Champions League of Darts 2019 Guide: Results, Fixtures, All You Need to Know

Latest Champions League of Darts Results:

Saturday Results

Afternoon Session

Peter Wright beat Daryl Gurney 10-7
Gerwyn Price beat Rob Cross 10-5
Michael Smith beat Gary Anderson 10-7
Michael Van Gerwen beat James Wade 10-8

Evening Session

Daryl Gurney beat Rob Cross 10-6
Peter Wright beat Gerwyn Price 10-8
James Wade beat Gary Anderson 10-9
Michael van Gerwen beat Michael Smith 10-6

Sunday Results

Peter Wright v Rob Cross – 10-8
Gerwyn Price  v Daryl Gurney – 10-6
Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson – 10-4
Michael Smith v James Wade – 10-8

Evening Session

Starts 6.30pm,

Peter Wright v Michael Smith – 11-5
Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price – 11-10

Final

Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright

The Paddy Power Champions League of Darts returns this weekend and has the prestigious honour of becoming the first PDC event to be held at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. The tournament showcases the cream of the crop, and each of the top eight players in the PDC Order of Merit will be clearing their diaries and making their way to the East Midlands for this two-day sporting extravaganza. If that wasn’t exciting enough, this event is also being televised by the BBC and is temporarily replacing a repeat of Homes Under the Hammer.

Tables and Schedule

The eight players have been split into two sections and each competitor will play three times during the group stage of this competition. It’s a fairly hectic schedule for the players, although the crowd will certainly be getting their money’s worth on Saturday, with no fewer than eight matches taking place. It’s the perfect tournament for frugal darts fans.

Group A

World number one Michael Van Gerwen will open up against James Wade, whilst Michael Smith will take on 2018 champion Gary Anderson. The Scot was back to his devastating best at last year’s event despite being defeated in his opening group game.

Group B

Mohawk devotee Peter Wright takes on Daryl Gurney, whilst Rob Cross will come face to face with Gerwyn Price in his first Group B encounter.

The final group games will take place on Sunday afternoon with the top two players in each section progressing to the semi-finals. The final will take place on Sunday evening and will be competed in a best-of-21 legs format.

Where and When Can I Watch It?

If you’re still reading at this point, we’re pretty sure you’ll want to know where you can catch all of the action this weekend…

The Paddy Power Champions League of Darts is one of the few tournaments that the BBC have the rights to show and every second of this wonderful (we would say that…) competition will be shown live on free-to-air television.

Coverage begins on BBC1 at 1:15pm on Saturday afternoon before the tournament makes way for Strictly Come Dancing and moves to BBC2 for a 6:30pm start.

It remains on BBC2 throughout Sunday and will once again be split into two sessions (1pm and 6:30pm).

Prize Fund

The winner of the Champions League of Darts will receive £100,000. Not bad for a few hours’ work. The runner-up will earn £50,000, whilst every player will get £10,000 just for turning up! The four players who manage to progress to the semi-finals will each be taking home a cheque (or bank transfer) for £25,000.

Player Profiles

Michael Van Gerwen

Somehow, the all-conquering Dutchman has never won this tournament, although, in his defence, it has only been in existence since 2016. Twelve months ago, he was knocked out by Wright at the semi-final stage and there’s every chance that he could bump into the Scot at the same point once again.

Despite his failure to add this particular trophy to his over-burdened mantlepiece, Mighty Mike has been in good form recently having reached the final of the European Matchplay in Austria and he was also victorious at the World Grand Prix last weekend.

He’ll go into this tournament as the favourite and will once again be the player to beat.

Rob Cross

It’s been a mixed year for the 29-year-old and he will be desperate to reach the final four this time around. Despite living just around the corner in Hastings, Cross didn’t enjoy making the short trip to Brighton twelve months ago and crashed out in the group stage.

He’s had an extremely busy couple of months, keeping himself occupied by participating in seven different events throughout the month of September. He recently reached the final of the PDC International Darts Open, although he hasn’t been able to add another trophy to his moderately-sized cabinet since mid-July.

Gary Anderson

Last year’s winner returns to defend his crown and he’ll be hoping to bounce back from a frustrating few months. The jolly Scot is always a popular figure on the circuit, although he’s struggled to reach the heights of 2018 and has won just a single tournament since his return from injury.

He was ‘stunned’ by Chris Dobey in Dublin last week and will be looking to bounce back from that below-par performance this weekend. He fired in an average of 101.47 in last year’s final and was a model of consistency throughout the two days and he could just turn on the style for the television cameras once again.

Peter Wright

Although we sadly aren’t taking bets on the colour of Wright’s hair, the Scot is likely to be very popular in the outright market for this tournament. He reached the final twelve months ago, but blamed fatigue for his below-par performance against fellow countryman, Anderson.

Snakebite will be determined to make up for last year’s defeat and arrives in decent form. There must be something about the South Yorkshire air that Wright enjoys after notching up three victories at the Players Championship in Barnsley this year. He’ll be hoping that he is able to transport that winning form down the M1 this weekend.

Daryl Gurney

Gurney made his debut at last year’s event and was probably the tournament’s unluckiest loser. The Northern Irishman exited at the group stage despite defeating both Anderson and Dave Chisnall.

Lady luck certainly wasn’t looking down on Super Chin twelve months ago, but she may have purchased her ticket for this year’s event, and Gurney will be hoping to progress to the final four at the expense of Cross and Wright.

James Wade

After a couple of years in the wilderness, Wade is back at the Paddy Power Champions League of Darts and he’ll be keen to make an impression at the Morningside Arena.

The Machine has done some of his best work away from the television cameras this year and he’ll be hoping to put his recent defeat to Mervyn King at the World Grand Prix firmly behind him.

He’ll be ruthlessly efficient as always, although he’s been drawn in a tough group alongside Van Gerwen and Anderson.

What are the Odds?

If you’re feeling nostalgic for a time when Van Gerwen didn’t start as the favourite in the outright market, then I’m afraid we have some very disappointing news for you. The Dutchman is at the top of the betting and is Evens to secure his first Paddy Power Champions League of Darts title. He is a long way ahead of joint second-favourites Cross and Anderson.

Outright Odds

Michael Van Gerwen – Evens
Rob Cross – 7/1
Gary Anderson – 7/1
Peter Wright – 10/1
Gerwyn Price – 10/1
Daryl Gurney – 12/1
James Wade – 14/1
Michael Smith – 14/1

Van Gerwen is also 4/6 to finish top of Group A. He finished ahead of Anderson (4/1) twelve months ago in Brighton.

Our Predictions

Van Gerwen will be very popular in the outright betting and we aren’t here to dissuade anyone from putting their money on the Dutch maestro. Another one who looked primed for a good week is Welshman Gerwyn Price. He has had a good season this year winning three players championship events and a European Tour event, and we reckon he could go well at 10/1 each-way. Or another angle would be to back the MVG and Price in the Name the Finalists market at 12/1.  

On current form, it’s hard to make a case for Anderson although he occasionally pulls out all of the stops in these events. Cross is lacking a bit of spark, which isn’t ideal for a former electrician, whilst Wade has been dealt a tough draw and is probably best opposed.

Gerwyn Price – EW at 10/1