| 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)" byPitbull | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation (seesplit in darts) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2011– (Tour Card: 2019–) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| WDF | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | (PDC) 73 1 (23 November 2025)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championship | 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 Championship | 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||
European Tour Events
Players Championships (x5)
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Medal record
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José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 12 February 1974) is a Portuguese professionaldarts player who competes inProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he reached a peak ranking ofworld number six in 2022. APDC Tour Card holder since 2019, he won his first PDC major title at the2020 Grand Slam of Darts and played at the2021 Premier League Darts, where he finished as runner-up. His best World Championship performance is reaching the last 16 at2023 PDC World Championship.
De Sousa represented Spain at the2011 WDF World Cup, but played for thePortuguese team afterwards at thePDC World Cup of Darts. He is known among darts fans for his maverick-like scoring, relatively frequent miscounts and unorthodox checkouts in matches.
De Sousa qualified for the2012 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 toSouth Africa'sDevon 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 overcomingWillem 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 toRoyden Lam in the final round.[9]
After a first round defeat at the2019 PDC World Darts Championship to Michael Barnard, De Sousa attended thePDC's European Qualifying School in January 2019. He finished sixth on the EU Order of Merit, which secured him a two-yearPDC Tour Card for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.[10][11]
At the beginning of March, De Sousa made his debut at theUK Open, reaching the second round by defeatingBrian Raman.[11]
He made his maiden PDC final at Players Championship 18, but lost toJames Wade 8–5.[12] De Sousa then became the first Portuguese player to win a PDC title at Players Championship 23. He beatGerwyn Price 8–1 in the final.[13][14]
At the2020 PDC World Championship he lost 3–0 toDamon Heta in the first round.
In March, De Sousa lost toLewy Williams 6–4 in the third round of the2020 UK Open.
In October 2020, De Sousa won his firstPDC European Tour title, beatingMichael van Gerwen 8–4 in the final of the2020 European Darts Grand Prix.[15] Two weeks later in the2020 European Championship, De Sousa managed to hit his first televisednine-darter, in a 6–3 win overJeffrey de Zwaan.[16] De Sousa representedPortugal at the2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, partnering José Marquês. They defeatedHungary in the first round 5–0, but in the second round they lost toAustria.
De Sousa won his first major title at the2020 Grand Slam of Darts. He defeatedJames 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]
De Sousa qualified for the2021 PDC World Darts Championship as the fourteenth seed. He received abye to the second round as a top-32-seeded player. He defeatedRoss Smith 3–1, but lost toMervyn King 4–0 in the third round. He finished the year in 15th place in thePDC Order of Merit and was named as one of the 10 competitors in the2021 Premier League Darts, losing toJonny Clayton 11–5 in the final.[19]
De Sousa won threePlayers 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 the2021 Players Championship Finals where he reached the quarter-finals.[24]
At the2022 PDC World Darts Championship, De Sousa lost toAlan Soutar 4–3 in the third round.
At the end of January, at the2022 PDC Masters, he reached the semi-finals of the event for the first time, after defeatingSimon Whitlock 10–9 in a last-leg decider.[25]
In mid-July, at the2022 World Matchplay, he reached the quarter-finals of the event for the first time, after defeatingRob Cross 11–8.[26]
De Sousa achieved his best world championship result at the2023 World Championship by reaching the fourth round. Starting in the second round, he came back from 2–0 down to defeatSimon Whitlock 3–2.[27] He produced another comeback victory in the third round, beatingRyan Searle 4–3 despite a 3–0 deficit to set up a fourth-round tie against world number oneGerwyn Price.[28] De Sousa suffered a 4–1 defeat to Price.[29]
He reached a ranking final atPlayers Championship 10 but lost 8–3 toDirk van Duijvenbode.[30]
De Sousa suffered a surprise early exit in the second round of the2024 World Championship, losing 3–1 to qualifierJeffrey de Graaf.[31] In the opening round of theBelgian Darts Open, he faced 2024 World Championship runner-upLuke Littler in Littler's European Tour debut. De Sousa led 5–4 but missed twomatch 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 theWorld Series Finals through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier.[34] He lost 6–5 toMichael Smith in the first round.[35]
For the first time since 2018, De Sousa failed to qualify for the2025 PDC World Championship, having dropped outside the top 32 in thePDC Order of Merit ranking, and not progressing through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier.[36]
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2020 | Grand Slam |  James Wade | 16–12 (l) |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2021 | Premier League |  Jonny Clayton | 5–11 (l) |
| Tournament | 2012 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | Prel. | 1R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 4R | 2R | DNQ | ||||||
| PDC World Masters[N 2] | NH | 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 | |||||||
| PDC Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||
| Premier League Darts | DNP | F | DNP | |||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | DNP | 2R | 2R | 2R | RR | RR | RR | |||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | NH | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | DNP | 1R | DNQ | |||||||
| 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 | Did not qualify | DDO QF | 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 | Did not qualify | |||
PDC Players Championships
| 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 | ||
| 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] |
