| Mike De Decker | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
De Decker at a press conference after his2024 World Grand Prix win | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "The Real Deal" | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1995-12-15)15 December 1995 (age 29)[1] Mechelen, Belgium | ||||||||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2010 | ||||||||||||||
| Darts | 22g Mission Signature | ||||||||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Three Little Birds" byBob Marley and the Wailers | ||||||||||||||
| Organisation (seesplit in darts) | |||||||||||||||
| BDO | 2013 | ||||||||||||||
| PDC | 2014– (Tour Card: 2016–2017, 2020–) | ||||||||||||||
| WDF | 2013 | ||||||||||||||
| Current world ranking | (PDC) 18 | ||||||||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||||||||
| World Championship | Last 64:2022,2023,2024,2025 | ||||||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Last 16:2025 | ||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Winner (1):2024 | ||||||||||||||
| UK Open | Last 32:2024 | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam | Last 16:2024 | ||||||||||||||
| European Championship | Last 16:2024 | ||||||||||||||
| PC Finals | Quarter-final:2024 | ||||||||||||||
| Masters | Last 32:2025 | ||||||||||||||
| World Series Finals | Quarter-final:2025 | ||||||||||||||
| Other achievements | |||||||||||||||
| 2024 Televised Performance of the Year[3] | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mike De Decker (born 15 December 1995) is a Belgian professionaldarts player who competes inProfessional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently rankedworld number seventeen. Nicknamed"the Real Deal", he won his first major title at the2024 World Grand Prix, defeatingLuke Humphries 6–4 in the final. He won his firstPDC Pro Tour title atPlayers Championship 16 in 2024. He finished as runner-up at the2025 Belgian Darts Open on thePDC European Tour, as well as at the2025 Australian Darts Masters on theWorld Series of Darts. He reached his second major quarter-final at the2024 Players Championship Finals.
In his youth career, De Decker won fourPDC Development Tour titles.
De Decker first played on the PDC Youth Tour in 2014 and reached the Last 16 twice. In the same year, he won the British Teenage Open at theWorld Darts Federation. He also qualified for threeEuropean Tours but failed to win a match.
In January 2015 De Decker playedPDC Q-School for the first time but was unable to win a Tour card. He managed to qualify for the2015 UK Open, through being ranked 81st on the UK Open Qualifiers Order of Merit. He beat Stephen Hardy 5–1 in the first round but was eliminated in the second round 5–3 byJan Dekker. In the following months De Decker was active on the PDC Challenge Tour and the PDC Development Tour. On theDevelopment Tour, he reached three semi-finals and three finals. He won events 5 and 11, defeatingBenito van de Pas 4–3, andDimitri Van den Bergh 4–2 in the respective finals, but lost toDean Reynolds 4–2 in the event 15 final. De Decker finished the season ranked second on the Development Tour Order of Merit, which earned him aPDC Tour Card for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He qualified for the2015 PDC World Youth Championship as the 4th seed, but lost to Sam Hanson 6–1 in the second round.
In Autumn, De Decker was able to take part inPlayers Championship events for the first time as a call-up from the Challenge Tour virtue of his ranking on that Order of Merit.
De Decker played on the2016 PDC Development Tour and won the 19th and final event of the year. In May, he achieved his first victory on the European Tour at the2016 European Darts Matchplay against Darren Johnson.
After a rather unsuccessful summer, De Decker then reached the last 16 of a Players Championship for the first time at the beginning of October.
In March 2017, De Decker threw a nine-darter on the Development Tour and reached a quarter-final and a semi-final. This was followed by a quarter-final at a Players Championship event in April 2017. He reached the last 16 of the2017 Dutch Darts Masters on the European Tour for the first time after defeatingRichard North andAlan Norris and also qualified for the2017 Players Championship Finals, where he was eliminated in the first round byAdrian Lewis. After a win on the Development Tour at the end of the year, De Decker again qualified for the2017 PDC World Youth Championship and this time reached the last 16, where he was eliminated by reigning championCorey Cadby. De Decker lost his Tour Card at the end of 2017 season.
De Decker therefore took part in Q-School again in spring 2018, but failed to win a Tour card. On the PDC Challenge Tour and Development Tour, he reached several quarter-finals and once the semi-finals.
At the beginning of 2019, De Decker reached a quarter-final at Q-School, but was again unable to win a Tour card. On the PDC Development Tour, he reached two quarter-finals and a semi-final. De Decker also took part in several European Tour events and reached the last 16 of the2019 Austrian Darts Championship after defeatingChris Dobey andJonny Clayton, which he narrowly lost toRowby-John Rodriguez.
In January 2020, he won a Tour card at the European Q-School in Hildesheim, beatingDennis Nilsson 5–3 in the Day 2 final. This meant De Decker returned to the Pro Tour for the first time in three years.
De Decker qualified for the2021 PDC World Darts Championship via the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit. In his World Championship debut he met fellow debutantEdward Foulkes in the first round, but lost 3–0 in sets. De Decker qualified for the2021 Grand Slam of Darts in November via the Tour Card Holder qualifier. However, he only won one leg in three group matches againstPeter Wright,Gabriel Clemens andFallon Sherrock.
At the2022 PDC World Darts Championship De Decker defeatedDarius Labanauskas in the first round. In the second round he lost 3–0 toDave Chisnall.
