José de Sousa
José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa is a Portuguese professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation 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.
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. 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.
2019
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.
2020
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.
2021
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 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.
2022
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.
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.
2023
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.
2024
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.
2025
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.2026
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.
World Championship results
PDC
- 2012: Preliminary round
- 2019: First round
- 2020: First round
- 2021: Third round
- 2022: Third round
- 2023: Fourth round
- 2024: Second round
- 2026: First round
Career finals
PDC major finals: 2 (1 title)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2020 | Grand Slam | 16–12 | |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2021 | Premier League | 5–11 |
Performance timeline
PDC European TourPDC 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 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| 2019 | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 4R | WIG 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 3R | BAR QF | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR DNP | BAR DNP | BAR 3R | BAR SF | WIG 4R | WIG F | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | BAR W | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | DUB 3R | DUB W | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | - | - | - | - |
| 2020 | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL F | MIL 4R | MIL 4R | NIE 4R | NIE 3R | NIE 4R | NIE 3R | NIE SF | COV SF | COV F | COV 1R | COV F | COV 1R | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2021 | BOL 2R | BOL 1R | BOL 4R | BOL 4R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL QF | MIL 4R | NIE W | NIE QF | NIE 1R | NIE 2R | MIL 2R | MIL W | MIL W | MIL 1R | COV SF | COV F | COV 2R | COV SF | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR QF | BAR 4R | BAR 3R | - | - | - | - |
| 2022 | BAR 4R | BAR 3R | WIG QF | WIG 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | NIE QF | NIE 2R | BAR QF | BAR SF | BAR 4R | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR QF | BAR DNP | BAR 1R | BAR QF | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | - | - | - | - |
| 2023 | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | WIG 3R | WIG F | LEI 1R | LEI 3R | HIL 2R | HIL 4R | LEI 2R | LEI SF | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 3R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR QF | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | - | - | - | - |
| 2024 | WIG QF | WIG 4R | LEI 2R | LEI 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | LEI 3R | LEI 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | WIG 2R | WIG 1R | MIL 1R | MIL 1R | WIG 4R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG QF | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | - | - | - | - |
| 2025 | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | ROS 3R | ROS 1R | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 2R | LEI 2R | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | LEI 3R | ROS 2R | ROS 1R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | LEI 2R | LEI 2R | LEI 1R | LEI 2R | LEI 2R | HIL 1R | HIL 1R | MIL 3R | MIL 1R | HIL DNP | HIL DNP | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R |