Florian Hempel

**Florian Hempel** (born 10 April 1990) is a German professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Hempel began his sporting career in handball, playing as a goalkeeper. He made his PDC European Tour debut in the 2019 Dutch Darts Masters and gained his PDC Tour Card in 2021.

## Career

Hempel began playing darts in 2017. On his PDC European Tour debut in the 2019 Dutch Darts Masters, he defeated Ryan Harrington. Having previously attempting to achieve his PDC Tour Card in both 2018 and 2020, Hempel won his card during the 2021 PDC Q-School event. In March, he withdrew from the UK Open due to family reasons. In April, he completed his first nine-dart finish during a German Super League whitewash victory over Marco Obst.

Hempel made his PDC televised debut in October in the 2021 European Championship, eliminating reigning champion Peter Wright. The following week, he reached his first semi-final on the 2021 PDC Pro Tour before losing 7–3 to Michael Smith. Ahead of his PDC World Darts Championship debut, Hempel featured as a guest commentator for the 2021 Grand Slam of Darts. During the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Hempel caused a huge upset when he defeated fifth seed Dimitri Van den Bergh in the second round. He would go on to lose to Raymond Smith in the third round.

With a victory over Lukas Wenig at the 2022 UK Open, Hempel immediately reached fourth round where he lost to Geert Nentjes. At the 2022 European Darts Matchplay he beat Bradley Brooks in the first round match and advanced to the second round where he lost to Dimitri Van den Bergh. Otherwise, Hempel had a difficult time on the PDC Pro Tour and therefore missed direct participation in the PDC World Darts Championship by rankings. However, he then won the German Super League event in Niedernhausen with a final victory over Niko Springer and he qualified for the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship. In the first round he met Keegan Brown, whom he defeated in the deciding leg. Another game over five sets followed against Luke Humphries, in which he had to admit defeat.

Hempel was qualified for the first four PDC European Tour events of 2023, but in three events he did not advanced to a second round. At the 2023 UK Open he defeated Jamie Hughes in the second round match, but lost a lead against Richie Burnett in the third round. At the 2023 International Darts Open he beat James Wilson in the first round, but lost to Josh Rock in the second round. In September he defeat James Wade and Damon Heta at the 2023 German Darts Open and thus reached third round, where he lost to Andrew Gilding.

He qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship through the last possible qualifying route for PDC Tour Card holders. He won his opening game against Dylan Slevin and then beat Dimitri van den Bergh in the second round. This meant he kept his PDC Tour Card for next year. In the third round he lost to Stephen Bunting. He started the next season by participating in the 2024 UK Open.

## World Championship results

### PDC

* 2022: Third round (lost to Raymond Smith 1–4) (sets)
* 2023: Second round (lost to Luke Humphries 2–3)
* 2024: Third round (lost to Stephen Bunting 0–4)