The Premier League of Darts kicks off on February 5 in Newcastle and will last for 16 weeks.

Each night in the league will consist of four quarter final matches, semi-finals and a final. The players will rotate who they face in the quarter final each week. The top four then face each other on the final night in the O2 on May 28. All matches are played as best of 11

Losing in the quarter final will not give the players any points. Losing in the semi-finals will get the player 2 points whilst finishing runner-up of the night will reward them with 3 points. The winner of the night gives them 5 points.

Last year saw Luke Humphries beat Luke Litter in the final 11–8.

Who made the cut?

The top four in the World rankings qualify automatically. These are the back-to-back World Champion Luke Littler, the defending Premier League Champion Luke Humphries, the finalist in the World Championship Gian Van Veen and seven-time winner of the competition Michael Van Gerwen.

Only a few days ago, the World Number 1 Luke Littler and 3 Gian Van Veen faced off in the World Darts Championships Final at Alexandra Palace where Littler beat Van Veen 7–1 after losing the opening set. Littler will be hoping to continue to break records, eying his second Premier League title.

Luke Humphries will be hoping to ensure the gap between himself and Luke Littler does not grow, aiming for back-to-back titles after losing in the quarter finals of the World Championships to runner-up Gian Van Veen 5–1.

Van Veen, who will make his Premier League debut, overtook Michael Van Gerwen in the World rankings, becoming the Dutch number 1, though he said that Van Gerwen will always be their Dutch no1.

Van Gerwen last won the Premier League in 2023 and will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing campaign last year where he failed to reach the final four.

The four wildcard picks were Johnny Clayton, Josh Rock, Gerwyn Price and Stephen Bunting.

Johnny Clayton is ranked 5 in the world. The Welshman, nicknamed the Ferret, won the Premier League in 2021. Despite featuring in multiple televised finals at the World Cup of Darts and the World Masters, Clayton did drop down in the Order of Merit. The 51-year-old lost in the quarter finals of the World Championships to semi-finalist Ryan Searle.

Josh Rock had one of the best years of his career and has been rewarded with his first ever appearance in the Premier League. He and his teammate Daryl Gurney won Northern Ireland their maiden World Cup win and was also a semi-finalist in the World Matchplay and UK Open. However, in the World Darts Championship he lost to Justin Hood in the round of 16.

Gerwyn Price suffered a disappointing World Darts Championships campaign, losing in round two to Wesley Plaisier 3–0 in what was one of the biggest shocks in the tournament. Prior to the game, Price said he would win the competition. The Welshman is an iconic figure in darts now after fixing his relationship with the crowds and was a semi-finalist in last year’s Premier League. He hit two nine-darters in last year’s competition. He may have hoped for more last year overall despite winning the Poland Darts Masters, the Baltic Sea Darts Open and several Players Championship events.

Finally, the arguably most controversial of the picks is Stephen Bunting, the renowned ‘People’s Champion’, which itself sparked some debate and emotion during the World Darts Championship. Bunting suffered a below-par year which saw him drop from 4 in the world to 7 despite winning six PDC titles. In last year’s Premier League, Bunting finished last, winning 7 games and 77 legs. He will be hoping for better this year.

Some people have argued that the Bullet only made it into the Premier League due to his popularity with the crowd, aided by his famous walk-on with ‘Titanium’.

Who missed out?

One of the people who may feel like they should have been in the competition is Nathan Aspinall. Aspinall was in the competition last year, making the semi-finals. The exclusion was confusing to some as he had a better year in 2025 than in 2024.

Another name that was excluded was the on-the-rise Dutchman Danny Noppert. Noppert released a statement on Instagram saying: “It truly means a lot to me to see more and more people speaking positively about me and mentioning my name as a potential candidate”. Noppert reached the semi-finals of the World Masters and World Cup of Darts. Though he was another victim of Justin Hood in the World Darts Championships.

Another big name exclusion was James Wade. Wade expressed his dismay at the exclusion on Instagram suggesting that hard work is not rewarded. The Englishman lost in the World Cup of Darts to Ricky Evans in a thriller. Wade won the Premier League in 2009, saying he was ‘disappointed, but proud of the work’ he had put in chasing the Premier League. He said: “Missing out hurts, but that’s part of the journey.”