Net Worth: € 8 million
Age: 30th
Born: April 25, 1989
Country of origin: Netherlands
Source of wealth: Darts player
Last updated: 2020

Short introduction

Michael van Gerwen is a Dutch dart player who has participated in PDC tournaments since 2007. “Mighty Mike” is one of the best and most successful darts players of all time and celebrated his first tournament victories in the professional field as a teenager. The athlete, born in Boxtel, can already look back on several world championships he won and also led the PDC world ranking for several years at a time.

After the resignation of darts legend Phil Taylor, van Gerwen is also the undisputed number one in sports among darts fans. The Dutchman regularly wins several major tournaments a year away from the World Cup.

Early life

Michael van Gerwen was born on April 25th, 1998 in Boxtel in the Netherlands. With his father’s support, he took part in the first local darts tournaments as a teenager. At the age of 14 he also played for the first time in official tournaments of the darts association BDO. Van Gerwen achieved his first success in 2003 with the final at the Primus Masters Youth.

From then on he could crown himself the winner in many tournaments. For example, he won the German Open 2005 and also won the Dutch Youth Championship in 2005 and 2006. At the Northern Ireland Open 2005 he played in the adult sector and also won.

Source: ABC

Van Gerwen Career

From 2003 Michael van Gerwen took part in the BDO darts tournaments. His first major success came in 2006 at the Bavaria World Darts Trophy, in which he reached the semi-finals. After all, he won the Winmau World Masters 2006 at the age of 17. From then on, there were rumors that van Gerwen would switch from BDO to PDC. However, he denied this, although as the first place in the Dutch darts ranking he was guaranteed a fixed starting place for the World Championship of the PDC. However, he took part in the BDO World Championship again in 2007, but was eliminated as favorite in the first round against Gary Robson.

He then announced that he would switch to the PDC. With position 88 in the world rankings, van Gerwen was entitled to participate in some official PDC tournaments. There, he was able to celebrate his first notable successes and, for example, win against Phil Taylor, but remained unsuccessful until 2009. Thereupon he was able to score again against his compatriot Vincent van der Voort thanks to a 6: 3 victory in the Players Championship. Michael van Gerwen finally reached the final at the PDC Junior World Championship in 2011.

From then on, his career at the PDC saw a steep rise. He won several major tournaments each year and reached the final of the PDC World Championship in 2013, losing 4: 7 to Phil Taylor. The following year, however, Michael van Gerwen was finally able to secure his first world title by beating Peter Wright in the final. From that point on, “Mighty Mike” was one of the most successful darts players in the world, winning millions of dollars annually. Michael van Gerwen secured his second world title in the final against Gary Anderson in 2017. He also won the 2019 edition thanks to a 7-3 win in the final against Englishman Michael Smith.

Source: Daily Mail

Career highlights

In 2008 Michael van Gerwen took part in the PDC World Championship for the first time, but lost there in the first round against favorite Phil Taylor. Van Gerwen won the prestigious tournament for the first time in 2014. He is one of the few darts players who has won every major PDC tournament at least once. He celebrated his first final victory in such an event in 2012 at the World Grand Prix. He has led the van rankings since he was first in the world rankings in 2014. He is therefore considered the darts player who has been at the top for the longest time in a row.

Famous quotes

“I noticed the malice of the German football fans when our national team failed to qualify for the European Championship. But when it comes to darts, I am cheered on by these German fans. Wonderful!”

“But I think the quality is currently higher than ever – and I’m the best player right now.”

“For German darts as a whole, it is extremely important that a player makes it into the top ten in the world rankings – so far that is simply missing.”

Amazing facts

Michael van Gerwen started playing darts at an early age and thus also holds some age records. At 17 years and 174 days, he was the youngest dart player ever to win a major PDC tournament.

“Mighty Mike” was also only 17 when he became the youngest dart player to throw a 9-darter in front of running TV cameras. He also holds the record for most 9-darters with some other players.

In the semifinals of the 2017 World Cup, van Gerwen threw Raymond van Barneveld the highest average ever measured at a World Cup.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

34  −    =  28