Callan Rydz ( born 3 July 1998) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He has won three PDC ranking titles and is a two-time PDC World Championship quarter-finalist.
Rydz topped the 2019 PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit, which earned him his PDC Tour Card. He won two titles each on the PDC's Challenge Tour and Development Tour before winning his first two PDC ranking titles during the 2021 Pro Tour and adding a third in 2023. He has reached the quarter-finals of two PDC World Championships: 2022 and 2025.
Darts career 2017–2019: Early PDC career Rydz made his PDC European Tour debut at the 2017 Gibraltar Darts Trophy as a UK Qualifier, aged just 18. He was eliminated in the first round by Martin Schindler.
At 2018 PDC Q-School, Rydz tried to win a PDC Tour Card, however he missed out on the points table by virtue of countback. He played on the Challenge Tour and Development Tour throughout the year. As a result of his Development Tour exploits, he qualified for the 2018 PDC World Youth Championship and progressed through the early group stage. He managed to reach the semi-finals, including a victory over the #1 seed Luke Humphries but lost out 6–3 to eventual runner up Martin Schindler. He also tried to win a Tour Card in 2019 Q-School, but missed out again by one leg.
Rydz qualified for the 2019 UK Open by winning through the amateur qualifier in Wolverhampton, but lost to Jamie Hughes in the first round. On 21 April 2019, he won his first PDC title after picking up the Development Tour Event 8 title, beating Luke Humphries 5–2 in the final with a three-dart average of 106.6. At the 17th Players Championship event of 2019, Rydz made his first Pro Tour appearance in 2 years, and marked it with a run to the quarter-finals. He defeated Stephen Burton, Chris Dobey, Steve Beaton and Brendan Dolan before losing 6–3 to eventual winner James Wade. He followed up the Development Tour title with a Challenge Tour title on 11 August 2019 by seeing off David Evans 5–2 in the final. Rydz went to the top of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit on 28 September 2019 by winning Event 18, beating Cody Harris to win the title. Rydz finished 2019 top of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit, meaning he gained a two-year PDC Tour Card and qualified for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship.
He made the quarter-finals of the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship on 4 November, but lost 6–2 to Adam Gawlas.
2020
At the 2020 World Championship, Rydz's debut at the tournament, he won his opening game 3–2 in sets against Steve Lennon but lost to Danny Noppert in the second round.
Rydz won Young Player of the Year at the 2020/21 PDC Awards Dinner.
2021 At the 2021 World Championship, Rydz lost in the second round to James Wade.
On the 2021 PDC Pro Tour Rydz competed in the 2021 PDC Players Championship series and won his first PDC ranking title on 26 February, at Players Championship 2, beating Jonny Clayton 8–7 in the final.
Rydz qualified for the 2021 World Matchplay, and on his debut he reached the quarter-finals, overcoming Glen Durrant 10–6, Rob Cross 11–8, before losing to Krzysztof Ratajski 16–8. He also made his World Grand Prix and European Championship debuts in 2021 but did not make it past the first round in either tournament.
In October, Rydz defeated Gabriel Clemens 8–6 in the final of Players Championship 25, earning his second PDC ranking title.
2022 Rydz entered the 2022 World Championship as the top qualifier from the Pro Tour Order of Merit. With whitewash wins against Yuki Yamada, Brendan Dolan and Nathan Aspinall, followed by a 4–1 win over Alan Soutar, Rydz reached the quarter-finals having only lost one set. He faced Peter Wright for a place in the semi-finals. Rydz had a 3–1 lead but bowed out of the tournament after Wright won the match 5–4 in a deciding set.
In the 2022 PDC Players Championship series he was the runner-up at Players Championship 15, losing to Michael Smith 8–3 in the final.
Rydz entered the 2022 Players Championship Finals as the 32nd seed. He defeated 33rd seed Madars Razma 6–5, 64th seed Ricardo Pietreczko 6–3, and 48th seed Keane Barry 10–8 to reach the quarter-finals where he lost to 24th seed Jonny Clayton 10–3.
2023 At the 2023 World Championship, Rydz lost in the second round to Josh Rock.
On the 2023 PDC Pro Tour Rydz competed in the 2023 PDC Players Championship series. He won his third ranking PDC title at Players Championship 19, defeating Dave Chisnall 8–7 in the final.
2024 At the 2024 World Championship, lost in the second round for the second successive year, this time to Ricardo Pietreczko.
In the 2024 PDC Players Championship series Rydz started off well, reaching the quarter-finals at event 2, losing there to Martin Lukeman 6–2, and defeating Luke Littler 6–4 to reach the semi-finals at event 3, where he lost to Gary Anderson 7–4. Rydz reached two more quarter-finals at events 9 and 22, losing 6–5 in deciding legs to Ritchie Edhouse and James Wade respectively. This qualified Rydz for the 2024 Players Championship Finals as the 42nd seed, but he lost to 23rd seed Dirk van Duijvenbode 6–1 in the first round.
On the European Tour, Rydz reached the semi-finals at the 2024 Swiss Darts Trophy.
