“I thought I was playing badly. But here...” – Van Gerwen has a cheeky dig at Belgian darters in Antwerp

A milestone on Thursday night in the Premier League Darts. For the first time in the history of the travelling darts roadshow, an evening is being staged in Antwerp. The AFAS Dome, formerly known as the Sportpaleis, hosts Night 2 in the world’s premier darts competition.

It is the reward for the sport’s growing popularity in Belgium. From 2015 through 2017, the European Championship was held in Hasselt, but attendances disappointed at those tournaments.

Our southern neighbors got another chance in 2022 with a Euro Tour event. That came after the major successes of Dimitri Van den Bergh, but before Mike De Decker unexpectedly claimed the World Grand Prix in 2024. The Euro Tours in Belgium were packed to the rafters, and players were often full of praise for the typically sporting Flemish crowd.

In 2024, a second Euro Tour arrived in Belgium, and two years later the next step is taken with a Premier League night. Yet while the game’s popularity may be greater than ever, the sport is at a low ebb competitively. De Decker failed to build on his major title, and Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts are sliding down the world rankings.

That prompted Michael van Gerwen to fire a cheeky shot in the build-up to the Premier League night in Antwerp. "I thought things were going badly for me. But here..." HLN.be quotes the three-time world champion as saying.

"It’s not going so well either at the moment. A pity to see. [Mike] De Decker isn’t in his best form. Dimitri [Van den Bergh] not at all. And Kim [Huybrechts] is struggling too. Do I have an explanation for it? You’ve got that relentless schedule. Everyone has their issues. And there’s so much pressure…” Van Gerwen offered in explaining the decline of Belgian darts.

Gian van Veen, the second Dutchman in this Premier League Darts, believes a Belgian will be back at the top soon. “It will be fine, really. Darts in Belgium has exploded in recent years. It just needs a bit of time before we see another Belgian storm up the rankings. Maybe someone we don’t even know yet? I’m fully confident that it will happen.”

Night 2 of the Premier League Darts begins on Thursday evening at 6:00 PM. Luke Littler will then face Luke Humphries, while Michael van Gerwen meets Josh Rock. Jonny Clayton takes on Stephen Bunting, and Gerwyn Price does battle with Gian van Veen.