Premier League Darts: What’s the criteria? What’s the format? Is Luke Littler playing?

How does Premier League Darts work? Here’s a guide for everything you need to know about the tournament which you can watch live on Sky Sports between February and May.

Premier League Darts is an annual PDC tournament that was founded in 2005. It is not one of the seven ranked majors, but is one of six non-ranking television tournaments.

Matches take place every Thursday night between February and May and are played in different venues around the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe, which includes Germany and the Netherlands.

Who takes part in Premier League Darts?

The Premier League features eight of the top players in the world. The top four players on the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualify, and are joined by four wildcards, selected by the PDC. This is how Littler, who was ranked outside the top 150 in the Order of Merit 12 months ago, was selected for last year’s tournament.

The 2025 line-up will be exclusively revealed live on Sky Sports News from 4.30pm on Monday January 6.

What is the format?

For the 2019 and 2020 seasons, the stars were joined by a different ‘challenger’ who competed against one of the regulars – John Henderson springs to mind when he delighting his home crowd in Aberdeen by earning a memorable draw against Michael van Gerwen.

Since 2022, the format has changed so that an eight-person knockout bracket is contested every night.

Each of the players meet each other once in weeks 1-7 and again in weeks 9-15, with weeks 8 and 16 drawn based on league standings.

How each player performs each night will earn them points which will determine their place on the Premier League table, the points system is as follows.

• Winner: 5 points
• Runner-up: 3 points
• Two losing semi-finalists: 2 points

After week 16, the top four in the league tale contest the semi-finals and the final, with first playing fourth and second playing third.

The semi-finals on final night at London’s O2 Arena is played over 19 legs, while the final is played over 21 legs.

Tricky selection process

PDC chief executive Matt Porter admits it will be “tricky” selecting the names for this year’s tournament with so many top players failing to hit the heights last year.

He told Sky Sports: “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.”

Who has won the Premier League title?

The defending champion is Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler. The newly-crowned World Champion teenager from Warrington won the Premier League title in his debut campaign, with a memorable 11-7 victory over Luke Humphries during which he hit his fourth nine-darter in 2024.

Michael van Gerwen has won a record seven titles (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023).

He overtook Phil Taylor as the tournament’s most successful player, as Taylor won six titles during his career (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012).

Gary Anderson has won it twice (2011, 2015) while James Wade (2009), Raymond van Barneveld (2013), Glen Durrant (2020) and Jonny Clayton (2021) have all won one each.

2025 BetMGM Premier League confirmed dates

Night 1 – The SSE Arena, Belfast – Thursday February 6
Night 2 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow – Thursday February 13
Night 3 – 3Arena, Dublin – Thursday February 20
Night 4 – Westpoint Exeter – Thursday February 27
Night 5 – The Brighton Centre – Thursday March 6
Night 6 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham – Thursday March 13
Night 7 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff – Thursday March 20
Night 8 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle – Thursday March 27
Night 9 – Uber Arena, Berlin – Thursday April 3
Night 10 – AO Arena, Manchester – Thursday April 10
Night 11 – Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam – Thursday April 17
Night 12 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool – Thursday April 24
Night 13 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham, Thursday May 1
Night 14 – First Direct Arena, Leeds – Thursday May 8
Night 15 – P&J Live, Aberdeen – Thursday May 15
Night 16 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield – Thursday May 22
Play-Offs – The O2, London – Thursday May 29

Watch the Premier League Darts on Sky Sports

Watch all the action from the Premier League on Sky Sports with Luke Littler aiming to defend his title. The new Premier League season will begin in Belfast on Thursday, February 6, as darts’ biggest party returns.

Who will be in this Premier League Darts line-up? See it revealed live on Sky Sports News from 4.30pm on Monday January 6 and watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.