Luke Littler to compete in Premier League Darts again as the new world champion fronts confirmed eight-man line-up

Luke Littler’s place in the 2025 Premier League Darts line-up has been confirmed. All eight names were announced Monday afternoon.

The 17-year-old is still living his life as a world champion thanks to his 7-3 win over Michael and Gerwen at Ally Pally on Friday evening and is enjoying some time off ahead of the Bahrain Darts Masters.

Last season, in his first year on the Pro Tour, Littler won the Premier League, with his participation confirmed just days after finishing second to Luke Humphries in the World Championship.

A total of eight players have been named, including Humphries, Van Gerwen and losing World Cup semi-finalists Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey.

The top five in the world were therefore named, as well as Gerwyn Price who is in ninth place, Chris Dobey in tenth and Nathan Aspinall in eleventh.

The competition will be played for 17 weeks from February 6, culminating in the play-offs at the O2 Arena on May 29.

The new world champion won the 2024 edition, beating Luke Humphries in the final at the O2

Michael van Gerwen (left), who defeated Littler in the world final, will also participate

Traditionally, one of the first games on the first night of the Premier League is a World Cup final replay, meaning Littler is likely to face Van Gerwen on the first night in Belfast.

The tour then heads to Glasgow and Dublin, before the first night in Exeter takes place in England at the end of February.

Brighton, Nottingham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Berlin and Manchester are played every Thursday and are also host venues for the tournament.

Another European city to host is Rotterdam in the Netherlands, while Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Aberdeen will also host the Premier League this year.

The last night before the play-offs is in Sheffield.

Since 2022, the format of the competition has changed, with a mini-tournament between eight players being played every evening.

Players will compete in the first round once in weeks one through seven and then again in weeks nine through 15, with weeks eight and 16 based on league rankings. All matches are best of 11 in legs.

The winner of the evening receives five points, the number two three points and the losing semi-finalists two points.

Humphries has secured his place in the eight-man line-up for this season as world number 1

Gerwyn Price is also included despite having a lower world ranking than some others

Among those who will be disappointed to miss out are Dave Chisnall, who is ranked sixth in the world, Damon Heta, who is ranked eighth and hits a nine-darter at Ally Pally, and Peter Wright, who is from it’s for the first time. time in 12 years.

Michael Smith, who lost in the second round at the World Cup but was previously world number 2 and won the competition in 2023, also does not get a place.

“We are really excited about this year’s line-up, which I am sure will entertain our incredible audiences across the UK and Europe,” said PDC chief executive Matt Porter.

‘The BetMGM Premier League will reach a huge live audience over the next four months, following record-breaking ticket sales for the 2025 season.

‘All eight players have a reputation on the biggest stage, and fresh from some brilliant performances at the World Darts Championship, we look forward to 17 brilliant weeks of competition.’

He added to Sky Sports: ‘We pick the top four, they have earned their right, then we look at players who have performed well over the last year, have a big stage presence, a big CV, who we think be ready to prove point or be in shape.

‘There is always someone who feels disappointed, someone who feels a little happy. But as long as people are talking about it, we’ve done our job.

The Bahrain Darts Masters starts on January 16 during a two-day event.

The Dutch Darts Masters will then take place from January 24 to 25, followed by the Winmau World Masters from January 30 to February 2. Then the Premier League starts.