Florian Hempel (born 10 April 1990) is a German professional darts player who plays in

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 ...

(PDC) events. Hempel began his sporting career in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

, playing as a goalkeeper for , where he made his professional debut in 2010, and later played for . Achieving little success, Hempel quit the sport and began playing darts. He made his PDC European Tour debut in the

2019 Dutch Darts Masters The 2019 Dutch Darts Masters was the seventh of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2019 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at IJsselhallen, Zwolle, Netherlands, from 24 to 26 May 2019. It featured a field of 48 players and £140,000 in p ...

, and gained his tour card in 2021.

Early life and career

Born in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

, East Germany, Hempel was a goalkeeper in

, beginning his career with SG Kühnau, before moving to in the 2010–11

2. Handball-Bundesliga The 2. Handball-Bundesliga is the second tier of professional handball in Germany. Season It is directly linked to the Handball-Bundesliga, the country's highest tier, by a promotion and relegation system. Before the 2011–12 season, the lea ...

season. This proved to be his only appearance in the division, and made a further two appearances in the third tier. In 2016, Hempel ended his handball career in Cologne with , where he had moved to advance his educational studies; he eventually qualified as a fitness coach and nutritionist.

Darts

Hempel began playing darts in his flat in 2017, and in 2018 quit his job, registered for unemployment benefits, and took on darts as a full-time job. On his PDC European Tour debut in the Dutch Darts Masters in May 2019, he defeated

Ryan Harrington Ryan Harrington (born 19 August 1990) is an English professional darts player from Essex. He is the son of former darts player Rod Harrington. Career He qualified for the 2015 UK Open in 56th on the UK Open order of merit so started in the seco ...

6–0. Having previously attempting to achieve his Tour Card in both 2018 and 2020, Hempel won his

PDC Tour Card The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

during the 2021 European Q-School event. In March, he withdrew from the UK Open due to family reasons. In April, he completed his first

nine-dart finish A nine-dart finish, also known as a nine-darter, is a perfect leg or single game in the sport of darts. The object of the game is to score a set number of points, most commonly 501; in order to win, a player must reach the target total exactly an ...

during a European Super League whitewash victory over Marco Obst. Hempel made his PDC televised début in October in the European Championship, eliminating reigning champion Peter Wright 6–3. The following week, he reached his first semi-final on the PDC Pro Tour before losing 7–3 to Michael Smith. Ahead of his

PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Cazoo World Darts Championship, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), is a World Professional Darts Championship held annually in the sport of darts. The PD ...

début, Hempel featured as a guest commentator on Sport1 for the

2021 Grand Slam of Darts The 2021 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts was the fifteenth staging of the Grand Slam of Darts, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event returned to the Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton between 13–21 November 2021, after being ...

. During the

2022 PDC World Darts Championship The 2022 PDC World Darts Championship (officially referred to as the 2021/22 William Hill World Darts Championship) was the 29th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Org ...

, Hempel caused a "major upset" when he defeated fifth seed Dimitri Van den Bergh in the second round, averaging 98.37, and described it as "madness". He would go on to lose 4–1 to Australia's Raymond Smith in the third round.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2022: Third round (lost to Raymond Smith 1–4) * 2023: Second round (lost to

Luke Humphries Luke Humphries (born 11 February 1995) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 PDC World Youth Championship. Career Humphries won five PDC Development Tour titles in 20 ...

2–3)

Performance timeline

PDC European Tour (W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Prel.) Preliminary round; (DNQ) Did not qualify; (DNP) Did not participate; (NH) Not held; (EX) Excluded; (WD) Withdrew

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hempel, Florian 1990 births Living people German male handball players German darts players Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders Sportspeople from Dessau-Roßlau