The Five Greatest Darts Players from Finland

Other countries may have produced better players, but Finland has still seen some outstanding darts players emerge over the years. Here is a look at five of the best.

1. Jarkko Komula

Despite having enough worthy moments over his career to warrant an expression of joy, retired darts player, Jarkko Komula rarely ever smiled, which gave him the ironic nickname Smiley.

Komula reached the 2001 final at the Winmau World Masters, having beaten Andy Fordham 4-0 in the semis. In 2008, the Finn won the Nordic Cup by beating Markus Korhonen. At the start of 2009, the Finn joined the PDC. He won the Finland qualifying event in 2010 to participate in the PDC World Darts Championship. Despite defeating Roman Konchikov 4-3 in the preliminary round, he lost to Wes Newton by three sets to zero in the first round. Still, Komula undoubtedly made his mark as a Finnish player in the world of darts. He also came back to prominence in 2013 by reaching the semi-finals of the PDC World Cup.

2. Petri Korte

Petri Korte currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. Korte is most well-known for his extremely unorthodox throwing style. He holds up his non-throwing hand in front of him to act as a guide while throwing.

The Finn’s accomplishments include winning the 2011 Nordic Invitational Singles and qualifying for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship, although he lost in the first round of the latter to Jan Dekker. He qualified again in 2012 for the PDC version, beating Per Laursen 4-3 in the preliminary round but just missed out on defeating world number three James Wade in the first round. If you are considering betting on Korte in 2021, or if you want to find out all the latest odds for darts tournaments and other sports, check out the Sportsbook at Casumo.com.

3. Kim Viljanen

Viljanen came to prominence in 1999 when he won the boys’ singles at the WDF World Cup in South Africa.

Over the years, his accomplishments include finishing third in the Scandinavian Order of Merit after competing in the 2014 Scandinavian Darts Corporation Tour and being awarded a place in the PDC World Championship of 2015.

Also, in 2015, the Finn won three SDC Tour events and finished top of the Order of Merit, which meant he qualified for the 2016 PDC World Championship. In 2016, Viljanen represented Finland at the World Cup of Darts along with Marko Kantele, but they unfortunately lost 5-1 to Wales in the opening round.

4. Ulf Ceder

Ceder is most famous for winning the 2005 Finland National Championship, where he beat Kim Viljanen. The following year, Ceder qualified for the BDO World Darts Championship, where he won one of six places in the international playoffs, although he was beaten in the first round by Mike Veitch. In 2008, Ceder attempted to become Finland’s first-ever qualifier at the PDC World Darts Championship, but he lost during the semi-finals. Ceder also finished runner-up, to Jani Haavisto, in the first event of the 2013 SDC Scandinavian Tour.

5. Marko Kantele

Kantele’s major debut was at the Winmau World Masters in 1997, when he defeated defending champion Colin Monk in the first round. During his professional career, one of Kantele’s greatest accomplishments was winning the PDC World Finnish Qualifying Event in 2009.

That win gave him a place in that year’s PDC World Darts Championship, making him the very first representative of Finland. Not long after, Kantele began participating in PDC Europe events. Other major accomplishments include winning the 2014 Scandinavian Pro Tour event by beating Jarkko Komula 6-4 and finishing second on the European Q-School Order of Merit in 2019, where he earned a PDC Tour Card for 2019-2020.