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Mike De Decker

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Mike De Decker
De Decker at a press conference after his 2024 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 since2010
Darts22g Bull's signature
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO2013
PDC2014–
(Tour Card: 2016–2017, 2020–)
WDF2013
Current world ranking24 Steady (24 November 2024)[2]
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'shipLast 64: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
World MatchplayLast 32: 2023
World Grand PrixWinner (1): 2024
UK OpenLast 32: 2024
Grand SlamLast 16: 2024
European Ch'shipLast 16: 2024
PC FinalsQuarter Final: 2024
Other tournament wins
Players Championships
Players Championship (MK) 2024

Youth Events

PDC Development Tour 2015 (x2), 2016, 2017
Antwerp Open 2013
Belgium Championship 2014
British Teenage Open 2014
Tops of Gent 2013
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  Belgium
EDF European Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Podčetrtek Men's singles

Mike De Decker (born 15 December 1995) is a Belgian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the current World Grand Prix champion, after defeating Luke Humphries 6–4 in the final.

Career

[edit]

2014-2015: First appearances in PDC

[edit]

Mike 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 the World Darts Federation. He also qualified directly for a tournament on the European Tour for the first time. However, he lost his first match against Max Hopp at the 2014 European Darts Grand Prix.

At the beginning of 2015 De Decker played the PDC Q-School for the first time but was not able to win a Tour card. He still played the UK Open Qualifiers and managed to qualify for the 2015 UK Open, but was eliminated in Round 2 by Jan Dekker. In the following months De Decker was active on the PDC Challenge Tour and the PDC Development Tour. On the Development Tour, he reached three semi-finals and three finals. He won twice in his three final appearances. De Decker also took part in two other tournaments on the European Tour. In both the 2015 International Darts Open and the 2015 European Darts Open, he was unable to win his first match.

In autumn, the Belgian was able to take part in the Players Championships for the first time. From then on he took part in the 2015 PDC World Youth Championship as well and won a match against Dawson Murschell. Thanks to his good results on the Development Tour, the Belgian was able to secure a Tour card for the next two years.

2016-2017: Two years with Tour card

[edit]

However, he continued to play the PDC Development Tour on the side and won a tournament there. At the beginning of 2016, he took part in the 2016 UK Open and the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters again, but was immediately eliminated. He then achieved his first victory on the European Tour in May at the 2016 European Darts Matchplay in Hamburg against Darren Johnson. In the second round, however, he was unable to win a leg against Mensur Suljović.

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. At the 2016 PDC World Youth Championship De Decker again only won one match.

In March 2017, De Decker threw a 9-darter on the Development Tour and reached a quarter-final and a semi-final. This was followed by a quarter-final at the Players Championships in April 2017. He reached the last 16 of the 2017 Dutch Darts Masters on the European Tour for the first time after defeating Richard North and Alan Norris and also qualified for the 2017 Players Championship Finals, where he was eliminated in the first round by Adrian Lewis. After a win on the Development Tour at the end of the year, De Decker again qualified for the 2017 PDC World Youth Championship and this time reached the last 16, where he was eliminated by reigning champion Corey Cadby. De Decker lost his Tour Card at the end of 2017 season.

2018-2019: Two years outside of Pro Tour

[edit]

De Decker therefore took part in the 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. However, he failed to win a tournament for the first time. He also only reached the second round once in his two European Tour appearances, as well as at the 2018 PDC World Youth Championship. Here he lost his last match against Christian Bunse.

At the beginning of 2019, De Decker reached a quarter-final at the 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 the 2019 Austrian Darts Championship after defeating Chris Dobey and Jonny Clayton, which he narrowly lost to Rowby-John Rodriguez. At his last 2019 PDC World Youth Championship, De Decker again only made it through the group stage.

