Mike De Decker

Mike De Decker (born 15 December 1995) is a Belgian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number twenty. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", he won his first major title at the 2024 World Grand Prix, defeating Luke Humphries 6–4 in the final.

De Decker won his first ranking PDC title at Players Championship 16 in 2024. He made his first PDC European Tour final at the 2025 Belgian Darts Open. He reached his second major quarter-final at the 2024 Players Championship Finals.

In his youth career, De Decker won four PDC Development Tour titles.

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 for three European Tours but failed to win a match.

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, 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.

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. In May, he achieved his first victory on the European Tour at the 2016 European Darts Matchplay against Darren Johnson.

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.

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 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.

At the beginning of 2019, De Decker reached a quarter-final at 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.

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 three years.

De Decker 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, but lost 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.

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 won his maiden PDC senior title 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, De Decker 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, which qualified him 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. Following the tournament, 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. De Decker declined an invite to the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters due to family commitments.

De Decker reached his first European Tour final at the Belgian Darts Open after wins over Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price and Ross Smith. He was unable to capture the title in front of his home crowd, losing 8–3 to Luke Littler.

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)

Performance timeline

PDC European Tour

PDC Players Championships

Notes

References

External links

*
*
Mike De Decker player profile at MastercallerMike De Decker player profile at Click On Darts

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Decker, Mike
1995 births
Living people
Belgian darts players
World Grand Prix (darts) champions
Professional Darts Corporation current tour card holders
PDC ranking title winners
PDC World Cup of Darts Belgian team