Reigning Premier League Darts champion Luke Littler has qualified for the 2025 edition through the PDC Order of Merit and now the full line-up has been confirmed
Luke Littler will have a chance to follow up his World Darts Championship success by defending his Premier League title, but big names Michael Smith and Peter Wright won’t be involved.
Littler, 17, beat Luke Humphries in the 2024 Premier League final. The teenager, who was beaten to the world title by Humphries in January 2024, then returned to Ally Pally to claim a stunning victory over Michael van Gerwen in the 2025 showpiece.
Humphries and Van Gerwen will join Littler in the 2025 edition of the Premier League, thanks to their PDC Order of Merit rankings. They will be joined by Rob Cross, who sits fourth on the list at the time of the announcement.
Littler and Cross were chosen as wildcards for last year’s competition, and this year those slots have gone to losing World Championship semi-finalists Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey, along with Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price. This means former world champions Smith and Wright, both of whom took part in 2024, will miss out on a shot at the million pound prize fund.
The Premier League format sees players take part in 16 weekly tournaments, earning points and prize money along the way. The first of these is scheduled for Belfast on February 6, with the remaining weeks spread across the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands.
Those with the most points after 16 weeks will progress to the play-offs, which take place at the end of May in London. Weekly winners will take home £10,000, but the big money is on the line at the play-off stage, with last year’s winner Littler bagging a huge £275,000 payday.
Littler finished top of the points standings in 2024, with Humphries second. The two Lukes beat Smith and Van Gerwen respectively in their semi-finals before Littler claimed the title with an average of 105.60 in the final.
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Littler’s inclusion emphasises just how far he has come in the last 13 months. There was some debate over his wildcard for the 2024 edition, and the youngster’s own stance was telling in its own right.
“As soon as I came off the stage [after the World Championship final], did the media and saw the family, my manager pulled me aside and said, ‘Do you want to do it? ‘ I said, ‘Let’s do it, it might not happen again’,” Littler said.
Littler didn’t achieve his first weekly win until the ninth round of the 2024 Premier League, but followed a victory over Aspinall in Belfast by overcoming Price in the Manchester final one week later. He added two further weekly wins, both at the expense of Cross, and also boasted a pair of runner-up finishes.
He goes into the 2025 edition safe in the knowledge he can do the business against high-ranked opponents. Last year’s runner-up Humphries, meanwhile, will be out for a big response after his early World Championship exit at the hands of Wright.
Premier League Darts 2025
- Luke Humphries
- Luke Littler
- Michael van Gerwen
- Rob Cross
- Gerwyn Price
- Stephen Bunting
- Nathan Aspinall
- Chris Dobey
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