2020-2023: Back on Pro Tour and settling in top 64

[edit]

In January 2020, he won a Tour card at the European Q-School in Hildesheim, beating Dennis Nilsson 5–3 in the Day 2 final. This meant De Decker returned to the Pro Tour for the first time in 3 years. This was followed by reaching the second round at the 2020 UK Open and, after reaching the round of 16 at a Players Championship event twice, he qualified for the 2020 Players Championship Finals. There he met José de Sousa in the first round and lost 6–3. De Decker also took part in the PDC Home Tour.

De Decker also qualified for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship via the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit. In his World Championship debut he met fellow debutant Edward Foulkes in the first round, losing 3–0 in sets. De Decker qualified for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts in November via the Tour Card Holder qualifier. However, he only won one leg in three group matches against Peter Wright, Gabriel Clemens and Fallon Sherrock and finished the group stage in last place with a leg difference of -14.

At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship De Decker defeated Darius Labanauskas in the first round. In the second round he lost 3–0 to Dave Chisnall.

De Decker qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship, where defeated Jeff Smith 3–1 in the first round. In the second round he lost 3–0 to Mensur Suljović. De Decker made his debut at the 2023 World Matchplay and 2023 World Grand Prix, losing both in the first round.

2024: Breakthrough in his career

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De Decker qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, winning 3–1 against Dragutin Horvat in the first round, but again lost in the second round, 3–1 to Madars Razma.

De Decker reached the fifth round of the 2024 UK Open, but lost there to Ricky Evans 10–5.

De Decker failed to qualify for the 2024 World Matchplay.

De Decker won his maiden PDC Senior title in 2024 by defeating Ricky Evans in the final at Players Championship 16.[3] This win helped him qualify for the World Grand Prix through the ProTour Order of Merit.

In October 2024, after securing his spot by winning his first title, De Decker went further and won his first ever PDC major title, defeating Luke Humphries 6–4 to win the 2024 World Grand Prix in only his second appearance in the tournament.[4][5] De Decker became only the second Belgian to win a major title after Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Throughout the season, De Decker managed to qualify for 11 out of 13 European tours, the first 10 of which were through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier. As a result he qualified for the 2024 European Championship, where he reached the second round on debut, defeating Josh Rock 6–1 before losing to Danny Noppert 10–6.

By winning the Grand Prix, De Decker qualified for the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts, being drawn in Group E with Michael Smith, Jermaine Wattimena and Mensur 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 to Luke Littler in the second round.[6]

De Decker lost to Luke Woodhouse 3-1 in the second round of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship.

World Championship results

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PDC

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Career finals

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PDC major finals: 1 (1 title)

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Legend
World Grand Prix (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 2024 World Grand Prix England Luke Humphries 6–4 (s)
  1. ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

Performance timeline

[edit]
Tournament 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship DNQ 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R
UK Open 2R 2R DNQ 3R 2R 3R 4R 5R
World Matchplay DNQ 1R DNQ
World Grand Prix DNQ 1R W
European Championship DNQ 2R
Grand Slam of Darts DNQ RR DNQ 2R
Players Championship Finals DNP DNQ 1R DNQ 1R DNQ 2R 1R QF
Non-major televised events
PDC World Youth Championship 2R 2R 3R 2R 2R DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 120 93 71 137 130 90 59 53 39


PDC European Tour

Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2014 GDC
DNQ
DDM
DNQ
GDM
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
EDO
DNQ
EDG
1R
EDT
DNQ
2015 GDC
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
GDM
DNQ
DDM
DNQ
IDO
1R
EDO
1R
EDT
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
2016 DDM
1R
GDM
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
EDM
2R
ADO
DNQ
EDO
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
EDT
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
2017 GDC
DNQ
GDM
DNQ
GDO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
GDT
1R
EDM
2R
ADO
DNQ
EDO
DNQ
DDM
3R
GDG
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
EDT
DNQ
2018 EDO
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
GDO
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
DDM
1R
GDT
2R
DDO
DNQ
EDM
1R
GDC
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
EDT
DNQ
2019 EDO
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
GDO
1R
ADO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
DDM
1R
DDO
1R
CDO
DNQ
ADC
3R
EDM
DNQ
IDO
1R
GDT
DNQ
2020 BDC
2R
GDC
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
IDO
DNQ
2021 HDT
DNQ
GDT
DNQ
2022 IDO
DNQ
GDC
DNQ
GDG
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
EDO
DNQ
CDO
DNQ
EDG
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
EDM
DNQ
HDT
DNQ
GDO
DNQ
BDO
2R
GDT
DNQ
2023 BSD
DNQ
EDO
DNQ
IDO
3R
GDG
DNQ
ADO
DNQ
DDC
DNQ
BDO
DNQ
CDO
2R
EDG
DNQ
EDM
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

