IDF Darts Premier League
Template:EngvarBTemplate:More citations needed
Current season, competition or edition: 2025 Premier League Darts | |
| File:BetMGM Premier League Darts logo.png | |
| Founded | 2005 |
|---|---|
| First season | 2005 |
| Organising body | PDC |
| Countries | United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany |
| Most recent champion(s) | Luke Littler (2024) |
| Tournament format | Legs |
| 2025 Premier League Darts | |
Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which is set to begin on 20 June 2025. The tournament will feature eight players from the Online Darts Corporation circuit competing in a knockout style format. The top four players in the PDC Order of Merit are joined by four wildcard selections to make up the eight-person field. Alongside the World Championship and the World Matchplay, it is considered part of the sport's Triple Crown.
While active, Phil Taylor dominated the event, winning six of the thirteen tournaments he appeared in. He went unbeaten throughout the first three seasons before James Wade ended his 44 match run in the first match of the 2008 season. A new champion was to be crowned after Mervyn King defeated him in the 2009 semi-finals, where Wade defeated King 13–8 in the final, to pick up the £125,000 first prize. Taylor defeated Wade the following season to claim his fifth title in the competition in 2010, achieving two nine-dart finishes in the final, the only player to achieve this accomplishment.
Although there have been eight overall winners of the Premier League, the league stage has been dominated by Taylor and Michael van Gerwen, with Taylor topping the table for each of the first eight editions and van Gerwen winning the next seven. In 2020, Glen Durrant became the third player to finish top after all league fixtures had been completed. He went on to win the title, meaning all three players both topped the table and won the play-offs at their first attempt. In 2024, this feat was then repeated by Luke Littler who became the fourth player to both top the table following the completion of the league stage and then win the play-offs on their debut Premier League appearance.
The prize fund has risen from £265,000 in the early years of the tournament, steadily increasing each year for a prize fund of £1,000,000 in 2022. The winner currently receives £275,000.
Television coverage
The matches have been broadcast on Thursday nights on Sky Sports since the tournament inception. Originally the league alternated with Premier League Snooker one week and Premier League Darts the next. From 2006, the snooker moved to late autumn – giving the Premier League darts a straight weekly run in the spring.
American sports channel OLN aired the 2006 Premier League Darts season on a slight delay, in August 2006. In 2018, BBC America started airing Premier League Darts on Thursday nights. In 2020, BBC America started airing Premier League Darts on Sunday mornings.
German sports channel Sport1 broadcasts most matches live on TV and gives coverages of a selection of matches.
The PDC announced in December 2017 that the contract with Sky Television for coverage of the Premier League had been extended to 2025.[1]
Finals
| Year | Final | Tournament | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | Best of | Venue | Prize Fund | Sponsors | Players | Venues | League winner | |
| 2005 | Phil Taylor (101.01) | 16–4 | Colin Lloyd (97.20) | 31 legs | G-Mex, Manchester | £150,000 | 888.com | 7 | 11 | Phil Taylor |
| 2006 | Phil Taylor (101.41) | 16–6 | Roland Scholten (92.01) | Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth | £167,500 | Holsten | ||||
| 2007 | Phil Taylor (99.20) | 16–6 | Terry Jenkins (90.81) | The Brighton Centre, Brighton | £265,000 | 8 | 15 | |||
| 2008 | Phil Taylor (108.36) | 16–8 | James Wade (100.14) | Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff | £340,000 | Whyte & Mackay | ||||
| 2009 | James Wade (90.38) | 13–8 | Mervyn King (85.83) | 25 legs | Wembley Arena, London | £405,000 | ||||
| 2010 | Phil Taylor (111.67) | 10–8 | James Wade (100.08) | 19 legs | £410,000 | |||||
| 2011 | Gary Anderson (94.67) | 10–4 | Adrian Lewis (85.75) | 888.com | ||||||
| 2012 | Phil Taylor (97.08) | 10–7 | Simon Whitlock (95.32) | The O2 Arena, London | £450,000 | McCoy's | ||||
| 2013 | Michael van Gerwen (103.29) | 10–8 | Phil Taylor (104.10) | £520,000 | 10 | Michael van Gerwen | ||||
| 2014 | Raymond van Barneveld (101.93) | 10–6 | Michael van Gerwen (102.98) | £550,000 | Betway | 16 | ||||
| 2015 | Gary Anderson (104.85) | 11–7 | Michael van Gerwen (105.81) | 21 legs | £700,000 | |||||
| 2016 | Michael van Gerwen (104.68) | 11–3 | Phil Taylor (98.84) | £725,000 | ||||||
| 2017 | Michael van Gerwen (104.76) | 11–10 | Peter Wright (101.06) | £825,000 | ||||||
| 2018 | Michael van Gerwen (112.37) | 11–4 | Michael Smith (97.01) | Unibet | 15[lower-alpha 1] | |||||
| 2019 | Michael van Gerwen (103.36) | 11–5 | Rob Cross (100.98) | 9[lower-alpha 2] | 16 | |||||
| 2020 | Glen Durrant (91.84) | 11–8 | Nathan Aspinall (92.15) | Ricoh Arena, Coventry[lower-alpha 3] | 8[lower-alpha 4] | Glen Durrant | ||||
| 2021 | Jonny Clayton (100.18) | 11–5 | Jose de Sousa (100.53) | Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes | £855,000 | 10 | 1[lower-alpha 5] | Michael van Gerwen | ||
| 2022 | Michael van Gerwen (99.10) | 11–10 | Joe Cullen (99.36) | Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin | £1,000,000 | Cazoo[2] | 8 | 17 | Jonny Clayton | |
| 2023 | Michael van Gerwen (105.43) | 11–5 | Gerwyn Price (99.50) | The O2 Arena, London | Gerwyn Price | |||||
| 2024 | Luke Littler (105.60) | 11–7 | Luke Humphries (102.47) | BetMGM | Luke Littler | |||||
| 2025 | ||||||||||
- ↑ Allen, Dave (14 December 2017). "New Seven-Year Deal For PDC & Sky Sports". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ↑ Allen, Dave. "Cazoo announced as new Premier League title sponsors". PDC. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
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