After the 24-day extravaganza that was the World Darts Championship, the sport’s best and most-loved players are going head to head over 17 weeks of Premier League action.
World No. 2 Luke Humphries is looking to defend his crown this year but will face stiff competition from the likes of World Championship finalist Gian van Veen, the legendary Michael van Gerwen and the man Cool Hand Luke defeated in last year’s Premier League final: Luke Littler.
The 18-year-old two-time world champion is the bookies’ favourite to win the Premier League and regain his title.
Littler, Humphries, Van Veen and Van Gerwen automatically qualified for this year’s Premier League. Jonny Clayton, Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock and Gerwyn Price were named as the PDC’s wildcard picks.
– Why Luke Littler and Co. will (and won’t) win Premier League title
Premier League Darts dates, venues, results
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Feb. 12: Night 2 (Antwerp)
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Feb. 19: Night 3 (Glasgow)
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Feb. 26: Night 4 (Belfast)
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March 5: Night 5 (Cardiff)
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March 12: Night 6 (Nottingham)
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March 19: Night 7 (Dublin)
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March 26: Night 8 (Berlin)
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April 2: Night 9 (Manchester)
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April 9: Night 10 (Brighton)
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April 16: Night 11 (Rotterdam)
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April 23: Night 12 (Liverpool)
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April 30: Night 13 (Aberdeen)
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May 7: Night 14 (Leeds)
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May 14: Night 15 (Birmingham)
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May 21: Night 16 (Sheffield)
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May 28: Finals Night (London)
– How and why darts players got nicknames and walk-on songs
– Darts’ best walk-on songs ranked… but Littler only at No. 9
Premier League table
The top four players in the Premier League table after Night 16 advance to the Playoffs.
What is the prize money?
Humphries earned £275,000 for beating Littler in last year’s final at the O2 Arena.
2026 prize money breakdown:
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Champion: £350,000
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Runner-up: £170,000
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Semifinalists: £110,000
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Fifth place: £95,000
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Sixth place: £90,000
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Seventh place: £85,000
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Eighth place: £80,000
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Nightly win: £10,000
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Total: £1,250,000
Bonus prize money available:
– Premier League Darts prize money: All-time stats
How to watch?
The World Darts Championship will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK from 7 p.m. GMT and on the PDC’s official streaming platform, PDC TV.
What is the format?
Each of the 16 nights is its own mini tournament — each night beginning with four quarterfinal matches featuring all eight players. The players compete to progress to the nightly final where a victor will emerge.
All matches are best-of-11 legs (first to six). The players accumulate points over the course of the 16 weeks depending on their progress through each nightly tournament with the top four-ranked players progressing to Finals Night in London on May 23.
Premier League points system:
Every player will meet once in the quarterfinals between weeks 1 and 7 , then again between weeks 9 and 15. The matchups in weeks 8 and 16 are decided by each player’s respective position in the league table.
On Finals Night, the league leader faces the player who finished in fourth place in the table, while second plays third in the best-of-19-leg (first to 10) semifinals.
The Premier League champion is then crowned after a best-of-21-leg (first to 11 legs) final.
Has there been a nine-darter?
With not a single nine-darter hit during the World Championship, we are very much due one at some point during the 16 weeks of Premier League action.
Anyone who does will be awarded a set of 18-carat gold darts worth £30,000 by tournament sponsors BetMGM.
Last year’s Premier League featured a record amount of nine-dart finishes with five hit over the course of the tournament.
Luke Humphries and Rob Cross delighted the sell-out crowd in Brighton on Night Five as they both achieved perfection in what was an outstanding evening of darts.
Gerwyn Price cemented his status as the best nine-dart hitter in Premier League history as he moved clear of Phil Taylor’s total (3) with his fourth and fifth career nine-dart finishes in Manchester and Aberdeen, respectively.
– Premier League nine-darter: The magic behind the perfect leg
Who are the previous winners?
Michael van Gerwen’s seven titles make him the Premier League king. He won his first in 2013 before winning four in a row at his peak between 2016 and 2019. The Dutchman won again in 2022, with his most recent success coming in 2023.
Phil Taylor has also won four Premier League titles in a row. He lifted the trophy at the end of each of the first four editions of the tournament and lifted six in total.
Two-time world champion Gary Anderson has also won two Premier Leagues, while James Wade, Raymond van Barneveld, Glen Durrant, Jonny Clayton, Luke Humphries and Luke Littler have won one apiece.
PDC world rankings
The Premier League is not a ranking event so any prize money earned does not count in the two-year period which is used to determine the PDC Order of Merit (world rankings).
1. Luke Littler
2. Luke Humphries
3. Gian van Veen
4. Michael van Gerwen
5. Jonny Clayton
6. Gary Anderson
7. Stephen Bunting
8. James Wade
9. Josh Rock
10. Danny Noppert
=11. Ryan Searle
=11. Gerwyn Price
13. Chris Dobey
14. Nathan Aspinall
15. Martin Schindler
16. Ross Smith
News from the Premier League
Stephen Bunting, Jonny Clayton join Luke Littler, more as full line-up revealed. Read
Luke Littler: ‘I don’t think’ rivals can catch me and Luke Humphries. Read
Gian van Veen says Luke Littler still going to be best ‘in 5 or 10 years’. Read
Littler: Angry Ginge should play at Q-school, but I won’t give him advice. Read
Van Gerwen after ending Premier League Darts drought: ‘About time’. Read
Premier League nine-darter: The magic behind the perfect leg
What does it feel like to hit a nine-darter and what makes them so great? ESPN spoke to the sport’s biggest stars to find out. Read
The best walk-on songs ranked… but Luke Littler only at No. 9
With the Premier League under way, we rank the walk-on songs picked by Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, more. Read
Why Luke Littler and Co. will (and won’t) win Premier League title
Can anyone stop Luke Littler regaining his Premier League crown? ESPN breaks down why each player will, and won’t, win the lucrative darts tournament.
