# Marko Kantele

Marko Kantele (born 24 August 1968) is a Finnish darts player.

## Career

Kantele made his major debut in the 1997 Winmau World Masters, beating defending champion Colin Monk in the first round but lost in the second round to Mark Day. He returned to the Masters five years later, losing in the second round to Ted Hankey. Kantele made a third appearance at the Masters, beating Bobby George and Remco van Eijden to reach the last 16 where he lost to Martin Atkins. He also played in the 2004 World Darts Trophy, losing in the first round to Robert Wagner.
Kantele qualified for the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship, beating Tony O'Shea in the first round before losing in the second round to Simon Whitlock. He also played in the International Darts League the same year, winning his opening group game against Mario Robbe but lost to Raymond van Barneveld and Atkins, eliminating him from the group stages. He also played in the 2005 World Darts Trophy, but lost in the first round to Vincent van der Voort. Kantele reached the last 32 of the 2006 World Masters and reached the last 32, losing to Darryl Fitton. Kantele reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 WDF World Cup but failed to qualify for the World Championship.
Kantele won the PDC World Finland Qualifying Event, beating Asko Niskala in the final. The win earned him a spot in the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship and made him Finland's first ever representative. He beat Lourence Ilagan 5–2 in legs in the preliminary round, but lost 3–1 in sets to Ronnie Baxter in the first round. Afterwards, Kantele began playing in PDC Europe events competing for the European Order of Merit.
Kantele represented Finland with Petri Korte in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they were beaten 4–5 by Croatia in the first round. His best result in the rest of 2012 was in reaching the semi-finals of a Scandinavian tour event in Finland where he lost 1–6 to Ulf Ceder. He finished 11th on the SDC Order of Merit. In January 2013 he entered the PDC's Q School to try and earn a two-year tour card but he finished joint 95th having played all four days with his best result being a last 64 defeat. In September, Kantele lost in the final of the Sawo Open to Veijo Viinikka.
In the second Swedish event on the 2014 Scandinavian Pro Tour, Kantele won the title by defeating Jarkko Komula 6–4. He also reached the final of the Nordic Cup, but lost 4–2 against Daniel Larsson. Kantele played in his first World Cup since 2012 in 2015 and first with Kim Viljanen and they were beaten 5–4 by South Africa in the opening round with Kantele missing one match dart. He won the final event on the 2015 Scandinavian Darts Corporation Pro Tour by edging past Magnus Caris 6–5.
Kantele and Viljanen lost 5–1 in the first round of the 2016 World Cup to Wales. In 2017 Viljanen missed two match darts in the first round as they were knocked out 5–4 by Wales.
By finishing second on the 2019 European Q-School Order of Merit, he earned a PDC Tour Card for 2019–2020.

## World Championship results
### WDF

* 2005: Second round (lost to Simon Whitlock 1–3)
* 2025:

### PDC

* 2009: First round (lost to Ronnie Baxter 1–3)
* 2018: First round (lost to John Henderson 0–3)
* 2020: First round (lost to William O'Connor 0–3)
* 2021: First round (lost to John Henderson 2–3)
* 2024: First round (lost to Radek Szagański 2–3)

## Performance timeline

PDC
| Tournament | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| PDC World Championship | 1R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | DNQ | 1R | 1R | DNQ | DNQ | 1R |
| UK Open | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 2R | 2R | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ |
| Non-ranked televised events |||||||||||||||||
| PDC World Cup of Darts | NH | 1R | NH | 1R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | RR | RR |
| Career statistics |||||||||||||||||
| Year-end ranking | 90 | 151 | 156 | 155 | - | - | - | - | 116 | 112 | 103 | 84 | - | 178 | 129 | 154 |
BDO
| Tournament | 1997 | 1998–2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008–2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| BDO World Championship | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | 2R | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| International Darts League | Not held | Not held | Not held | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | RR | Did not play | Did not play | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| World Darts Trophy | Not held | Not held | Not held | Did not play | Did not play | 1R | 1R | Did not play | Did not play | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| Winmau World Masters | L16 | Did not play | Did not play | L32 | DNP | L16 | DNP | L32 | L40 | DNP | L144 | L272 | L272 | L272 | DNP |
| Zuiderduin Masters | Not held | Not held | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | RR | NH | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 2013 | UKM DNQ | EDT DNP | EDO DNP | ADO DNP | GDT DNP | GDC DNP | GDM DNP | DDM DNP |
| 2014 | GDC DNP | DDM DNP | GDM DNP | ADO 1R | GDT DNP | EDO DNP | EDG DNP | EDT DNP |
| 2015 | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play | Did not play |
| 2016 | DDM DNQ | GDM DNQ | GDT DNQ | EDM DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDO DNQ | IDO DNP | EDT DNP | EDG DNP | GDC DNP |
| 2017 | GDC DNQ | GDM DNQ | GDO 1R | EDG DNQ | GDT DNQ | EDM 2R | ADO DNQ | EDO DNQ | DDM DNQ | GDG DNQ | IDO DNQ | EDT DNQ |
| 2018 | EDO 2R | GDG DNQ | GDO DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDG DNQ | DDM DNQ | GDT DNQ | DDO DNQ | EDM DNQ | GDC DNQ | DDC DNQ | IDO DNQ | EDT 2R |
| 2019 | EDO DNQ | GDC DNQ | GDG DNQ | GDO DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDG DNQ | DDM DNQ | DDO DNQ | CDO DNQ | ADC DNQ | EDM DNQ | IDO DNQ | GDT DNQ |
| 2020 | BDC DNP | GDC DNQ | EDG DNQ | IDO DNQ |
| 2021 | HDT DNQ | GDT DNQ |
| 2022 | IDO DNP | GDC 1R | GDG DNQ | ADO DNQ | EDO DNP | CDO DNQ | EDG DNQ | DDC DNQ | EDM DNQ | HDT DNQ | GDO DNQ | BDO DNQ | GDT 1R |
| 2023 | BSD DNQ | EDO 1R | IDO DNQ | GDG DNQ | ADO DNQ | DDC 1R | BDO DNQ | CDO DNQ | EDG 1R | EDM 2R | GDO DNQ | HDT DNQ | GDC DNQ |
| 2024 | BDO DNQ | GDG DNQ | IDO DNQ | EDG DNQ | ADO DNQ | BSD DNQ | DDC DNQ | EDO 1R | GDC DNQ | FDT 1R | HDT DNQ | SDT DNQ | CDO 1R |
Performance Table Legend :
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR L# | Lost in # round Round-robin Last # stage | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | #R RR L# | Lost in # round Round-robin Last # stage | NYF | Not yet founded |