The 2018

Paddy Power Paddy Power is an Irish gambling company founded in 1988. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK Ireland (UKI) and International. UKI operations ...

Champions League of Darts was the 3rd annual staging of the tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. It took place from 22–23 September 2018 at the Brighton Centre, Brighton. The defending champion

Mensur Suljović Mensur Suljović (Serbian Cyrillic: Менсур Суљовић; born 5 March 1972) is an Austrian professional darts player. He plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously played in the British Darts Organisation (B ...

lost 4–11 against Gary Anderson in the semi-final; a rematch of the 2017 final. Anderson went on to win his first Champions League title by defeating compatriot Peter Wright 11–4 in the final. It was Anderson's 10th major title and 8th in the PDC. It was also Anderson's 3rd major title of the season after winning that year's UK Open and World Matchplay. A noticeable controversy was the walk-ons before the group match between

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname ...

and Peter Wright, where Wright's walk-on music, " Don't Stop the Party" by

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

, was played when Whitlock walked onto the stage, instead of his own track, "

Down Under The term ''Down Under'' is a colloquialism which is differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Pacific Island countries collectively.Oxford English Dictionary (Electronic), Version 4.0, entry fordown under. The dictionary r ...

" by

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as " Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", " Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is C ...

. Whitlock performed Wright's renowned sidestep dance across the stage, causing much laughter on stage and in the crowd. Wright subsequently walked on to his own music, and the Pitbull track was played twice.

Format

The eight qualifiers were split into two groups, playing each other once in a best of 19 legs match. The top two of each group then proceed to the semi-finals. Both semi-finals and the final were a best of 21 legs match.

Prize money

Qualifiers

The top 7 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 f ...

following the

2018 World Matchplay The 2018 BetVictor World Matchplay was the 25th annual staging of the World Matchplay, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament took place at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, from 21–29 July 2018. Phil Taylor was the defe ...

qualified. Reigning champion

was given a guaranteed place in the tournament, as he is the defending champion. As Suljović was also one of the top 7 players, the eighth ranked player also qualified. :#

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 ...

''(semi-finals)'' :# Peter Wright ''(runner-up)'' :# Rob Cross ''(group stage)'' :# Gary Anderson (winner) :#

Daryl Gurney Daryl Gurney (born 22 March 1986) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Gurney is a winner of two majors, having won the World Grand Prix in 2017 in his native Ireland, and the P ...

''(group stage)'' :#

''(semi-finals)'' :#

''(group stage)'' :#

Dave Chisnall Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Champion ...

''(group stage)''

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; Avg = Three-dart average in group matches; Pts = Group points

Group A

22 September 22 September 23 September

Group B

22 September 22 September 23 September

Knockout stage

References

{{2018 in PDC darts Champions League of Darts

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 ...

2018 in English sport Sport in Brighton and Hove