German Number One Martin Schindler became the first German player to reach the Final of a PDC Premier Event at the recent European Championship.
In doing so, he added Germany to a short list of just 13 nations to have done so, the first new addition to this list since Jose de Sousa picked up the Grand Slam title in 2020.
Can you guess all 13 nations before reading the rest of this article?
The top four are the obvious answers, with England appearing 295 times, followed by the Netherlands on 97, Scotland on 51, and Wales on 34.
Next up with 12 appearances comes Australia. Simon Whitlock is involved in 9 of these, sharing two with Damon Heta and Paul Nicholson at the World Cup, with his first coming in the 2010 World Championship. The other three come from Corey Cadby at the 2018 UK Open, and Paul Nicholson at the 2010 Players Championship Finals, and the 2011 Championship League.
Canada are the only other nation to reach 10 Premier Event finals, with all ten coming from the same man. Two-time World Champion, and 2006 Las Vegas Desert Classic Champion, John Part really put Canada on the darts map in the early 2000’s. His first final came in the 2001 World Championship, and the last came when he claimed the World Title for a second time in 2008.
The seventh nation on the list is back to Europe, with Belgium on seven. Kim Huybrechts was the first to break that barrier when he reached the final of the 2012 Players Championship Finals, before making the World Cup final with brother Ronny Huybrechts the following year. They had to wait seven years until the next one however, when Dimitri Van den Bergh picked up the 2020 World Matchplay. He went on to make two more finals in 2021 before picking up the UK Open Title in 2024. The seventh one came from Mike De Decker when he claimed the Grand Prix Title later in 2024.
Down to five Premier Finals we have Austria, carries largely by one man. Mensur Suljovic first broke this barrier when he reached the European Championship Final in 2016, before winning the Champions League in 2017, and reaching potentially the greatest Matchplay Final of all time in 2018. He also shares two major finals with Rowby-John Rodriguez, as the pair reached the World Cup Final in 2021 and 2024.
Down on four finals is Northern Ireland.
The first came from Brendan Dolan, who then represented the Northern region, when he lost in the final of the 2011 Grand Prix. The other three however all result in wins, as Daryl Gurney picked up the Grand Prix himself in 2017, followed by the Players Championship Finals in 2018. Seven years later, he and Josh Rock claimed the crowd at the World Cup in Frankfurt.
Down on two finals come USA, with both coming over 18 years ago. Memorably, Larry Butler picked up the inaugural World Matchplay Title in 1994, beating Dennis Priestley, before Gary Mawson produced an incredible underdog run to reach the UK Open Final fourteen years later, in 2008. They’re joined on two finals by Portugal, with Jose de Sousa of course picking up the Grand Slam Title in 2020, before losing out in the 2021 Premier League Final to Michael van Gerwen.
The first to appear on this list having never won a Premier Event comes the Republic of Ireland, who reached their one and only final when William O’Connor and Steve Lennon paired up at the World Cup of Darts in 2019, losing out to Scotland. Finally, Germany round the list off with Martin Schindler breaking the barrier for the European Giants over the weekend.
Who will be next to join the list?
Poland came close at the Euros, Czechia and Sweden are starting to build momentum with Karel Sedlacek and Jeffrey de Graaf, or will it be out of nowhere? And how long will the wait be?
