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.
| 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 |
| Established | 2016 |
| Organisation(s) | PDC |
| Format | Legs, Group Stage and Knockout |
| Prize fund | £250,000 (2019) |
| Month(s) Played | September |
| Final Year | 2019 |
| Final champion(s) | |
 Michael van Gerwen | |
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
editThe 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
editOnly 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
editThe 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
edit| Year | Champion (average in final) | Score | Runner-up (average in final) | Prize money | Sponsor | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Champion | Runner-up | ||||||
| 2016 |  Phil Taylor (98.97)
|
11–5 | Michael van Gerwen (100.92)
|
£250,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 | Unibet |  Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
|
| 2017 |  Mensur Suljović (87.85)
|
11–9 |  Gary Anderson (98.03)
| |||||
| 2018 | Gary Anderson (101.47)
|
11–4 | Peter Wright (93.85)
|
Paddy Power | Brighton Centre, Brighton
| |||
| 2019 | Michael van Gerwen (100.87)
|
11–10 | Peter Wright (97.42)
|
Morningside Arena, Leicester
| ||||
| 2020 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.[6] | |||||||
Records and statistics
edit- As of 20 October 2019.
Total finalist appearances
edit| Rank | Player | Nationality | Won | Runner-up | Finals | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Anderson | Scotland |
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Michael van Gerwen | Netherlands |
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 3 | Mensur Suljović | Austria |
1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Phil Taylor | England |
1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Peter Wright | Scotland |
0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
- Active players are shown in bold
High averages
edit| Ten highest Champions League of Darts one-match averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year (+ Round) | Opponent | Result |
| 111.23 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2018, Group stage | Dave Chisnall
|
10–2 |
| 108.31 | Phil Taylor
|
2016, Group stage | Robert Thornton
|
10–2 |
| 107.49 | Phil Taylor
|
2016, Group stage | Michael van Gerwen
|
10–4 |
| 105.67 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2016, Semi-finals | Gary Anderson
|
11–5 |
| 105.54 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2019, Semi-finals | Gerwyn Price
|
11–10 |
| 105.53 | Mensur Suljović
|
2018, Group stage | Peter Wright
|
10–7 |
| 104.13 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2016, Group stage | Phil Taylor
|
4–10 |
| 103.49 | James Wade
|
2016, Group stage | Adrian Lewis
|
10–3 |
| 103.52 | Peter Wright
|
2019, Semi-finals | Michael Smith
|
11–5 |
| 103.40 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2019, Group stage | James Wade
|
10–8 |
| Five highest Champions League of Darts losing averages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Player | Year (+ Round) | Opponent | Result |
| 104.13 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2016, Group stage | Phil Taylor
|
4–10 |
| 102.89 | Michael van Gerwen
|
2017, Group stage | Phil Taylor
|
9–10 |
| 102.49 | Gerwyn Price
|
2019, Semi-finals | Michael van Gerwen
|
10–11 |
| 102.13 | Peter Wright
|
2018, Group stage | Mensur Suljović
|
7–10 |
| 101.48 | Gary Anderson
|
2018, Group stage |  Daryl Gurney
|
8–10 |
Broadcaster
editThe 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
editIn 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
edit- ^ "News | PDC". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d "BBC Deal For Champions League of Darts". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ^ "News | PDC". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- ^ "Champions League of Darts heads to Leicester with £100,000 up for grabs for fans". Sky Sports. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- ^ Allen, Dave. "New BBC Deal For Unibet Champions League". PDC. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ "Events Update: May & June 2020". PDC. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Unibet Throw Support Behind Champions League". PDC. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.