Nathan Aspinall


Nathan Paul Aspinall is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation events, where he is ranked world number fourteen; he reached a peak ranking of world number four in 2024. Nicknamed "the Asp", he has won two PDC major televised titles: the UK Open in 2019 and the World Matchplay in 2023. Aspinall has won a total of 11 PDC titles in his professional career, including three European Tour titles on the 2025 PDC Pro Tour. He won his first World Series of Darts title at the 2019 US Darts Masters.
In the PDC World Darts Championship, Aspinall is a two-time semi-finalist with back-to-back semi-final appearances in 2019 and 2020.
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Early life

Aspinall played semi-professional football as a goalkeeper, having once been scouted by Manchester United's academy. He was offered a deal by Rangers but turned it down as his family did not want to move to Scotland. He played in Stockport County's academy until he was 15, joining Cheadle Town. He worked as a trainee accountant before quitting to become a professional darts player.

Career

Aspinall began playing in PDC Development and Challenge Tour events in 2012. His first semi-final in those came in 2013, where he lost 4–2 to Max Hopp. He won a two-year PDC Tour Card in 2015 through the Q School Order of Merit and qualified for the UK Open, where he beat Chris Dobey 5–1 and James Richardson 9–4, before losing 4–9 to James Wade in the fourth round. Aspinall's first European Tour appearance was at the Dutch Darts Masters and he squeezed past Jamie Robinson and Vincent van der Voort both 6–5. In the third round Justin Pipe eliminated him 6–4. Aspinall won the seventh Development Tour event of 2015 with a 4–2 victory over Benito van de Pas. He also lost in the final of two other events during the year.
Aspinall made his first televised appearance in the final of the 2015 PDC World Youth Championship, where he played the German Max Hopp. After 10 legs of holding throw, the final deciding leg was thrown by Aspinall, and despite having match darts, it was Hopp who won 6–5.
While throwing a dart, Aspinall often stops to grip it differently. Commentators and others have suggested that this is due to dartitis. Michael van Gerwen indicated in 2022 that, during a match, he thought his opponent was suffering from this problem. Aspinall himself invariably denies during interviews that the hiccups have a mental cause. However, he later openly admitted to having the condition, having first encountered it during a Premier League match against Peter Wright in 2023.

2016

Aspinall was beaten 6–5 by Stuart Kellett in the second round of the 2016 UK Open. At the sixth Players Championship he reached his first quarter-final on the main tour and narrowly lost 6–5 against Vincent van der Voort. Aspinall qualified for his first Grand Slam of Darts|Grand Slam of Darts], but could not get a win out of his group fixtures with Raymond van Barneveld, Mensur SuljoviΔ‡ and Danny Noppert to finish bottom of his group.

2018

Aspinall won his first ranking PDC title in September 2018, beating Ryan Searle 6–4 in the final of Players Championship 18, in Barnsley.
Aspinall made his Players Championship Finals debut at the 2018 edition as the 25th seed. He defeated 40th seed Martin Schindler 6–1 in the first round but lost to 8th seed James Wade 6–4 in the second round.

2019: UK Open champion

At the 2019 World Championship, Aspinall made his debut as a ProTour Order of Merit qualifier. He was made a 500/1 outsider before the tournament. In the first round he whitewashed Geert Nentjes 3–0 before defeating the 6th seed Gerwyn Price 3–2 in a deciding set in the second round. Aspinall then defeated Kyle Anderson 4–1, Devon Petersen 4–3 and Brendan Dolan 5–1 on his way to the semi-finals, where he lost to Michael Smith 6–3.
Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the Premier League Darts|2019 Premier League], Aspinall was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He played a one-off match against Michael Smith on night six in Nottingham, losing 7–2.
Aspinall won his first PDC major at the 2019 UK Open, defeating Toni Alcinas, Christian Kist, Madars Razma, Steve Lennon, Ross Smith and Gerwyn Price to reach the final, where he defeated Rob Cross 11–5 to take the title, winning the final leg with a 170 checkout. The win took Aspinall into the top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit for the first time in his career.
Aspinall won his second televised title at the 2019 US Darts Masters, the first event on the 2019 World Series of Darts. It was Aspinall's first World Series event, and the only one he was selected to compete in during the 2019 edition. In the first round, he defeated Shawn Brenneman 6–2 before achieving wins over Rob Cross 8–5, and Peter Wright 8–7 in a last leg decider. Aspinall averaged 106.70 in the final, defeating Michael Smith 8-4. Aspinall received Β£20,000 in prize money for his victory.
He made his debut at the World Matchplay at the 2019 event. He was the first player to make his World Matchplay debut as a seed since Simon Whitlock in 2010. He lost to Mervyn King in the first round 10-5 despite averaging 103.

