# Niels Zonneveld

Niels Zonneveld (born 22 July 1998) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a current PDC Tour Card holder and is a two-time winner on the PDC Development Tour. He also reached the quarter-finals at the 2021 World Series of Darts Finals.

## Career

Zonneveld started playing on the PDC Development Tour in 2018, picking up his first title on the tour in only his fourth event where he defeated Joe Davis 5–2 in the final. At the end of the 2018 Development Tour season, he finished 9th on the Order of Merit ranking.
He attended European Q-School in 2019, where he won his PDC Tour Card on Day 1, beating Christian Gödl 5–1 in the final. He made it to the semi finals of the 2020 PDC World Youth Championship but lost to the eventual champion Bradley Brooks 6–1. Zonneveld qualified for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship through the PDPA Rest of the World Qualifier. This was his debut at the competition. He went out in the first round, being whitewashed by William O'Connor 3–0 in sets.
He qualified for the 2021 World Series of Darts Finals as one of the four Tour Card holder qualifiers, where he had his deepest run at a PDC televised event. He reached the quarter finals, including a 6–4 victory over Gary Anderson in the second round. His run was ended by Krzysztof Ratajski.
At the 2022 Belgian Darts Open, Zonneveld upset reigning World Champion Peter Wright in the second round, beating him 6–5. The game became known for Wright's refusal to fist bump Zonneveld before the deciding leg, a gesture common amongst darts players. Zonneveld reflected on the incident on the Double Top podcast in 2024, stating that the close win over Wright was "kind of the ultimate revenge", but explained that Wright apologised afterwards.
Zonneveld earned his first win at the PDC World Darts Championship when he defeated Darren Webster 3–1 in the first round of the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.
Zonneveld reached his first European Tour semi-final when he defeated Jonny Clayton to progress to the semi-finals of the 2024 Czech Darts Open. He lost 7–6 to Kim Huybrechts, missing a match dart to make the final and ending his chances of qualifying for the 2024 European Championship.

## World Championship results
### PDC

* 2021: First round (lost to William O'Connor 0–3)
* 2023: First round (lost to Lewy Williams 0–3)
* 2024: Second round (lost to Ross Smith 1–3)
* 2025: First round (lost to Robert Owen 1–3)

## Performance timeline

| Tournament | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| PDC Ranked televised events ||||||||
| World Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | 1R | 2R |
| UK Open | DNP | 1R | 3R | 2R | 5R | 3R | 2R |
| Players Championship Finals | DNQ | DNQ | 2R | DNQ | 1R | 3R | 3R |
| Non-ranked televised events ||||||||
| World Series of Darts Finals | DNP | DNP | DNQ | QF | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ |
| PDC World Youth Championship | RR | 3R | SF | 2R | 2R | DNP | DNP |
| Career statistics ||||||||
| Year-end ranking | - | 146 | 79 | 113 | 69 | 73 | |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 2019 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | EDG 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2022 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | EDG 1R | DDC 1R | EDM 1R | DNQ | DNQ | BDO 3R | GDT DNQ |
| 2023 | BSD 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 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2024 | BDO DNQ | GDG 1R | IDO DNQ | EDG 1R | ADO DNQ | BSD 1R | DDC 2R | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | HDT 2R | SDT DNQ | CDO SF |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 2021 | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | BOL 1R | MIL 1R | MIL QF | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | NIE 2R | NIE 1R | NIE 1R | NIE 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 2R | MIL 4R | MIL 1R | COV 2R | COV 1R | COV 3R | COV 3R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR DNP |
| 2022 | BAR 2R | BAR QF | WIG 4R | WIG 3R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | NIE 1R | NIE 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | NIE 2R | NIE 1R | BAR 1R | BAR QF | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 3R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R |
| 2023 | BAR 2R | BAR 2R | BAR 4R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | HIL 2R | HIL 2R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | LEI SF | LEI 1R | HIL 4R | HIL 4R | LEI 1R | LEI 2R | HIL 2R | HIL 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R | BAR 2R | BAR 1R | BAR QF | BAR 4R | BAR 1R | BAR 1R |
| 2024 | WIG 2R | WIG QF | LEI 3R | LEI 4R | HIL 2R | HIL 2R | LEI 1R | LEI 1R | HIL 2R | HIL 3R | HIL QF | HIL 1R | MIL QF | MIL 2R | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 4R | MIL 3R | MIL 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | MIL 2R | MIL 3R | WIG 3R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 1R | WIG 2R | LEI 3R | LEI 3R |
Performance Table Legend :
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | NYF | Not yet founded |