José de Sousa

José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 12 February 1974) is a Portuguese professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he reached a peak ranking of world number six in 2022. A PDC Tour Card holder since 2019, he won his first PDC major title at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts and competed in the 2021 Premier League, where he finished as runner-up. His best World Championship performance is reaching the last 16 at 2023 PDC World Championship.

De Sousa represented Spain at the 2011 WDF World Cup, but played for the Portuguese team afterwards at the PDC 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 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. In the rest of the year, he won the Catalonia National Championship and the Catalan Open by beating Antonio Jimenez in the final. De Sousa claimed the 2013 Soft Tip Bullshooter European Championship with a win over Franck Guillermont. He reached the final of the 2015 Catalan Open, but lost 6–1 to Carles Arola.

De Sousa won the 2016 FCD Anniversary Open by overcoming Willem Mandigers 6–1 in the final. 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.

After a first round defeat at the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship to Michael Barnard, De Sousa attended the PDC's European Qualifying School in January 2019. He finished sixth on the EU Order of Merit, which secured him a two-year PDC Tour Card for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

At the beginning of March, De Sousa made his debut at the UK Open, reaching the second round by defeating Brian Raman.

He made his maiden PDC final at Players Championship 18, but lost to James Wade 8–5. De Sousa then became the first Portuguese player to win a PDC title at Players Championship 23. He beat Gerwyn Price 8–1 in the final.

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

In March, De Sousa lost to Lewy Williams 6–4 in the third round of the 2020 UK Open.

In October 2020, De Sousa won his first PDC European Tour title, beating Michael van Gerwen 8–4 in the final of the 2020 European Darts Grand Prix. Two weeks later in the 2020 European Championship, De Sousa managed to hit his first televised nine-darter, in a 6–3 win over Jeffrey de Zwaan. De Sousa represented Portugal at the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, partnering José Marquês. They defeated Hungary in the first round 5–0, but in the second round they lost to Austria.

De Sousa won his first major title at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts. He defeated James 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.

De Sousa qualified for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship as the fourteenth seed. He received a bye to the second round as a top-32-seeded player. He defeated Ross Smith 3–1, but lost to Mervyn King 4–0 in the third round. He finished the year in 15th place in the PDC Order of Merit and was named as one of the 10 competitors in the 2021 Premier League Darts, losing to Jonny Clayton 11–5 in the final.

De Sousa's defence of the Grand Slam title in November came to an abrupt end when he lost a deciding last-leg to eventual runner-up Peter Wright 10–9 in the last 16.

De Sousa won three Players Championship titles during the season, which contributed to him topping the Players Championship Order of Merit, making him the number one seed for the 2021 Players Championship Finals where he reached the quarter-finals, losing to Brendan Dolan 10–4.

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

At the end of January, at the 2022 PDC Masters, he reached the semi-finals of the event for the first time, after defeating Simon Whitlock 10–9 in a last-leg decider. De Sousa would eventually lose in the semi-finals 11–8 to the eventual winner Joe Cullen, who also bagged the last spot for the Premier League at the same time.

In mid-July, at the 2022 World Matchplay, he reached the quarter-finals of the event for the first time, after defeating Rob Cross 11–8 before losing to eventual runner-up Gerwyn Price 16–14.

De Sousa achieved his best world championship result at the 2023 World Championship by reaching the fourth round. Starting in the second round, he came back from 2–0 down to defeat Simon Whitlock 3–2. He produced another comeback victory in the third round, beating Ryan Searle 4–3 despite a 3–0 deficit to set up a fourth-round tie against world number one Gerwyn Price. De Sousa suffered a 4–1 defeat to Price.

He reached a ranking final at Players Championship 10 but lost 8–3 to Dirk van Duijvenbode.

De Sousa suffered a surprise early exit in the second round of the 2024 World Championship, losing 3–1 to qualifier Jeffrey de Graaf. In the opening round of the Belgian Darts Open, he faced 2024 World Championship runner-up Luke Littler in Littler's European Tour debut. De Sousa led 5–4 but missed two match darts, allowing Littler to win the match 6–5.

De Sousa failed to qualify for a ranked major event in the second half of 2024, although he did qualify for the World Series Finals through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier. He lost 6–5 to Michael Smith in the first round.

For the first time since 2018, De Sousa failed to qualify for the 2025 PDC World Championship, having dropped outside the top 32 in the PDC Order of Merit ranking, and not progressing through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier.

De Sousa qualified for the 2026 PDC World Championship, via the Tour Card Holder Qualifier this time around. He was eliminated in the first round to Ricardo Pietreczko 3–1.

The result meant he had to go to Q-School in January to try and retain his Tour Card for the 2026 season, after finishing 82nd on the PDC Order of Merit but was not successful.

After Q-School was completed, De Sousa turned his attentions to the PDC Challenge Tour.

• 2012: Preliminary round (lost to Devon Petersen 3–4) (legs)
• 2019: First round (lost to Michael Barnard 2–3) (sets)
• 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)
• 2026: First round (lost to Ricardo Pietreczko 1–3)

PDC European Tour

PDC Players Championships

• José de Sousa player profile at Darts Orakel