2020

At the 2020 World Championship, Aspinall once again reached the semi-finals. He defeated Gary Anderson before a 5–3 win over Dimitri Van den Bergh in the quarter-finals en route to the last four. He fell to defending champion Michael van Gerwen 6–3.
Aspinall followed his second world championship semi-final by reaching the semi-finals of the Masters (darts)|Masters], where he was beaten 11–10 by Michael Smith in a deciding leg. He was selected for his Premier League Darts debut season as part of the 2020 lineup after competing as a 'contender' the previous year. He qualified for the play-offs by finishing third in the league stage table. He defeated reigning world champion Peter Wright 10–7 in the semi-finals to set up a clash with fellow Premier League debutant Glen Durrant in the final. Aspinall succumbed to an 11–8 defeat to Durrant.

2021

At the 2021 World Championship, Aspinall came back from 2–0 down to beat Scott Waites 3–2 in the second round. He was eliminated from the tournament before the semi-finals for the first time as he lost 4–2 in the third round to Vincent van der Voort.
Aspinall finished third in the 2021 Premier League's league phase, losing 8–3 to JosΓ© de Sousa on night 16 who took second place. The two met in the play-off semi-finals, with De Sousa beating Aspinall 10–9 in a deciding leg. He reached the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay, where he was defeated 16–9 by Michael van Gerwen. He then reached the semi-finals of the European Championship (darts)|European Championship] but lost 11–10 to Van Gerwen.

2022

Despite suffering with tendonitis, Aspinall was able to win his opening match at the 2022 World Championship, recovering from 2–1 down to defeat Joe Murnan, who had a dart to win the match. He was whitewashed 4–0 in the third round by Callan Rydz. He then withdrew from the Masters due to injury.
Aspinall reached the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay, where he was eliminated by Michael van Gerwen in a narrow 16–14 defeat. He also won two ranking titles during the year. He claimed the Players Championship 13 title with an 8–6 triumph over Matt Campbell in the final. He added a second Players Championship victory in the 22nd event, defeating Krzysztof Ratajski 8–3 in the final.
At the World Grand Prix (darts)|World Grand Prix] in October, Aspinall reached the final following a 4–2 win over Gerwyn Price in the semi-finals, setting up a match against Michael van Gerwen for the prize. Despite briefly rallying from 4–0 down, he finally succumbed to a 5–3 defeat to Van Gerwen. The next month, he reached his second major final of the year at the Grand Slam of Darts, where he lost 16–5 to Michael Smith.

2023: World Matchplay champion

At the 2023 World Championship, Aspinall won his opening match 3–1 against Boris Krčmar. He lost 4–3 in the third round to Josh Rock.
Aspinall was a quarter-finalist at the UK Open, where he was beaten 10–6 by eventual runner-up Michael van Gerwen. He reached a sole 2023 European Tour final at the German Darts Grand Prix, losing 8–5 to Michael Smith. During the 2023 Premier League, he achieved his first nightly win on night 12 in Rotterdam. He got past Michael van Gerwen and Dimitri Van den Bergh to reach the final, where he defeated Gerwyn Price 6–4. He finished the league phase in fifth place, missing out on qualifying for the play-offs by failing to reach the final on night 16.
In July, Aspinall won a second major title at the World Matchplay. His run to the final included wins over Krzysztof Ratajski, Danny Noppert, Chris Dobey and Joe Cullen. In the final, he won 13 of the last 14 legs to defeat Jonny Clayton 18–6.
He made the final of the New Zealand Darts Masters but lost a deciding leg to Rob Cross who won 8–7. He was denied in a final once again at the 2023 [World Series of Darts Finals|World Series Finals], losing to Michael van Gerwen 11–4.

