Mike De Decker

Mike De Decker
De Decker at a press conference after his 2024 World Grand Prix win
Personal information
Nickname	"The Real Deal"
Born	(1995-12-15) 15 December 1995 Mechelen, Belgium
Darts information
Playing darts since	2010
Darts	22g Bull's signature
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2013
PDC	2014– (Tour Card: 2016–2017, 2020–)
WDF	2013
Current world ranking	24 (3 January 2025)
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 64: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
World Matchplay	Last 32: 2023
World Grand Prix	Winner (1): 2024
UK Open	Last 32: 2024
Grand Slam	Last 16: 2024
European Ch'ship	Last 16: 2024
PC Finals	Quarter Final: 2024
Other tournament wins
Players Championships Players Championship (MK) 2024 Youth Events PDC Development Tour 2015 (x2), 2016, 2017 Antwerp Open 2013 Belgium Championship 2014 British Teenage Open 2014 Tops of Gent 2013
Medal record Men's Darts Representing Belgium EDF European Championship 2021 Podčetrtek Men's singles

Mike De Decker (born 15 December 1995) is a Belgian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty-four. He is the current World Grand Prix champion, after defeating Luke Humphries 6–4 in the final.

Career

2014–2015: First appearances in the PDC

De Decker first played on the PDC Youth Tour in 2014 and reached the Last 16 twice. In the same year, he won the British Teenage Open at the World Darts Federation. He also qualified directly for a tournament on the European Tour for the first time. However, he lost his first round match against Max Hopp 6–2 at the 2014 European Darts Grand Prix. De Decker also took part in two other tournaments on the European Tour, the 2015 International Darts Open and the 2015 European Darts Open, but he was unable to win his first round match on either occasion.

In January 2015 De Decker played PDC Q-School for the first time but was unable to win a Tour card. He managed to qualify for the 2015 UK Open, through being ranked 81st on the UK Open Qualifiers Order of Merit. He beat Stephen Hardy 5–1 in the first round but was eliminated in the second round 5–3 by Jan Dekker. In the following months De Decker was active on the PDC Challenge Tour and the PDC Development Tour. On the Development Tour, he reached three semi-finals and three finals. He won events 5 and 11, defeating Benito van de Pas 4–3, and Dimitri Van den Bergh 4–2 in the respective finals, but lost to Dean Reynolds 4–2 in the event 15 final. De Decker finished the season ranked second on the Development Tour Order of Merit, which earned him a PDC Tour Card for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He qualified for the 2015 PDC World Youth Championship as the 4th seed and defeated Dawson Murschell 6–2 in the first round, but lost to Sam Hanson 6–1 in the second round.

In Autumn, De Decker was able to take part in Players Championship events for the first time as a call-up from the Challenge Tour virtue of his ranking on that Order of Merit. He won his first round match at Players Championships 15 & 16, and won his second round match at Players Championship 16 (PC16) but lost in the first round at both PC17 and PC18.

2016–2017: Two years with a Tour card

De Decker played on the 2016 PDC Development Tour and won the 19th and final event of the year. De Decker qualified for the 2016 UK Open virtue of being ranked 45th on the UK Open Qualifiers Order of Merit but lost to Matt Clark 6–5. He also qualified for the 2016 Dutch Darts Masters, but lost in the first round, but was immediately eliminated. He then achieved his first victory on the European Tour in May at the 2016 European Darts Matchplay in Hamburg against Darren Johnson. In the second round, however, he was unable to win a leg against Mensur Suljović.

After a rather unsuccessful summer, De Decker then reached the last 16 of a Players Championship for the first time at the beginning of October. At the 2016 PDC World Youth Championship De Decker again only won one match.

In March 2017, De Decker threw a nine-darter on the Development Tour and reached a quarter-final and a semi-final. This was followed by a quarter-final at a Players Championship event in April 2017. He reached the last 16 of the 2017 Dutch Darts Masters on the European Tour for the first time after defeating Richard North and Alan Norris and also qualified for the 2017 Players Championship Finals, where he was eliminated in the first round by Adrian Lewis. After a win on the Development Tour at the end of the year, De Decker again qualified for the 2017 PDC World Youth Championship and this time reached the last 16, where he was eliminated by reigning champion Corey Cadby. De Decker lost his Tour Card at the end of 2017 season.

