The 2016 Champions League of Darts, also known as the

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Champions League of Darts The Champions League of Darts, also known as the Paddy Power Champions League of Darts for sponsorship purposes, was an annual non-ranking darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Featuring just the top eight players in t ...

for sponsorship purposes, was the inaugural staging of the tournament, organised by the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

. It took place from 24–25 September 2016 at the

Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Cardiff International Arena (formerly known as Cardiff International Arena & Convention Centre and later, for sponsorship reasons, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff) is an indoor exhibition centre and events arena located in Cardiff, Wales, and was open ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Phil Taylor won, defeating

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player. He is currently ranked number 3 in the world, having been number 1 from 2014 to 2021. He is also a three-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2014, 2 ...

11–5 in the final.

Format

The eight qualifying entrants were first split into two groups of four, playing each other once in best of 19-legged matches. The top two players in each group then proceeded to a knockout stage of two semi-finals and a final, all best of 21 legs.

Qualifiers

Only the top eight players on the

PDC Order of Merit The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded fo ...

on 12 August 2016 qualified for the tournament; they were: :#

''(Runner-up)'' :# Gary Anderson ''(Semi-finals)'' :#

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...

''(Group stage)'' :# Phil Taylor (Winner) :# Peter Wright ''(Group stage)'' :#

James Wade James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the ...

''(Semi-finals)'' :# Michael Smith ''(Group stage)'' :# Robert Thornton ''(Group stage)''

Prize fund

The prize money was distributed as follows:

Results

Group Stage

''All matches first-to-10 (best of 19 legs)'' NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/− = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Average = 3-dart average; Pts = Points; Q = Qualified for K.O. phase

Group A

24 September 24 September 25 September

Group B

24 September 24 September 25 September

Knockout Stage

Broadcasting

In the United Kingdom, the event was televised by the BBC. The first group games were televised on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

; and, from the second group games onwards,

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

Jason Mohammad Jason Mohammad (born 17 September 1973) is a Welsh radio and television presenter currently working for the BBC. He is the current host of ''Final Score'' on BBC One on Saturday afternoons. Personal life Mohammad was born and brought up in Car ...

presented coverage with Paul Nicholson, Mark Webster, and

Alan Warriner-Little Alan Warriner-Little (born Warriner; 24 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed The Iceman, he is a former World Grand Prix champion and a former runner-up at the World Professional Darts Championship. Darts care ...

being the analysts.

Vassos Alexander Born Vassos Alexander Georgiadis is a British sports reporter, presenter, author and endurance runner. He is currently the sports presenter of '' The Chris Evans Breakfast Show'' on Virgin Radio. Alexander hosts the Parkrun podcast, he is a mot ...

, Dan Dawson, Nicholson, and Warriner-Little were the match commentators.

References

{{2016 in PDC darts Champions League of Darts

Sports competitions in Cardiff