2024

At the 2024 World Championship, Aspinall suffered a shock early exit, losing 3–0 in the second round to Ricky Evans.
Aspinall achieved two nightly wins during the 2024 Premier League. He picked up his first win on night five in Exeter, beating Peter Wright and world champion Luke Humphries before a 6–2 victory over Rob Cross in the final. His second nightly win came in Rotterdam on night 12 where he defeated Michael Smith 6–4 in the final. Aspinall missed out on qualification for the play-offs by losing to Smith 6–3 in their opening match on night 16, with Smith claiming the final place.
In his defence of the World Matchplay, he was eliminated in the second round after an 11–8 loss to James Wade. Prior to the tournament, Aspinall admitted that due to a tennis elbow-like injury, he would be taking a break following his title defence. This resulted in him withdrawing from the World Series Finals in September. At the Players Championship Finals in November, he defeated number one seed Chris Dobey 6–1 in the first round, before exiting the tournament in a 6–3 defeat to Niels Zonneveld.

2025

Entering the second round of the 2025 World Championship as 12th seed, Aspinall began his campaign with a 3–1 win over Leonard Gates. After the match, Aspinall stated that he wanted to prove how good he was and go deep in the tournament after facing scrutiny for recent poor performances. He defeated Andrew Gilding 4–0 before dispatching Ricardo Pietreczko by the same scoreline to progress to the quarter-finals. Aspinall was denied a third Alexandra Palace semi-final by Luke Littler, to whom he lost 5–2.
Aspinall reached his second European Tour final at the European Darts Trophy after defeating Gary Anderson in the semi-finals. He won the final 8–4 against Ryan Joyce to claim his first European Tour title. He reached the final of the next European Tour event – the International Darts Open – but was unable to achieve back-to-back wins, losing 8–5 to Stephen Bunting. Aspinall earned his first nightly win in the 2025 Premier League on night 10, triumphing 6–4 against the world number one Luke Humphries in the final. A second nightly win on night 15 saw Aspinall edge closer to a place in the play-offs. His qualification was confirmed after he defeated Michael van Gerwen 6–2 in the quarter-finals on night 16. On Finals Night on 29 May, he lost 10–7 to eventual champion Humphries in the semi-finals. The following weekend, he reached his third European Tour final of the year at the European Darts Open. After deciding leg victories over Chris Dobey and Wessel Nijman during the last session, he defeated Damon Heta 8–6 to win his second European Tour title.
Aspinall reached the final of the US Darts Masters, but was unable to win the tournament for a second time as he lost to Luke Humphries 8–6. He capped off the 2025 European Tour season by winning a third title at the German Darts Championship, defeating Dirk van Duijvenbode 8–6 in the final and ensuring that he would be the top seed at the European Championship. He was eliminated in the second round of the European Championship by Danny Noppert.

2026

At the 2026 World Championship, Aspinall reached the third round of the tournament following wins over Lourence Ilagan and Leonard Gates, before he was eliminated in a 4–3 defeat to Kevin Doets. Aspinall was omitted from the 2026 Premier League lineup, which saw him miss out on a place in the tournament for the first time since 2022.

Personal life

Aspinall is a supporter of Manchester United and his local side Stockport County. Aspinall has a wife, Kirsty, and two daughters.

World Championship results

PDC

  • 2019: Semi-finals
  • 2020: Semi-finals
  • 2021: Third round
  • 2022: Third round
  • 2023: Third round
  • 2024: Second round
  • 2025: Quarter-finals
  • 2026: Third round

Career finals

PDC major finals: 7 (2 titles)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreRef.
Winner1.2019UK Open11–5
1.2020Premier League8–11
2.2022World Grand Prix3–5
3.2022Grand Slam5–16
Winner2.2023World Matchplay18–6
4.2023World Series of Darts Finals4–11
5.20258–11

PDC World Series finals: 3 (1 title)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScore
Winner1.2019US Darts Masters8–4
Runner-up1.2023New Zealand Darts Masters7–8
Runner-up2.2025US Darts Masters6–8

Performance timeline

PDC
PDC European Tour
'''PDC Players Championships'''