De Decker qualified for the2023 PDC World Darts Championship, where defeatedJeff Smith 3–1 in the first round. In the second round he lost 3–0 toMensur Suljović. De Decker made his debut at the2023 World Matchplay and2023 World Grand Prix, losing both in the first round.
De Decker qualified for the2024 PDC World Darts Championship, winning 3–1 againstDragutin Horvat in the first round, but again lost in the second round, 3–1 toMadars Razma.
De Decker won his maiden PDC senior title by defeating Ricky Evans in the final atPlayers Championship 16.[4][5] This win helped him qualify for the World Grand Prix through the ProTour Order of Merit.
In October 2024, De Decker won his first ever PDC major title, defeatingLuke Humphries 6–4 to win the2024 World Grand Prix in only his second appearance in the tournament.[6][7] De Decker became only the second Belgian to win a major title afterDimitri Van den Bergh.
Throughout the season, De Decker managed to qualify for 11 out of 13 European tours, which qualified him for the2024 European Championship, where he reached the second round on debut, defeatingJosh Rock 6–1 before losing toDanny Noppert 10–6.
By winning the Grand Prix, De Decker qualified for the2024 Grand Slam of Darts, being drawn in Group E withMichael Smith,Jermaine Wattimena andMensur Suljovic. De Decker lost his first group match to Wattimena, but defeated Suljović and Smith to finish second in his group.De Decker lost 10–9 toLuke Littler in the second round.[8]

De Decker lost toLuke Woodhouse 3–1 in the second round of the2025 PDC World Darts Championship.[9] Following the tournament, De Decker became the first winner of a premier event televised onSky Sports to not be selected for thePremier League lineup. Speaking onSky Sports News, PDC chief executive Matt Porter commented that De Decker would not be ready for the Premier League as he had not frequently played in the latter stages of televised tournaments, but described him as an "outstanding talent" and opined that De Decker would likely be in the Premier League in the future.[10][11] De Decker declined an invite to the2025 Dutch Darts Masters due to family commitments.[12][13][14]
De Decker reached his first European Tour final at theBelgian Darts Open after wins overLuke Humphries,Gerwyn Price andRoss Smith. He was unable to capture the title in front of his home crowd, losing 8–3 toLuke Littler.[15] He made hisWorld Cup of Darts debut, representingBelgium alongsideDimitri Van den Bergh, but the pair were eliminated by thePhilippines in the group stage.[16] In July 2025, it was announced that De Decker would make hisWorld Series of Darts debut at theAustralian Darts Masters and theNew Zealand Darts Masters.[17] The same month, he achieved his first win at theWorld Matchplay by defeatingDave Chisnall 10–7 in his opening match, before going out in the next round.[18] In his first World Series event, he reached the final of the Australian Masters but succumbed to another defeat against Littler, to whom he lost 8–4.[19]
| Legend |
|---|
| World Grand Prix (1–0) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | World Grand Prix | 6–4 (s) |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score[N 1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2025 | Australian Darts Masters | 4–8 (l) |
| Tournament | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDC Ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Championship | Did not qualify | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Masters[N 1] | Did not qualify | 1R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK Open | 2R | 2R | Did not qualify | 3R | 2R | 3R | 4R | 5R | 4R | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Matchplay | Did not qualify | 1R | DNQ | 2R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Did not qualify | 1R | W | 2R | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| European Championship | Did not qualify | 2R | 1R | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam of Darts | Did not qualify | RR | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Players Championship Finals | DNP | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | 2R | 1R | QF | 1R | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-ranked televised events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | Did not qualify | RR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | Did not qualify | QF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Youth Championship | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | Did not participate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 120 | 93 | 71 | 137 | 130 | 90 | 59 | 53 | 39 | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Did not qualify | EDG 1R | EDT DNQ | |||||||||||
| 2015 | Did not qualify | IDO 1R | EDO 1R | Did not qualify | ||||||||||
| 2016 | DDM 1R | DNQ | EDM 2R | Did not qualify | ||||||||||
| 2017 | Did not qualify | GDT 1R | EDM 2R | DNQ | DDM 3R | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| 2018 | Did not qualify | DDM 1R | GDT 2R | DDO DNQ | EDM 1R | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| 2019 | Did not qualify | GDO 1R | DNQ | DDM 1R | DDO 1R | CDO DNQ | ADC 3R | EDM DNQ | IDO 1R | GDT DNQ | ||||
| 2020 | BDC 2R | Did not qualify | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | DNQ | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | Did not qualify | BDO 2R | GDT DNQ | |||||||||||
| 2023 | DNQ | IDO 3R | Did not qualify | CDO 2R | DNQ | GDO 2R | HDT QF | GDC DNQ | ||||||
| 2024 | BDO 3R | GDG 1R | IDO 1R | EDG DNQ | ADO 1R | BSD QF | DDC 1R | EDO 1R | GDC DNQ | FDT 2R | HDT DNQ | SDT 2R | CDO QF | |
| 2025 | BDO F | EDT 3R | IDO 2R | GDG 2R | ADO 2R | EDG 2R | DDC 1R | EDO 3R | BSD 2R | FDT 2R | CDO 2R | HDT 3R | SDT 2R | GDC 2R |
PDC Players Championships
PDC World Series of Darts
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | DNP | AUS F | NZE QF | ||||
| 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 | ||