2018–2019: Two years outside of the Pro Tour

De Decker therefore took part in the Q-School again in spring 2018, but failed to win a Tour card. On the PDC Challenge Tour and Development Tour, he reached several quarter-finals and once the semi-finals. However, he failed to win a tournament for the first time. He also only reached the second round once in his two European Tour appearances, as well as at the 2018 PDC World Youth Championship. Here he lost his last match against Christian Bunse.

At the beginning of 2019, De Decker reached a quarter-final at the Q-School, but was again unable to win a Tour card. On the PDC Development Tour, he reached two quarter-finals and a semi-final. De Decker also took part in several European Tour events and reached the last 16 of the 2019 Austrian Darts Championship after defeating Chris Dobey and Jonny Clayton, which he narrowly lost to Rowby-John Rodriguez. At his last 2019 PDC World Youth Championship, De Decker again only made it through the group stage.

2020–2023: Back on the Pro Tour and settling into the top 64

In January 2020, he won a Tour card at the European Q-School in Hildesheim, beating Dennis Nilsson 5–3 in the Day 2 final. This meant De Decker returned to the Pro Tour for the first time in 3 years. This was followed by reaching the second round at the 2020 UK Open and, after reaching the round of 16 at a Players Championship event twice, he qualified for the 2020 Players Championship Finals. There he met José de Sousa in the first round and lost 6–3. De Decker also took part in the PDC Home Tour.

De Decker also qualified for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship via the PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit. In his World Championship debut he met fellow debutant Edward Foulkes in the first round, losing 3–0 in sets. De Decker qualified for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts in November via the Tour Card Holder qualifier. However, he only won one leg in three group matches against Peter Wright, Gabriel Clemens and Fallon Sherrock and finished the group stage in last place with a leg difference of -14.

At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship De Decker defeated Darius Labanauskas in the first round. In the second round he lost 3–0 to Dave Chisnall.

De Decker qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship, where defeated Jeff Smith 3–1 in the first round. In the second round he lost 3–0 to Mensur Suljović. De Decker made his debut at the 2023 World Matchplay and 2023 World Grand Prix, losing both in the first round.

2024: Breakthrough in his career

De Decker qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, winning 3–1 against Dragutin Horvat in the first round, but again lost in the second round, 3–1 to Madars Razma.

De Decker reached the fifth round of the 2024 UK Open, but lost there to Ricky Evans 10–5.

De Decker failed to qualify for the 2024 World Matchplay.

De Decker won his maiden PDC Senior title in 2024 by defeating Ricky Evans in the final at Players Championship 16. This win helped him qualify for the World Grand Prix through the ProTour Order of Merit.

In October 2024, after securing his spot by winning his first title, De Decker went further and won his first ever PDC major title, defeating Luke Humphries 6–4 to win the 2024 World Grand Prix in only his second appearance in the tournament. De Decker became only the second Belgian to win a major title after Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Throughout the season, De Decker managed to qualify for 11 out of 13 European tours, the first 10 of which were through the Tour Card Holder Qualifier. As a result he qualified for the 2024 European Championship, where he reached the second round on debut, defeating Josh Rock 6–1 before losing to Danny Noppert 10–6.

By winning the Grand Prix, De Decker qualified for the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts, being drawn in Group E with Michael Smith, Jermaine Wattimena and Mensur Suljovic. De Decker lost his first group match to Wattimena, but defeated Suljović and Smith to finish second in his group. De Decker lost 10–9 to Luke Littler in the second round.

2025

He lost to Luke Woodhouse 3-1 in the second round of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship.

De Decker became the first winner of a premier event televised on Sky Sports to not be selected for the Premier League lineup. Speaking on Sky Sports News, PDC chief executive Matt Porter commented that De Decker would not be ready for the Premier League as he had not frequently played in the latter stages of televised tournaments, but described him as an "outstanding talent" and opined that De Decker would likely be in the Premier League in the future.

