The line-up for Premier League Darts 2025 has been announced on Sky Sports with fans left shocked at a surprise inclusion.
New world champion and reigning Premier League champion Luke Littler has learned his opponents for 16 weeks of darting cinema.
Already confirmed a place due to their top four ranking in the Order of Merit, sees world No.1 Luke Humphries, seven-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen and former world champion Rob Cross automatically selected.
The line-up was confirmed on Monday on Sky Sports with the inclusion of: Masters champion and crowd favourite Stephen Bunting, former world champion Gerwyn Price, World Championship semi-finalist Chris Dobey and former Premier League runner-up and Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall.
The remaining four places were far from inevitable due to the poor form of last year’s four Premier League inclusions, Michael Smith, Price, Peter Wright and Aspinall all struggling in 2024.
(Image: AP)
‘Bully Boy’s’ poor 2024 form and World Championship second-round exit appears to have buried his chances, while ‘Snakebite’ 11-year run in the tournament has finished.
Meanwhile, the share of major PDC events to three players who had never won a PDC major before 2024 made the eight-player selection almost impossible to predict.
In a year largely dominated by Littler and Humphries, Bunting won The Masters in February, Dimitri Van den Bergh ended his near four-year wait for another major as he won the UK Open in March, and will consider himself unlucky to have missed out.
While October’s World Grand Prix and European Championship were won by outsiders Mike de Decker and Ritchie Edhouse respectively.
PDC chief executive Matt Porter told Sky Sports during the Worlds what the selection process behind the 2025 field would be. He said: “We have to look for the star quality and people who can perform on the big stage. It’s going to be an interesting announcement.
“We’re certainly not going to please everybody but we feel we have to make the decisions that are right for the millions who will watch on TV and the 150,000 who will join us in the big arenas. Whatever decision we make, so long as people are talking about it, we’ve made the right decision.”
(Image: Getty Images)
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The Premier League begins on Night 1 in Belfast on February 6 and ends in Sheffield on May 22 before the top four advance to the play-offs at The O2 in London on May 29.
Every week, players have the chance to win a weekly prize of £10,000 for the winner of the eight-player knockout tournament. Points are then awarded every week to comprise a league table which will determine the top four players who will head to the play-offs.
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The nightly winner will receive five points, the runner-up awarded three points, with the losing semi-finalists gaining two points. The non-ranking event sees players receive prize money following the conclusion of week 16, varying on their final place in the standings.
Eighth place will receive £60,000 with an extra £5,000 added on top to every player higher up the table who didn’t make the play-offs. The losing semi-finalists will receive £85,000 each after finals night, with the runner-up taking home £125,000 and the champion collecting a cool £275,000.
The complete Premier League Darts 2025 line-up: Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall.