José de Sousa

Not to be confused with footballer José Oliveira de Souza.

José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 12 February 1974) is a Portuguese professional darts player. He is based in Tarragona and represented Spain at the 2011 WDF World Cup, but played for the Portuguese team afterwards at the PDC. He won his first televised major title at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts. He is known among darts fans for his maverick-like scoring, relatively frequent miscounts and unorthodox checkouts in matches. He frequently helps out at local hotels and restaurants during the summer.^[3]

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Oliveira and 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 50) Azambuja, Lisbon, Portugal
Home town	Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain
Darts information
Playing darts since	1994
Darts	20 Gram 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	30 (22 August 2024)[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 Players Championship (BAR) 2019 Players Championship (DUB) 2019 Players Championship (MK) 2021 (x2) Players Championship (NIE) 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

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.^[4] In the rest of the year, he won the Catalonia National Championship and the Catalan Open by beating Antonio Jimenez in the final.^[5][6] De Sousa claimed the 2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship with a win over Franck Guillermont.^[7] He reached the final of the 2015 Catalan Open, but lost 6–1 to Carles Arola.^[8]

De Sousa won the 2016 FCD Anniversary Open by overcoming Willem Mandigers 6–1 in the final.^[9] 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.^[10]

2019

After a first round defeat at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship to Michael Barnard, De Sousa went to PDC European Q-School in January 2019 and won a Tour Card for the first time, finishing sixth on the Order of Merit to seal at least two years on the PDC ProTour.^[11]

He made gradual improvements throughout his first year on tour, and made his maiden PDC final at Players Championship 18, but lost 8–5 to James Wade. De Sousa then became the first Portuguese player to win a PDC title at Players Championship 23. He beat Peter Wright 7–3 in the semi-finals and Gerwyn Price 8–1 in the final.

2020

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

In March, De Sousa made his debut at the 2020 UK Open, but lost to Welsh youngster Lewy Williams 6–4 in the third round.

In 2020, De Sousa won his first PDC European Tour title, beating the number 1 ranked player Michael Van Gerwen in the final 8–4, averaging 105,79. His winning checkout was an unorthodox 88 finish of treble 8, double 14, double 18, and with that victory followed the winners prize of £25,000. Two weeks later in the 2020 European Championship, De Sousa managed to hit his first ever televised nine-darter, in a 6–3 win over Jeffrey de Zwaan.^[12] Portugal was not on the entry list for 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, but Singapore withdrew from the competition as Harith Lim couldn't fly to Austria. They were replaced by Portugal (represented by de Sousa and José Marquês) and together they defeated team Hungary in the first round 5–0, however, in the second round they lost to team Austria.

Continuing a good run of form, De Sousa won his first major title in the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts. After beating Krzysztof Ratajski and Lisa Ashton in the group stages, he then defeated Dave Chisnall, avenged a group stage defeat to Michael Smith in the quarter-finals, beat Simon Whitlock in the semi-finals, then he defeated James Wade in the final 16–12, winning with a 158 checkout. De Sousa became the first ever Portuguese winner of a major tournament, and broke into the world's Top 16 by winning the event.

2021

De Sousa qualified for 2021 PDC World Darts Championship via PDC Order of Merit as 14th seed. He defeated Ross Smith in the second round 3–1, but lost 0–4 to Mervyn King in the third round, despite averaging 103.62. He finished the year in 15th place in the PDC Order of Merit and secured his tour card, and was named as one of the 10 competitors in the 2021 Premier League Darts.

2022

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

World Championship results

PDC

• 2012: Preliminary round (lost to Devon Petersen 3–4 (legs))
• 2019: First round (lost to Michael Barnard 2–3)
• 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
PDC World Championship	PR	1R	1R	3R	3R	4R	2R
UK Open	DNP	2R	3R	6R	5R	5R	4R
World Matchplay	DNP	DNQ	1R	2R	QF	1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	DNP	DNQ	1R	2R	1R	1R
European Championship	DNP	DNQ	2R	QF	2R	2R
Grand Slam of Darts	DNP	DNQ	W	2R	DNQ
Players Championship Finals	DNP	2R	3R	QF	2R	1R
Non-major televised events
Masters	DNP	DNQ		1R	SF	2R
Premier League Darts	DNP			F	DNP
PDC World Cup of Darts	DNP		2R	2R	2R	RR
World Series of Darts Finals	NH	DNQ		2R	DNQ	DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	-	61	15	7	14	25

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	FDT DNQ	HDT	SDT	CDO

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	[12]
8 April 2021	Nathan Aspinall	Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	[13]

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. 22 August 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
3. Prenderville, Paul (14 July 2020). "World Matchplay: Jose De Sousa keeps on surprising 18 months into PDC life". Sky Sports.
4. World Championship - Night Seven Archived 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine PDC.tv
5. "2012 Catalonia National Championships Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
6. "2012 Catalan Open Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
7. "2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
8. "2015 Catalan Open Results". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
9. "2016 FCD Anniversary Open Results". Darts Database. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
10. "2017 PDC Qualifying School Day Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
11. "European Q School Tour Card Winners Confirmed". PDC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
12. Allen, Dave (29 October 2020). "De Sousa hits perfection as Unibet European Championship begins". PDC. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
13. 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