky Sports. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
15. Gorton, Josh (23 October 2020). "Jose De Sousa full of confidence as he continues to live up to the 'Special One' billing". Sky Sports . Retrieved 9 February 2025.
16. Allen, Dave (29 October 2020). "De Sousa hits perfection as Unibet European Championship begins". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
17. Prenderville, Paul (25 November 2020). "Jose De Sousa became the PDC's newest major champion with Grand Slam of Darts glory". Sky Sports . Retrieved 8 February 2025.
18. "Jose de Sousa : Former kitchen fitter wins Grand Slam of Darts". BBC Sport . 24 November 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
19. "Clayton caps amazing debut season with Unibet Premier League glory". BBC Sport. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
20. "Jose de Sousa scoops title at Players Championship 9 in Niedernhausen". Sky Sports. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
21. Allen, Dave (15 June 2021). "Superb De Sousa denies Van Gerwen to claim second 2021 title". PDC.
22. "Jose de Sousa beats Ryan Searle to win Players Championship title for second consecutive day". Sky Sports. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
23. Wayne Mardle (8 July 2021). "Jose De Sousa is in a 'special place' following his Super Series exploits, says Wayne Mardle". Sky Sports . Retrieved 9 February 2021.
24. "Players Championship Finals darts 2021: Draw, schedule, betting odds, results & live ITV4 coverage details". Sporting Life. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
25. Gill, Samuel (30 January 2022). "De Sousa into Masters semi-final for first time after edging past Whitlock in decider". Darts News. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
26. Gill, Samuel (20 July 2022). "Delightful De Sousa downs Cross in superb display to reach World Matchplay Quarter-Final". Darts News. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
27. Gorton, Josh (19 December 2022). "Price survives early scare as De Sousa comeback stuns Whitlock". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
28. Wellens, Megan (28 December 2022). "World Darts Championship: Gary Anderson crashes out to Chris Dobey as Alan Soutar and Jose de Sousa produce huge comebacks". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
29. "Gerwyn Price books quarter-final spot with comfortable win over Jose de Sousa". The Independent. PA Sport. 30 December 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
30. "Darts results: Dirk van Duijvenbode claims third title of the year with Players Championship Ten victory". Sporting Life. 16 April 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
31. Gill, Samuel (22 December 2023). "Jeffrey de Graaf stuns Jose de Sousa and reaches last 32 at World Darts Championship". Darts News. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
32. "Belgian Open: Luke Littler wins thriller on European Tour debut as Stephen Bunting also progresses". Sky Sports. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
33. "Luke Littler survives scare to beat Jose de Sousa on European Tour debut". The Independent. PA Sport. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
34. Phillips, Josh (23 August 2024). "Van Duijvenbode heads qualifiers for World Series Finals". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
35. Wood, Kieran (14 September 2024). "Michael Smith edges decider with De Sousa as Wessel Nijman completes second round lineup at 2024 World Series of Darts". Darts News. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
36. "World Darts Championship: Simon Whitlock, Steve Beaton miss out in Tour Card Holder Qualifier for Alexandra Palace". Sky Sports . 25 November 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
37. 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