Champions League of Darts

Champions League of Darts
Tournament information
Venue Motorpoint Arena Cardiff (2016–17)
Brighton Centre (2018–)
Location Cardiff (2016–17)
Brighton (2018–)
Country United Kingdom
Established 2016
Organisation(s) PDC
Format Legs, Group Stage and Knockout
Prize fund £250,000 (2016)
Month(s) Played September
Current champion(s)
Scotland Gary Anderson

The Champions League of Darts is an annual non-ranking darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Featuring the top eight players in the PDC, it is played over two days in a group and then knockout format. First held in September 2016 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, the inaugural champion was Phil Taylor. The reigning champion is Gary Anderson. The tournament is the first PDC event to be broadcast on the BBC.

History

The 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.[1] With the PDC 2016 calendar having already been announced in August 2015, the Barnsley round of the PDC Player Championship was moved to accommodate it.[2] A second Champions League tournament was duly announced as part of the August 2016 release of the 2017 calendar.[1]

Eligibility

Only 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[1]). 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.[3]

Format

The 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

Year Champion (average in final) Score Runner-up (average in final) Prize money Sponsor Venue
Total Champion Runner-up
2016 England Phil Taylor 98.97 11 – 5 Netherlands Michael van Gerwen 100.92 £250,000 £100,000 £50,000 Unibet Wales Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
2017 Austria Mensur Suljović 87.85 11 – 9 Scotland Gary Anderson 98.03
2018 Scotland Gary Anderson 101.47 11 – 4 Scotland Peter Wright 93.85 Paddy Power England Brighton Centre

Total finalist appearances

As of 23 September 2018
Player Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
Scotland Gary Anderson1123
Austria Mensur Suljović 1012
England Phil Taylor1012
Netherlands Michael van Gerwen0113
Scotland Peter Wright0113

Broadcaster

The tournament is the first PDC event to be broadcast on the BBC, after they ended their contract to broadcast rights of the BDO World Darts Championship.[1]

Sponsorship

In 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.[4] The 2018 tournament is sponsored by bookmaker Paddy Power.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "BBC Deal For Champions League of Darts". PDC. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "News | PDC". www.pdc.tv. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  3. ↑ Allen, Dave. "New BBC Deal For Unibet Champions League". PDC. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  4. ↑ "Unibet Throw Support Behind Champions League". PDC. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
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