Premier League

The 21st edition of the Premier League darts was held from 6 February to 29 May. Eight PDC top players competed for the title over sixteen rounds + a play-off round. World number 1 Luke Humphries takes the title in London after a victory in the final over Luke Littler.

The eight players who will participate in the 2025 Premier League will be announced after the World Championship final in January. The eight players are: Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Stephen Bunting, Nathan Aspinall, Gerwyn Price and Chris Dobey. For all eight players, it is at least the second time that they participate in the Premier League. Van Gerwen is the only non-British player who will compete for the title.

From the start of the season it has been clear that two players stand out above the rest: Luke Humphries and Luke Littler. Both players win two of the first five evenings. Gerwyn Price also has a strong start, with an evening win in week 3 and week 6. Luke Littler eventually ends up with six evening wins: an absolute record since this format was introduced a few years ago. Humphries and Price eventually win three evenings.

Littler, Humphries and Price are therefore the first players to be certain of participating in the play-offs. There are a few candidates for the fourth and final place: Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall. Cross starts the season well, but manages to collect fewer and fewer points towards the end. He even ends the season in seventh place without winning a single evening. Van Gerwen also does not manage to win an evening, but is in the running for a play-off place for a long time, as he often manages to win 1 or 2 matches in an evening.

The decision is made during round 15, when Van Gerwen loses to Aspinall and the Englishman then also wins the evening. This means that Van Gerwen has to win the final evening to still be able to go to the play-offs, but he loses again to ‘The Asp’. For ‘Mighty Mike’ it will be the second time in his career that he will not be participate in a play-off evening.

The final evening in London promises to be a great evening with four players who have had a good season. First of all, Luke Littler manages to reach the final, after he manages to turn a deficit against Gerwyn Price into a 10-7 victory. Luke Humphries then also books his ticket to the final: his match against Nathan Aspinall is exciting until 7-7, but ‘Cool Hand’ then wins three legs in a row for the 10-7 victory.

This means that the two same finalists as a year earlier will face each other in the final: the world number 1 against the World Champion. Last year, the World Champion Humphries lost the final and this time, it is the world champion who loses again: Humphries and Littler make it a beautiful final, in which it is ultimately Humphries who wins 11-8. As a result, he wins the Premier League Darts for the first time in his career and joins a small group of players who have managed to win the ‘Triple’: the World Championship, the World Matchplay and the Premier League.

Four nine-darters were thrown during this Premier League: Luke Humphries and Rob Cross throw the perfect leg in Brighton, Luke Littler does this in Cardiff and Gerwyn Price scores the nine-darter during the evening in Manchester.