Just a few days after Luke Littler followed up his world title defence with a maiden Masters triumph, darts fans can now look forward to a new Premier League series.
After things get underway in the north-east on Thursday evening, we’ll see a further fifteen rounds of action at venues across the United Kingdom and beyond. Those sixteen league phase ‘nights’ will determine who progresses to the play-offs at London’s O2 Arena in May, where four players compete to be crowned the overall champion. Belgium will host a Premier League contest for the very first time as Night Two descends on Antwerp later this month, while every home nation is represented within the tournament’s intense four-month schedule. Luke Humphries is bidding for back-to-back Premier League titles after edging past Luke Littler in an absorbing 2025 final, but his teenage rival is odds-on favourite to scoop the main prize on this occasion.
Humphries became the fifth Englishman to secure this prestigious piece of PDC silverware, after Phil Taylor, James Wade, Glen Durrant, and the aforementioned Luke Littler. No other country has produced more than two Premier League champions, while Josh Rock will be eager to deliver a first success for Northern Ireland this Spring. Darts icon Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor claimed a staggering six of the first eight available Premier League titles, with James Wade and Gary Anderson the only other two players to achieve this feat between the inaugural 2005 event and May 2012. After originally being staged exclusively in the UK, locations in Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands (and now Belgium) have since been added to the tournament’s roadmap.
Who will be competing in this year’s Premier League Darts?
The four players ranked highest in the PDC Order of Merit qualify automatically for the Premier League, so Luke Littler (1), Luke Humphries (2), Gian van Veen (3), and Michael van Gerwen (4) were all assured a place in the competition. The PDC selects the remaining four participants as ‘wild card’ entrants, taking into account their current form, historic successes, and past Premier League performances. As this is ultimately a subjective decision made by an internal governing body, the Premier League line-up always attracts plenty of controversy and debate – and this year was no different.
Having crashed out in the third round of the World Championships following an underwhelming end to the 2025 campaign, Stephen Bunting wasn’t expected to make the cut. His inclusion was therefore met with derision from certain sections of the darts community, who believed Bunting’s popularity amongst the younger demographic unfairly influenced the PDC’s selection process. The Liverpool-born archer has made two previous Premier League appearances (plus a cameo as a ‘one-off challenger’ six years ago), but finished bottom of the tournament’s standings last year. Meanwhile, 2021 champion Jonny Clayton, World Cup winner Josh Rock, and former world number one Gerwyn Price have also been chosen. As is the case for highly-rated Dutch youngster Gian van Veen, this will be Rock’s debut Premier League campaign. After featuring in last year’s event, Rob Cross, Chris Dobey, and Nathan Aspinall all missed out this time around.
What is the format?
Following its inception just over two decades ago, the Premier League has used several different competitive formats. The tournament’s current framework has existed since 2022, when organisers decided to increase the number of matches played. A mini knockout competition takes place on each night, with all eight players initially contesting a quarter-final tie. The winners of these ties progress to the last four, before the two finalists battle it out in the showpiece.
Between nights one and seven, all participants face each other in the opening round (quarter-final) on one occasion. This process is then repeated between nights nine and fifteen. However, on nights eight and sixteen, the quarter-final draw is determined by league position. The player at the summit of the Premier League table is drawn against the participant in last place, with the other three ties following the same template in descending order (2nd vs. 7th, 3rd vs. 6th, and 4th vs. 5th).
Players receive a specific number of points based on their performances each night, which are then added to their name on a traditional league table. The four semi-finalists are awarded two points, the runner-up earns three points, while the winner is handed five points. Those eliminated at the first hurdle do not receive any points. The points accumulate over the course of the 16-week league phase, with the final tallies confirmed on Night 16. The four highest-ranked players at this point then advance to the play-offs, while the other four participants are eliminated. After the play-off semi-finals take place, the overall champion is declared following a head-to-head meeting between the last two remaining players.
Like most major PDC tournaments, the Premier League uses the legs format to structure matches. The maximum number of legs that can be played in any given match/round of the tournament is confirmed beforehand, so it’s essentially a race to see who can establish an unassailable lead. For example, every group stage fixture of last year’s Grand Slam of Darts was a ‘best of’ nine legs contest, meaning any player who moved into a 5-0 lead would automatically secure victory.
Confirmed 2026 Premier League Darts match lengths:
League Phase: Best of 11 legs
Play-off semi-finals: Best of 19 legs
Play-off final: Best of 21 legs
Tournament Schedule
The Premier League will take centre stage every Thursday between now and the 28th of May, when the tournament concludes with the play-offs on Finals Night. A total of seventeen venues across eight different countries are poised to welcome thousands of darts fans over the coming weeks and months, while Sky Sports viewers can access comprehensive coverage of every single Premier League Night.
The full schedule is as follows:
League Phase
February 5th: Night 1 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle
February 12th: Night 2 – AFAS Dome, Antwerp
February 19th: Night 3 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
February 26th: Night 4 – SSE Arena, Belfast
March 5th: Night 5 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
March 12th: Night 6 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
March 19th: Night 7 – 3Arena, Dublin
March 26th: Night 8 – Uber Arena, Berlin
April 2nd: Night 9 – AO Arena, Manchester
April 9th: Night 10 – Brighton Centre, Brighton
April 16th: Night 11 – Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam
April 23rd: Night 12 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
April 30th: Night 13 – P&J Live, Aberdeen
May 7th: Night 14 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
May 14th: Night 15 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
May 21st: Night 16 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield
Play-offs
May 28th: Finals Night – O2 Arena, London
Prize Money
Back in March last year, the PDC announced that there would be a significant increase in prize money for the 2026 campaign. The total annual payout now sits at a colossal £25 million, a 19% uplift on the previous year’s purse. Every single event on the professional circuit will profit from this unprecedented cash injection, which enabled Luke Littler to scoop an eye-watering £1 million for his efforts at the 2026 World Championships. The Premier League Darts prize fund has therefore also increased, with organisers set to distribute a £1,250,000 pot to the tournament’s eight participants. This represents a £250k jump on last year’s equivalent figure.