World Championship results

PDC

• 2021: First round (lost to Edward Foulkes 0–3)
• 2022: Second round (lost to Dave Chisnall 0–3)
• 2023: Second round (lost to Mensur Suljovic 0–3)
• 2024: Second round (lost to Madars Razma 1–3)
• 2025: Second round (lost to Luke Woodhouse 1–3)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 1 (1 title)

Legend
World Grand Prix (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2024	World Grand Prix	Luke Humphries	6–4 (s)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	DNQ						1R	2R	2R	2R	2R
UK Open	2R	2R	DNQ			3R	2R	3R	4R	5R
World Matchplay	DNQ								1R	DNQ
World Grand Prix	DNQ								1R	W
European Championship	DNQ									2R
Grand Slam of Darts	DNQ						RR	DNQ		2R
Players Championship Finals	DNP	DNQ	1R	DNQ		1R	DNQ	2R	1R	QF
Non-major televised events
PDC World Youth Championship	2R	2R	3R	2R	2R	DNP
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	120	93	71	137	130	90	59	53	39

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2014	GDC DNQ	DDM DNQ	GDM DNQ	ADO DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDO DNQ	EDG 1R	EDT DNQ
2015	GDC DNQ	GDT DNQ	GDM DNQ	DDM DNQ	IDO 1R	EDO 1R	EDT DNQ	EDM DNQ	EDG DNQ
2016	DDM 1R	GDM DNQ	GDT DNQ	EDM 2R	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDC DNQ
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM DNQ	GDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	GDT 1R	EDM 2R	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	DDM 3R	GDG DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2018	EDO DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM 1R	GDT 2R	DDO DNQ	EDM 1R	GDC DNQ	DDC DNQ	IDO DNQ	EDT DNQ
2019	EDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	GDG DNQ	GDO 1R	ADO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDM 1R	DDO 1R	CDO DNQ	ADC 3R	EDM DNQ	IDO 1R	GDT DNQ
2020	BDC 2R	GDC DNQ	EDG DNQ	IDO DNQ
2021	HDT DNQ	GDT DNQ
2022	IDO DNQ	GDC DNQ	GDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	EDO DNQ	CDO DNQ	EDG DNQ	DDC DNQ	EDM DNQ	HDT DNQ	GDO DNQ	BDO 2R	GDT DNQ
2023	BSD DNQ	EDO DNQ	IDO 3R	GDG DNQ	ADO DNQ	DDC DNQ	BDO DNQ	CDO 2R	EDG DNQ	EDM DNQ	GDO 2R	HDT QF	GDC DNQ
2024	BDO 3R	GDG 1R	IDO 1R	EDG DNQ	ADO 1R	BSD QF	DDC 1R	EDO 1R	GDC DNQ	FDT 2R	HDT DNQ	SDT 2R	CDO QF

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
2015	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	COV DNP	COV DNP	COV DNP	CRA DNP	CRA DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	DUB 1R	DUB 1R	COV DNP	COV DNP
2016	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	COV 3R	COV 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	DUB 2R	DUB 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R
2017	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	WIG QF	WIG 1R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	DUB 1R	DUB 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R
2018	Did not play
2019	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	WIG DNP	WIG DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	HIL DNP	HIL 3R	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP	DUB DNP	DUB DNP	BAR DNP	BAR DNP
2020	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	WIG 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 4R	MIL 1R	MIL 4R	NIE 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 2R	NIE 1R	NIE 2R	COV 1R	COV 3R	COV 2R	COV 3R	COV 1R
2021	BOL 1R	BOL 2R	BOL 1R	BOL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	NIE 1R	NIE 3R	NIE 1R	NIE 4R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	COV 2R	COV 1R	COV 1R	COV 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R
2022	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	BAR QF	BAR 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	NIE 1R	NIE QF	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR SF	BAR 4R
2023	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR SF	HIL 2R	HIL 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	LEI F	LEI 3R	HIL 3R	HIL 3R	LEI 2R	LEI 3R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	BAR 1R	BAR SF	BAR 2R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 1R
2024	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	LEI 2R	LEI 1R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	LEI 2R	LEI 2R	HIL 2R	HIL 2R	HIL 4R	HIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL QF	MIL W	MIL 3R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	WIG 3R	WIG 3R	LEI 4R	LEI 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 3R	WIG 3R	WIG DNP	LEI 4R	LEI 4R

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

External links

• Mike De Decker player profile at Darts Orakel