This page is dedicated to preserving historical UK major tournament history. The information contained on the British Darts events, unfortunately, isn’t as complete as I would like it to be. If you are able to provide information that may fill in some gaps then please email it to me for inclusion on this page.
In many cases, pairs, trebles and youth tournaments have been excluded from the tournament details listed on this page.
The Information below is correct to my knowledge at the time of publishing, however, use at your own risk. If you need a more in-depth information please contact the major governing bodies who may be able to help your enquiry better than I am able to.
The British Darts Organisation (BDO) is one of the oldest Darts Organisations in the World, however, it certainly wasn’t the first. Listed below are some of the major tournament winners organised by the BDO however if you are looking for more information than this please contact the BDO direct.
I haven’t listed runners-up, pairs or mixed pairs on this page or on another page on this website so although you may find this page informative there is a vast archive of information that the BDO will hold.
BDO World Champions Men | BDO World Champions Women | BDO World Champions Youth | BDO World Masters | BDO World Masters Youth | BDO World Trophy | BDO British Internationals Table Men | BDO British Internationals Table Women | BDO British Open | BDO British Classic | BDO Gold Cup | BICC Champions Cup
The first nine-dart leg achieved in the BDO World Darts Championship was by Paul Lim (USA) in the second round of the 1990 Championships against Irishman Jack McKenna. Paul won £52,000 for his achievement. Since then the BDO World Championships has not seen another nine-dart leg achieved but serval have come close.
Since the women’s World Darts Championship was conceived in 2001 one woman has dominated the ladies darts scene, Trina Gulliver MBE. Trina's achievement of playing in all of the World Championships finals stages is something no other lady player can boast. Trina has won the women’s World Championship title ten times to date and has been the runner-up on two occasions. There has always been a debate on the best ladies player ever, I say no more her World Championship Record speaks for itself.
Although the BDO has been the bedrock for youth darts for many years, it was the PDC who first introduced a World Darts Championship. Until this point, the biggest accolade a youth player could hold was the Winmau Masters title. The masters introduced a joint boys and girls (Youth) Championship in 1986. In 1999 this was split into two separate titles one for boys the other girls.
BDO classify a youth player of 18 years or younger, however, the PDC have revised their youth tournament age minimum 16 years – 23 years. Personally, 23 seems a little old for a youth player especially when Jelle Klassen won the BDO World Championship at the age of 21.
The BDO Masters is one of the longest-running international darts tournaments and pre-dates the BDO World Championships by four years. Winmau, a dartboard manufacturer, was the main sponsored of this event for well over 40 years their sponsorship ended in 2018 after the decision was made in 2019 by the BDO to work with a new dartboard sponsor and dartboard supplier
The format of the Masters is set play; however, the sets are best of 3 legs per set (first to 2) rather than the standard best of 5 legs (first to 3) we see in the World Darts Championships. Changes to formats are reviewed continuously, and sometimes these can be dictated by television coverage time, so it is also best to check with the governing body any tournament format in case it has changed.
Notable Men’s winner of the event is Eric Bristow MBE who won 5 times. Trina Gulliver MBE has won the ladies event six times to date (2018)
Before 1999, the BDO Masters Youth Tournament was a combined event, boys and girls.
The men’s tournament format consists of 32 BDO ranked and qualifying. The women’s 16 BDO ranked and qualifying players.
The match format is a straight knockout played in legs.
The British Internationals were first in 1979. It is an annual darts event contested by the home countries of England, Scotland and Wales. There are separate events for both men and women and now Youth, details of the youth event is not shown here.
The scoring system of this event has also changed over the years which is now played in sets and points awarded for victories and draws
The British International must not be staged in the same country that stages the Six Nations Cup of that year so therefore will be handed over to another Country to stage, in rotation.
No Event was held in 1989
*(W) Joint winners of that year.
My thanks to Malcolm Pool (Honorary President Lancashire G.M.C. Darts Org) and BDO for the historic Champion Cup information