ANALYSIS | Premier League Darts 2026: Who are the leading contenders for an invitation?

From February 2026, the new Premier League Darts season gets underway. For sixteen weeks, the world’s best players contest mini-tournaments in major arenas to collect points for the league table. At the end of the road, the top four advance to the Play-Offs.

Since 2022, the current Premier League Darts format has been in use. Eight players play out a mini-tournament on each regular night, with the weekly winner receiving a £10,000 bonus.

The PDC has not yet officially confirmed that this format will continue in 2026, but the prize fund breakdown had already been released by the organization. That breakdown features eight players plus the weekly bonus for the winner of a night.

Assuming eight players are invited, Dartsnews.com lists the leading contenders for a call-up. We start with the players who, in our view, are already nailed on.

We can keep this short. The 2024 Premier League champion and the 2025 runner-up. He won almost all ranking majors in 2025 and is the new face of darts. Luke Littler is one hundred percent certain to be part of the 2026 Premier League Darts line-up.

Another lock for the line-up is Luke Humphries. The Englishman came up short against Luke Littler in the 2024 final, but took revenge in 2025 by beating his great rival. In recent years, Humphries has really been the only player who could live with Littler over longer formats, and on a few occasions even toppled him. The defending champion can look forward with confidence to a third appearance in the travelling darts roadshow.

From a sporting perspective, it might be better if Michael van Gerwen skipped the Premier League for a year, but the 36-year-old Dutchman has already indicated that this is not possible contractually. Van Gerwen also has to consider sponsors and agreements made with the PDC. In terms of status, “Mighty Mike” naturally belongs in the best darts competition in the world. In the past, leeway was also shown to players such as Gary Anderson, Raymond van Barneveld, and Peter Wright, who received Premier League invitations despite a disappointing season.

That’s it for the certainties. In our view, that’s three of the eight players. Now we move on to those who are all but guaranteed an invite as a reward for their strong 2025 campaigns.

It has been a while since we had two Dutchmen in the Premier League, but it would be a major injustice if Gian van Veen doesn’t get an invitation for the 2026 edition. The 23-year-old Dutchman is one of the rising young stars at the PDC and has shown he isn’t afraid to beat the big boys. In 2025, “GVV The Giant” won all four of his meetings with Luke Humphries, including the most important one in the European Championship final in October. In addition, Van Veen now also holds an edge over a large part of his rivals by going deep at the World Darts Championship, the tournament that generally carries heavy weight in the decision to invite players to the Premier League Darts.

Jonny Clayton would also feel robbed if he misses out on an invite. A year ago, Clayton was actually in a similar position, but to his great surprise “The Ferret” wasn’t picked then. The 51-year-old Welshman sits firmly near the top of the PDC Order of Merit and delivered at the majors in 2025. He lost the finals of the World Masters and the World Cup of Darts, and reached the last four at the UK Open, World Matchplay, and World Grand Prix. Clayton had a brief dip in the second part of the autumn, but stood tall again at the World Darts Championship. In the past, Clayton has also more than proven he can handle the Premier League Darts format. From 2021 through 2023, he played three seasons in a row and made the Play-Offs each time. In 2021, Clayton even ended Finals Night with the trophy in his hands.

What is a Premier League Darts without Gerwyn Price? The former rugby player long had a love-hate relationship with the crowd, but the passionate Welshman has since become one of the fans’ favorites. He is a player who stirs emotion, and that is exactly what the Premier League Darts needs. Looking at the 2025 season, Price was also simply one of the best performers. “The Iceman” almost always reached the quarterfinals at the majors, and with four titles he was also the most successful player on the floor events. Price endured a disappointing World Championship, exiting in the second round to Wesley Plaisier, but that should normally have no consequences for his participation in this elite tournament.

With the three certainties and the three players who can consider themselves virtually safe, we’re already at six of the eight Premier League Darts spots. From here it gets much harder to fill the remaining places. Several players will feel they deserve an invitation, but in the end there’s room for only two more. These are the borderline cases and the other outsiders.

For most of the year Stephen Bunting sat inside the world’s top four, a position that ultimately guarantees a Premier League Darts berth. But after a very poor autumn and a disappointing World Championship, “The Bullet” slipped out of the top four on the PDC Order of Merit, putting his Premier League Darts 2026 participation in doubt. Bunting’s popularity with fans helps his case, but judged on his 2025 results there are plenty of players who have a stronger claim to a wildcard.