Players are rewarded based on their performance across the entire season, with those who qualify for the play-offs deservedly receiving a greater share of the kitty. Every single point is worth fighting for, as finishing one or two positions higher in the final league standings could substantially impact how much a player earns. The overall champion is set to become £350k richer, while a £10k bonus fee is awarded to the winner of each of the 16 league phase events.
Here’s a full breakdown of the prize fund allocations:
Play-offs
Winner: £350,000
Runner-up: £170,000
Semi-finalists: £110,000
League Phase elimination
5th place: £95,000
6th place: £90,000
7th place: £85,000
8th place: £80,000
Night Winner (all 16 league phase meetings): £10,000
Tournament records
Having claimed seven Premier League Darts titles throughout his highly decorated career, Michael van Gerwen is the tournament’s all-time most successful player. He also boasts a series of Premier League records, many of which are unlikely to be surpassed any time soon.
Dutch delight
On the fourth night of the 2016 series in Aberdeen, van Gerwen delivered a monumental three-dart average of 123.4 during his 7-1 thrashing of Michael Smith. By the conclusion of that same campaign, Mighty Mike had generated an overall average of 107.49 en route to acquiring a second Premier League crown. Despite the best efforts of a talented crop of players, both of these scores are yet to be bettered.
The three-time world champion also holds the record for the highest average in a play-offs final, clocking up a tally of 112.37 in the 2018 showpiece. Michael Smith was once again the victim on that occasion, on a night when van Gerwen also registered the highest checkout (128) and racked up the most 180s (16) at the O2 Arena. In between his exploits in the two tournaments referenced above, van Gerwen became the first player in Premier League history to average over a century in every single match. His 2017 achievement of hitting eighteen consecutive 100s across the league phase and play-offs may never be matched.
While van Gerwen has more pieces of Premier League silverware to his name than any other player, his compatriot and former World Cup partner Raymond van Barneveld leads the way when it comes to volume of appearances. Barney has featured in a remarkable fourteen editions of the tournaments, although he hasn’t qualified since 2019 due to a major dip in recent form. However, with van Gerwen about to make his fourteenth Premier League Darts appearance after citing his intention to continue playing at the highest level for the foreseeable future, it’s only a matter of time before the Green Machine rewrites the record books once again.
Other notable records
Last year, Luke Littler accumulated more points than anyone else had previously managed in a single Premier League campaign. The gifted nineteen-year-old produced 27 victories in 37 matches to help him secure six individual night wins, leaving him on a whopping 45 points at the end of the league phase. Gary Anderson and José de Sousa are the only two players to land more than ten 180s in a Premier League contest, while the longest unbeaten run belongs to the legendary Phil Taylor, who won each of his first 44 matches in the competition during a remarkable three-year period.
There have been nineteen nine-dart finishes in Premier League Darts, with the first two of these being delivered by Raymond van Barneveld. After reaching zero in the quickest possible timeframe during his match-up with Peter Manley in 2006, the popular Dutchman repeated this feat against Terry Jenkins just over four years later. Ironically, van Barneveld went on to lose both of these clashes.
No player has struck more nine-darters than Gerwyn Price, who has achieved the Holy Grail on four separate occasions. The latest two in this set came during the 2025 league phase, which saw a total of five nine-darters – the most thrown during a single Premier League campaign – across its opening 15 nights of action. Only two players have recorded a nine-dart finish in a Premier League final, with Phil Taylor (2010) and Luke Littler (2024) holding their nerve at the business end of the competition.
Past winners
We’ve listed the outcomes of every previous Premier League final below (please note that all scorelines refer to a leg-play result):
2005: Phil Taylor (England) 16-4 Colin Lloyd (England)
2006: Phil Taylor (England) 16-6 Roland Scholten (Netherlands)
2007: Phil Taylor (England) 16-6 Terry Jenkins (England)
2008: Phil Taylor (England) 16-8 James Wade (England)
2009: James Wade (England) 13-8 Mervyn King (England)
2010: Phil Taylor (England) 10-8 James Wade (England)
2011: Gary Anderson (Scotland) 10-4 Adrian Lewis (England)
2012: Phil Taylor (England) 10-7 Simon Whitlock (Australia)
2013: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 10-8 Phil Taylor (England)
2014: Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands) 10-6 Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
2015: Gary Anderson (Scotland) 11-7 Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
2016: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 11-3 Phil Taylor (England)
2017: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 11-10 Peter Wright (Scotland)
2018: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 11-4 Michael Smith (England)
2019: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 11-5 Rob Cross (England)
2020: Glen Durrant (England) 11-8 Nathan Aspinall (England)
2021: Jonny Clayton (Wales) 11-5 José de Sousa (Portugal)
2022: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 11-10 Joe Cullen (England)
2023: Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) 11-5 Gerwyn Price (Wales)
2024: Luke Littler (England) 11-7 Luke Humphries (England)
2025: Luke Humphries (England) 11-8 Luke Littler (England)