Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith have played each other more than almost any other pairing on the PDC tour in recent years. MVG has dominated the head-to-head record for most of that rivalry, but Smith pulled off the one win that mattered most, on the biggest stage there is. Here's the full head-to-head history between them, plus the 2023 World Championship final that changed everything.
Three-time champion vs England's battler
MVG won the PDC World Championship three times, in 2014, 2017 and 2019, and held the world number one ranking for most of the stretch between 2014 and 2021. Smith spent years chasing his own signature win before he finally got there. Their styles are different too: MVG built his game on a rock-solid scoring average, while Smith is known for his finishing power under pressure. The two have crossed paths again and again across every format the tour throws at them.
Head-to-head record: MVG's long-standing lead
According to PDC's own numbers published in early 2019, MVG led the head-to-head 25 wins to 6, and on televised matches specifically he was even more dominant at 7 wins to 1. That count only runs up to early 2019. Van Gerwen and Smith kept meeting after that in the Premier League, the Masters and elsewhere, so the real career total is higher. The overall trend is clear, though: MVG has held a wide lead in this rivalry for most of its history.
A few key televised meetings
- 2015 Grand Slam of Darts semi-final: MVG won 16-6
- 2016 Masters quarter-final: MVG won 10-3, hitting 10 out of 10 doubles
- 2018 Premier League final: MVG beat Smith 11-4
Every one of those matches was a one-sided beatdown, and they built up a psychological edge MVG carried into every meeting that followed.
2023 World Championship final: the turnaround
The 2023 PDC World Darts Championship final is the single biggest match in this whole rivalry. MVG missed his own nine-dart finish by one dart during that game. The very next leg, Smith stepped up and hit his first career nine-darter without missing a single throw, a leg still called the "greatest leg ever" (full details in our nine-dart finish history piece). Smith went on to beat MVG 7-4 in that final, taking his first world title and reaching world number one for the first time. After years on the losing side of this head-to-head, it was the one win that mattered most.
What MVG said about Smith afterward
Right after that final, MVG walked over to Smith's post-match interview to talk him up in person. He said: "In this moment, this man isn't doing his game any justice. This man played phenomenal, we all know that. Of course, I didn't take my chances, but he was there in the moments he had to be. So fair play to him, he played well, and he deserved this." In a separate interview of his own, MVG added: "Of course, I had my chances. You only can blame yourself. That's not taking anything away from Michael. I think he played brilliant all the way through. I wasn't what I wanted to be, but that's part of the game, unfortunately." A lot of fans still point to that moment as one of the great sportsmanship scenes in darts.
Want to meet more of Europe's top players? Check out our European steel-tip darts players guide. Want the full story on that "greatest leg ever" nine-darter? Read our nine-dart finish history piece. And if you want to see whether you can hold your own average on the oche, AI DARTS is open 24 hours a day, check the menu here.