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.

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.World Championship - Night Seven PDC.tv 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'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.

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. 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.

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.

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

World Championship results PDC 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)

Career finals PDC major finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score(l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.Winner 1. 2020 Grand Slam 16–12 (l)Runner-up 1. 2021 Premier League 5–11 (l)

Performance timeline Tournament 2012 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026PDC Ranked televised eventsWorld ChampionshipPrel.1R1R3R3R4R2RDNQ1RWorld MastersA non ranked event until 2025NHDNQ1RSF2R DNQPrel.DNQ UK OpenDNP2R3R6R5R5R4R4RDNQ World MatchplayDNPDNQ1R2RQF1RDNQ World Grand PrixDNPDNQ1R2R1R1RDNQ European ChampionshipDNPDNQ2RQF2R2RDNQ Grand SlamDNPDNQW2RDNQ DNP2R3RQF2R1RDNQPDC Non-ranked televised events Premier LeagueDNPFDNP World CupDNP2R2R2RRRRRRRRR World Series FinalsNHDNQ2RDNQDNP1RDNQCareer statisticsSeason-end ranking (PDC)-6215714254582

PDC European Tour Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 2019Did not qualifyDDOQFDNQGDT2R 2020BDCDNQGDCDNQEDGWIDO2R 2021HDTSFGDT3R 2022IDO2RGDC3RGDG2RADO2REDO3RCDOSFEDG2RDDC2REDM2RHDTQFGDOSFBDOQFGDT3R 2023BSDDNQEDO1RIDO3RGDG3RADODNQDDCDNQBDO2RCDO2REDG2REDM1RGDO3RHDT2RGDCDNQ 2024BDO1RGDG1RIDO2REDG1RADO1RBSD1RDDC1REDODNQGDC1RDid not qualify

PDC 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 2019WIG1RWIG1RWIG4RWIG1RBAR2RBAR2RWIG2RWIG3RBARQFBAR3RBAR3RBAR1RBARDNPBARDNPBAR3RBARSFWIG4RWIGFBAR1RBAR1RHIL1RHIL1RBARWBAR2RBAR2RBAR3RDUB3RDUBWBAR4RBAR1R 2020BAR1RBAR4RWIG2RWIG2RWIG2RWIG2RBAR1RBAR2RMIL2RMIL1RMILFMIL4RMIL4RNIE4RNIE3RNIE4RNIE3RNIESFCOVSFCOVFCOV1RCOVFCOV1R 2021BOL2RBOL1RBOL4RBOL4RMIL2RMIL1RMILQFMIL4RNIEWNIEQFNIE1RNIE2RMIL2RMILWMILWMIL1RCOVSFCOVFCOV2RCOVSFBAR4RBAR4RBAR1RBAR4RBAR4RBAR4RBAR4RBARQFBAR4RBAR3R 2022BAR4RBAR3RWIGQFWIG1RBAR2RBAR3RNIEQFNIE2RBARQFBARSFBAR4RBAR4RBAR2RWIG2RWIG2RNIE1RNIE2RBAR2RBAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR3RBAR1RBARQFBARDNPBAR1RBARQFBAR2RBAR1RBAR3R 2023BAR1RBAR1RBAR2RBAR2RBAR3RBAR3RHIL1RHIL1RWIG3RWIGFLEI1RLEI3RHIL2RHIL4RLEI2RLEISFHIL1RHIL1RBAR3RBAR3RBAR3RBAR3RBAR4RBAR1RBAR1RBARQFBAR1RBAR1RBAR1RBAR3R 2024WIGQFWIG4RLEI2RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI3RLEI1RHIL1RHIL1RHIL1RHIL2RMIL1RMIL2RMIL1RMIL2RMIL2RMIL1RMIL1RWIG2RWIG1RMIL1RMIL1RWIG4RWIG1RWIG1RWIG1RWIGQFLEI1RLEI1R 2025WIG1RWIG2RROS3RROS1RLEI1RLEI1RHIL1RHIL2RLEI2RLEI1RLEI1RLEI3RROS2RROS1RHIL1RHIL1RLEI2RLEI2RLEI1RLEI2RLEI2RHIL1RHIL1RMIL3RMIL1RHILDNPHILDNPLEI1RLEI1RLEI1RWIG3RWIG1RWIG1RWIG2R

Nine-dart finishes

+ José de Sousa televised nine-dart finishes Date Opponent Tournament Method ref 29 October 2020 Jeffrey de Zwaan European Championship 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12 8 April 2021 Premier League Darts 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12

Notes

References

External links José de Sousa player profile at Darts Orakel