‘I’m a World Darts Championship star who was banned for match-fixing, it was the worst time of my life’
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WESSEL NIJMAN is hoping lessons will be learned from his "stupid" match-fixing mistake - as he makes the most of his second chance. In October 2020, the Dutchman was hit with a five-year ban after being found guilty of fixing a match in Covid during the amateur Modus Icons of Darts at Home series.
![[Wessel Nijman is back playing at the highest level after a match-fixing ban]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/wessel-nijman-netherlands-reacts-round-958567189.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Someone from "a weird Instagram account" contacted him via a friend "to earn some easy money" and he agreed to NOT win any legs - he lost 4-0 - for the sum of £8,300. But 2-and-a-half years of the ban was suspended on the condition that Nijman, who expressed "early and full admission of guilt", engaged in player education and anti-corruption measures.
![[The Dutchman was slapped with a suspension after admitting fixing a match in 2020]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/wessel-nijman-netherlands-celebrates-round-958567186.jpg?strip=all&w=739)
Nijman - who paid £2,455.74 towards the costs of the hearing - was free to play from February 2023 and the electrician is appearing in his second game on the Ally Pally stage. The world No. 58 is a full-time sparky and leaned on his work during his enforced time off.
He said: "It was one of the worst times of my life. But in the end, I got my life rolling again. "I started working. Then the ban was nearly over. I tried my luck on the PDC Development Tour. Now we are here. "The lowest point was when I told family and friends what I did. Then you get all the DRA [Darts Regulation Authority] stuff. It takes really long.
"You have hearings. Dutch police got involved. So, when it got out, we had already known about it for a few months. BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS. "I don’t concern myself about what people say about me. "The people who say s**t things about me don’t know me and I don’t know them.