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
2015
[nb 1]
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
COV
DNP
COV
DNP
COV
DNP
CRA
DNP
CRA
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
DUB
1R
DUB
1R
COV
DNP
COV
DNP
2016 BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
COV
3R
COV
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
DUB
2R
DUB
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
2017 BAR
3R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
3R
MIL
1R
MIL
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
WIG
QF
WIG
1R
MIL
3R
MIL
1R
WIG
3R
WIG
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
DUB
1R
DUB
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
2018
[nb 1]
Did not play
2019
[nb 1]
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
WIG
DNP
WIG
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
HIL
DNP
HIL
3R
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
DUB
DNP
DUB
DNP
BAR
DNP
BAR
DNP
2020 BAR
1R
BAR
2R
WIG
1R
WIG
2R
WIG
3R
WIG
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
MIL
1R
MIL
1R
MIL
4R
MIL
1R
MIL
4R
NIE
1R
NIE
2R
NIE
2R
NIE
1R
NIE
2R
COV
1R
COV
3R
COV
2R
COV
3R
COV
1R
2021 BOL
1R
BOL
2R
BOL
1R
BOL
1R
MIL
1R
MIL
1R
MIL
1R
MIL
2R
NIE
1R
NIE
3R
NIE
1R
NIE
4R
MIL
2R
MIL
2R
MIL
2R
MIL
1R
COV
2R
COV
1R
COV
1R
COV
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
BAR
4R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
2022 BAR
1R
BAR
1R
WIG
1R
WIG
2R
BAR
QF
BAR
1R
NIE
2R
NIE
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
WIG
2R
WIG
3R
NIE
1R
NIE
QF
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
QF
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
SF
BAR
4R
2023 BAR
1R
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
BAR
SF
HIL
2R
HIL
4R
WIG
4R
WIG
1R
LEI
F
LEI
3R
HIL
3R
HIL
3R
LEI
2R
LEI
3R
HIL
1R
HIL
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
SF
BAR
2R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
1R
BAR
3R
BAR
2R
BAR
1R
2024 WIG
4R
WIG
2R
LEI
2R
LEI
1R
HIL
1R
HIL
1R
LEI
2R
LEI
2R
HIL
2R
HIL
2R
HIL
4R
HIL
3R
MIL
1R
MIL
2R
MIL
QF
MIL
W
MIL
3R
MIL
2R
MIL
1R
WIG
3R
WIG
3R
LEI
4R
LEI
4R
WIG
4R
WIG
4R
WIG
3R
WIG
3R
WIG
DNP
LEI
4R
LEI
4R
  1. ^ a b c Not a Tour card holder
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

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Mike de Decker - Mastercaller".
  2. ^ "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 24 November 2024. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  3. ^ Allen, Dave (1 August 2024). "Deadly De Decker sweeps to maiden ProTour title at PC16". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  4. ^ "World Grand Prix: Mike De Decker shocks Luke Humphries in epic final to clinch title". Sky Sports. 13 October 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  5. ^ "World Grand Prix darts final LIVE: Mike De Decker beats Luke Humphries - scores, results & updates". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  6. ^ Wellens, Megan (15 November 2024). "Grand Slam of Darts 2024: Luke Littler sensationally fights back against Mike De Decker to book quarter-final spot as Gary Anderson also progresses". Sky Sports. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
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