The day after the little arrow miracle, Fabian Schmutzler had to go to school as normal. The 16-year-old from Frankfurt booked his ticket to the big darts world sensationally at the weekend, but his everyday school life until the World Cup tournament in London's Alexandra Palace (December 15 to January 3) should continue as trouble-free as possible. “Folks, I just can't keep up. Thanks for all the congratulations. Simply unbelievable, ”said Schmutzler on social media. The teenager had received hundreds of congratulations to date after he had won the World Cup ticket in an unbelievable way.

In the legendary "Ally Pally", "The Fabulous Fab", as Schmutzler is called in the scene, should dive into a whole new world soon enough: the youngster will make his debut as the second youngest player in World Cup history, and duels with former players are possible right from the start World champions like the Englishman Adrian Lewis or Raymond van Barneveld from the Netherlands.

If Schmutzler wins a game, he will have made it as the youngest player in tournament history.

“This is a great start.

The journey will begin.

Let's see how he handles it, ”said darts expert Elmar Paulke.

For him, Schmutzler "made history" even before his very first litter in the British capital.

"Unlike many other darts players"

The story of the past weekend was actually a bit like a fairy tale: Schmutzler, who only turned 16 in October, was allowed to play for the first time in a tournament of the PDC world association in Hessian Niedernhausen.

A World Cup ticket is played on the so-called Development Tour - Schmutzler got it even though he missed six of twelve tournaments because he had not reached the required minimum age of 16 in August.

“I would say that this is an exceptional talent.

He's such an intelligent person.

He is very different from many other darts players, ”said René Eidams, who discovered the youngster around two years ago and has since become a kind of mentor for him, the German press agency.

Eidams is a darts player himself.

A difficult and delicate balancing act is now waiting for Schmutzler, his family and his environment: On the one hand, the door to a great career with the World Cup qualification is wide open, on the other hand, the Hessian is still extremely young.

And: The jump comes from zero to one hundred, nobody would have expected such an explosion in performance.

“It was enormous that it went so quickly,” said Eidams.

Schmutzler earned a whopping 6000 pounds (7000 euros) over the weekend, and his participation in London alone brings him another large sum that is unusual for a teenager.

In addition, there is a huge surge of attention and more and more media inquiries that his family and Eidams want to coordinate in peace and quiet.

Just don't burn the youngsters after a dream weekend, is the motto.

Max Hopp felt the same way back then. He also played at the World Cup for the first time when he was 16. The media and fans dreamed of the German world champion, everyone wanted a piece of the child prodigy. But the hype became too much for Hopp, he took himself back over the years, imposed media bans on himself and carefully selected which inquiries he would still answer. Hopp now also congratulated Schmutzler, paid “respect” and attested “massive potential”. Darts Germany is developing "splendidly lately". Hopp himself, now 25, has not become world champion since then, but is currently fighting for a ticket for the 2022 World Cup.

In Schmutzler, world champion winner Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler and Florian Hempel, four German participants have already been determined for the annual highlight.

This is a great success for PDC Europe boss Werner von Moltke.

“German players at the World Cup bring a completely different level of media attention.

These appearances are always followed closely, ”said the dpa official.

Von Moltke called the Schmutzler coup "a little fairy tale" and added: "It hit us all like lightning, but we are very, very happy."