The field for this year’s Premier League Darts has been announced, with eight players set to battle it out over 16 weeks before finals night in London.
Luke Littler won the event on debut last year and it was a sign of more success to come as he has begun 2025 with his first World Championship title.
The man he beat in the Alexandra Palace final, Michael van Gerwen, is back in the Premier League field yet again, as is the player he dethroned as world champ, Luke Humphries.
There seemed to be few other nailed-on picks this year, though, with most of the rest of the places in the competition up for debate.
The PDC has settled on the following eight players, who will begin their Premier League campaigns on February 6 in Belfast.
Premier League Darts 2025 field
- Luke Humphries
- Luke Littler
- Michael van Gerwen
- Rob Cross
- Stephen Bunting
- Gerwyn Price
- Chris Dobey
- Nathan Aspinall
On the criteria for selecting players, PDC chief executive Matt Porter told Sky Sports News: ‘So we have eight players and we pick the top four in the world, they have earned their right by virtue of their rankings.
‘Then we look at the other contenders, players who have maybe performed well throughout the year or players who have got that big-stage profile, that big-stage presence, players who have got a decent CV from recent years, players who we feel are perhaps ready to prove a point, players who are in form…
‘It’s quite open, to be brutally honest, and it’s generally quite a wide-ranging debate because there are a lot of candidates.
‘There is always someone who is disappointed and someone who maybe feels a bit unlucky but as long as people are talking about it, we’ve done our job.’
Reacting to the big reveal, Sky Sports pundit Mark Webster said he was delighted to see Chris Dobey – a semi-finalist as the World Darts Championship – in the mix.
‘We know all of these guys can handle it, they’ve all played in the Premier League before, there’s no debutants in there,’ Webster said.
‘I like the fact Chris Dobey is back as well because, obviously, when you get omitted from the Premier League you go out, show a bit of positively and get yourself back in.
‘It’s going to be a great line-up and I’m looking forward to it getting going.’
The winner of the non-ranking tournament on May 29 will win a whopping top prize of £275,000, with the runner-up claiming £125,000.
Eighth place in the final table wins £60,000, which explains why there is such a scrap to make the cut each year.
Premier League Darts prize money
Winner: £275,000
Second: £125,000
Semi-Finalists: £85,000 each
Fifth: £75,000
Sixth: £70,000
Seventh: £65,000
Eighth: £60,000
Weekly Winner: £10,000
Premier League Darts schedule
February 6: Night One – Belfast
February 13: Night Two – Glasgow
February 20: Night Three – Dublin
February 27: Night Four – Exeter
March 6: Night Five – Brighton
March 13: Night Six – Nottingham
March 20: Night Seven – Cardiff
March 27: Night Eight – Newcastle
April 3: Night Nine – Berlin
April 10: Night 10 – Manchester
April 17: Night 11 – Rotterdam
April 24: Night 12 – Liverpool
May 1: Night 13 – Birmingham
May 8: Night 14 – Leeds
May 15: Night 15 – Aberdeen
May 22: Night 16 – Sheffield
May 29: Play-Offs – London’s O2 arena
How the Premier League works
Each week of the Premier League is an eight-man tournament played down from the quarter-finals to a winner.
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Semi-finalists earn two points, the runner-up gets three points and the winner claims five points. The weekly winner also pockets a £10,000 bonus.
The top four in the table after 16 weeks head to the play-offs, where a champion is crowned after two semis and a final.
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