The Premier League Darts needs a yearly shake-up with new or returning names so fans aren’t watching the same faces every season. A strong contender for a Premier League debut is Josh Rock, although he complicated matters for the PDC by losing to Justin Hood in the last 16 of the World Championship. In June he won the World Cup of Darts for Northern Ireland alongside Daryl Gurney, and he impressed with solid showings at the World Matchplay and on the Euro Tour. He’s also a crowd-pleasing player who regularly posts big scores and averages.

Winning the UK Open in 2022 wasn’t enough for Danny Noppert to make the Premier League Darts the following year. And this year “The Freeze” is again on the fence. The Joure thrower had an excellent 2025 with semi-finals at the World Masters, World Cup of Darts, World Grand Prix, European Championship, and Grand Slam of Darts. A strong World Championship could have further strengthened his case, but Noppert lost after a sensational match in the second round to Justin Hood. On sporting merit there’s little reason to leave Noppert out of the Premier League, yet there are drawbacks for the former major winner. Commercially, Noppert isn’t the most attractive option for the PDC, although it should be noted he noticeably improved his stage presence in the autumn. It also counts against him that with Michael van Gerwen and likely Gian van Veen, there may already be two Dutchmen in the line-up.

Midway through the year James Wade was in a great position for a Premier League spot after reaching the finals of the UK Open and World Matchplay. He ultimately fell short in both finals against Luke Littler. In the autumn “The Machine” was less prominent, with quarterfinals at the European Championship and Players Championship Finals his standout results. Wade also lost in the second round of the World Championship for the fourth year running. Commercially he isn’t the most useful player for the PDC either, and Wade’s unpredictable nature doesn’t help his case.

The PDC would love to have Gary Anderson involved, especially with Peter Wright out and the Premier League Darts visiting two Scottish cities each year. Despite being 55, Anderson continues to prove he belongs among the absolute elite, but the two-time world champion has repeatedly stated he doesn’t want to spend weeks on the road for a tournament that doesn’t count toward the world rankings. No doubt there will be an attempt to persuade him, but there’s a very real chance the PDC will be told no. The organization will hope Anderson doesn’t win the world title, because it would be a nightmare for the PDC if the reigning world champion isn’t part of the prestigious league.

Last year there was heavy criticism of the decision to invite Nathan Aspinall to the Premier League Darts, but “The Asp” more than justified his spot. He won two nightly titles and reached the O2 Arena play-offs in London, knocking out Michael van Gerwen along the way. He’s also climbed back up the rankings with three Euro Tour titles and a runners-up finish at the 2025 Players Championship Finals. Aspinall’s advantage is that—helped by his popular walk-on “Mr Brightside” and relentless competitive mentality—he’s one of the fans’ favorites. The downside is that he sits only 14th in the world rankings and exited the World Championship in the last 32.

The World Championship can make or break a season for some players. Ryan Searle certainly didn’t have a bad year, but it also wasn’t stacked with highlights for “Heavy Metal.” The finale has been fantastic for Searle, though, as he reached the World Championship quarterfinals for the first time in his career. A semi-final would push Searle firmly into the world’s top 10, making him an automatic Premier League option. It feels like only a final appearance would make him a realistic wildcard. With his rapid pace and frequent 180s, Searle is definitely not a dull choice.

A grey man in the Premier League line-up would be Krzysztof Ratajski. The stoic Pole is a player who prefers to keep his emotions in check, although at the World Darts Championship we did notably see a few roars from “The Polish Eagle.” The Warsaw thrower was long feared on the floor and has already won eleven PDC ranking titles in his career. He endured a disappointing 2024 and was sliding down the world rankings, but gradually began to rediscover his top form in 2025. He also picked up another Players Championship title and won one or more matches at several majors. Ratajski recently revealed that his dip in form in 2023 and 2024 was linked to an aneurysm in his head. Ratajski is now free of that, which led to a fine quarterfinal run at the World Darts Championship. He started the Worlds as the world number 37, but with a world title the PDC surely couldn’t ignore the Pole.

Alexandra Palace is where new stars are born, and Justin Hood is the standout of this World Darts Championship. Hood held his own nicely in his first year on the PDC Tour, but no one would have expected “Happy Feet” to seize such a leading role at the year’s biggest tournament. Hood takes to the stage with such a smile that it feels like a darts fan who gets to face his idol on the Ally Pally stage. Meanwhile, Hood is knocking out one established name after another. He defeated Nick Kenny (3-0), Danny Noppert (3-2), Ryan Meikle (4-1) and Josh Rock (4-0) in succession, and has already thrown two averages over a hundred. Against Rock he delivered a finishing masterclass by hitting his first eleven darts at a double, driving “Rocky” to despair. The diminutive Englishman is far more entertaining than Ratajski, but realistically would only come into contention for an invitation with a world title.