Nijman tells his match fixing story after lockdown ban: "After the match I knew I made a mistake"

Wessel Nijman was suspended for five years in 2020 for match-fixing. But as the 22-year-old Dutchman is going to help young players in the fight against match-fixing, half of his sentence is suspended.

Nijman now tells his story on the YouTube page of the Professional Players Federation (PPF) and Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA).

"I was actually in a really good stage of my career. I was top of the Development Tour ranking which gives a World Championship spot and a Tour Card as well so COVID-19 came at the worst moment. Everything stopped for the moment."

"The approach from the match fixers came from a weird Instagram account who contacted a friend of mine. The text was do you want to earn some easy money. First we joked around then we got a bit excited about it. My friend meet up with those guys and they made it pretty clear that the task was to lose 4-0."

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"I did that and after the match, my friend met up with them again and they talked again and they just gave away the money. They obviously wanted me to stay in and that's the moment we got out. The guys didn't directly threaten us but they made me feel that I couldn't go back so I had to do it."

"From the moment I thought I couldn't go back and after the match I knew I made a mistake and it was something really stupid."

Nijman was sentenced to a five-year darts suspension in late 2020, but that was eventually shortened to 2.5 years. "When I found out the investigation was about me, my world crashes in. You're back to the lowest point in your career again. The process was very long, it was around a year from beginning to end. I want to educate young players in Holland and England."

"It is stupid and your career is maybe going to end but it is your own fault but with my parents and family, it wasn't their fault but I hurt them so it's much harder. Telling my family was the most difficult thing I've ever done."