2025 Rydz began the 2025 World Championship with a 3–0 win against Romeo Grbavac where he averaged 107, breaking the record for highest average in the first round of the PDC World Championship, which was set by Luke Littler at the 2024 edition. He then defeated 22nd seed Martin Schindler 3–0 before averaging 105 in a 4–0 win over 11th seed Dimitri van den Bergh. Rydz reached his second World Championship quarter-final after beating Robert Owen 4–3. He was beaten 5–3 by Michael van Gerwen, despite a higher average and winning more legs than van Gerwen.
Personal life Rydz is a supporter of football club Newcastle United F.C.
World Championship results
PDC World Championship 2020: Second round (lost to Danny Noppert 2–3) 2021: Second round (lost to James Wade 0–3) 2022: Quarter-finals (lost to Peter Wright 4–5) 2023: Second round (lost to Josh Rock 0–3) 2024: Second round (lost to Ricardo Pietreczko 2–3) 2025: Quarter-finals (lost to Michael van Gerwen 3–5) 2026: Third round (lost to Josh Rock 1–4)
Performance timeline BDO Tournament 2016 2018 World Masters2R1R
PDC Tournament 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026PDC Ranked televised events World ChampionshipDNQ 2R 2R QF 2R 2R QF 3R World MastersA non-ranked event until 2025Did not qualify 1RDNQ Prel. Prel. UK OpenDNP 1R 3R 5R 6R 5R 3R 3R 3R World MatchplayDNPDNQ QF 1RDid not qualify World Grand PrixDNPDNQ 1R 1R 1RDNQ European ChampionshipDNPDNQ 1RDid not qualify Players Championship FinalsDNPDNQ 3R 2R QF 1R 1R 2RPDC Non-ranked televised eventsWorld Series FinalsDid not qualify 1R SF QF 3R 2R SFDNPCareer statisticsSeason-end ranking14893683023344039
European Tour Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 2017Did not participate/qualifyGDT1RDid not participate/qualify 2020BDC1RDid not qualify 2021HDTDNQGDT3R 2022IDODNQGDC2RGDG2RADO3REDODNQCDODNQEDG1RDDCSFEDM2RHDT1RDid not qualify 2023BSDDNPEDODNPIDO1RGDG2RADODNPDDCDNPBDO1RCDO1REDGWDEDM2RDNP/DNQ 2024BDODNQGDGDNQIDO2REDG1RADODNQBSDDNQDDC1REDO2RGDC1RFDT1RHDT1RSDTSFCDO1R 2025BDODNQEDT1RIDO1RGDGDNQADODNQEDG1RDDCDNQEDODNQBSD1RFDT1RCDODNQHDTDNQSDT2RGDCWD 2026PDO2RDid not qualifyCDO1RFDT2RFDTDNQSDTDNQDDC
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 2017Not a Tour card holderDid not participateWIG1RWIG1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR1RDUB1RDUB1RBAR2RBAR2R 2018Did not participate 2019Did not participateWIGQFBAR1RBARDNPHIL1RHIL1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR4RBAR1RDUB3RDUB3RBAR4RBAR1R 2020BAR1RBAR1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RBAR1RBARDNPMIL3RMIL1RMIL1RMIL4RMIL 2RNIE1RNIE1RNIE3RNIE1RNIE4RCOV1RCOV3RCOVSFCOV1RCOV4R 2021BOL2RBOLWBOL3RBOL3RMIL4RMIL1RMIL1RMIL2RNIEDNPMIL3RMIL2RMIL1RMILSFCOV1RCOV2RCOV3RCOV1RBARQFBAR1RBAR1RBAR4RBARWBAR2RBAR3RBAR3RBARDNP 2022BAR2RBAR1RWIG2RWIG1RBAR1RBAR4RNIE4RNIE1RBAR4RBAR1RBARQFBAR1RBAR3RWIG1RWIGFNIEDNPBAR1RBAR2RBARDNPBAR1RBARSFBAR3RBAR1RBAR4R 2023BARQFBARQFBAR2RBAR3RBAR3RBAR1RHIL4RHIL1RWIG1RWIG2RLEI1RLEIDNPHIL1RHIL1RLEI2RLEI1RHILDNPBARWBARSFBAR2RBAR3RBAR1RBAR1RBAR4RBAR1RBAR1RBAR3RBAR3RBAR1R 2024WIG1RWIGQFLEISFLEI2RHIL3RHIL3RLEI1RLEI1RHILQFHIL1RHIL2RHIL2RMIL2RMIL3RMIL3RMIL3RMIL1RMILDNPMIL2RWIG3RWIG1RMILQFMIL1RWIGDNPWIG3RWIG1RLEI2RLEI1R 2025WIG3RWIG3RROSSFROS3RLEI2RLEI2RHILDNPLEI1RLEI3RLEI2RLEI2RROS2RROS2RHIL4RHIL1RLEI1RLEI4RLEI2RLEI1RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RMIL2RMIL2RHIL4RHIL2RLEI4RLEI2RLEI2RWIG1RWIG2RWIG1RWIG1R 2026HIL4RHIL1RWIG3RWIGSFLEI3RLEI3RLEI1RLEI1RWIG2RWIG3RMIL4RMIL1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI1RLEI1RLEI3RLEI1RMIL2RMIL3RWIG4RWIG3RLEI2RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI2RLEI1RROS4RROS2RROSROSLEILEI
Notes
References
External links