"Mike De Decker has won one tournament, but you have to do more than that" - CEO Matt Porter stands firm on Premier League Darts selection

Last week in Belfast, the media day took place prior to the start of the 2025 Premier League Darts season. There, PDC CEO Matt Porter was asked some thorny questions about the selection of this year's lineup.

When the field of participants for the Premier League Darts 2025 was announced, eyebrows were raised, especially in Belgium, by the absence of Dimitri Van den Bergh and Mike De Decker, winners of the UK Open and the World Grand Prix respectively, who were not included in the selection. "Dimitri is an unlucky guy. And ultimately the Order of Merit didn't play in his favour, he was only 18th. If someone wants to play in the Premier League that low on the ranking, they must have done something exceptional," Porter told HLN.

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"Dimitri showed great things at the beginning of the year, but dropped off a bit afterwards. I had a positive conversation with him after his non-selection. Dimitri's attitude is always spot on. He is a true professional, and he wants to be part of this group again soon. I have no doubt that will succeed," Porter adds. "And Mike? Look, he's won one event - there have been several like that in recent years. But you have to do more than that. You have to prove that you deserve your place among the absolute elite, by being among the top players for longer. Getting someone to the Premier League too early can be bad for a career. We've seen that in the past."

Dimitri Van den Bergh was not invited to the Premier League Darts this year

"The Premier League can be a very tough place when things get bad for a while," Porter continued. "Seventeen weeks, a mass of people.... We care about our players, so it's our duty to see that they're ready for that. Luke Humphries is a prime example. He was ranked fifth in the world, and yet we didn't select him two years ago. Look now. Mike will prove that one day he is ready for the Premier League. But this came too soon."

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The field of participants in this year's Premier League Darts consists of six English, one Welshman and one Dutchman. Not exactly an international field of participants. "Absolutely," agrees Porter. "We want to promote darts, on a European and global level. That balance has to be better. And we realized that. And of course it plays its part. But it shouldn't be the deciding factor in our selection. You're never going to find eight or even 10 players that everyone agrees on. Some years it's easier than others, but this time it was extremely difficult. Some of the top players dropped out here and there."

With the busy darts calendar and the fact that the top players are playing against each other more and more, it does seem like the rivalry between them has disappeared a bit. "True," Porter says. "Back then there was Taylor-Van Barneveld. The match. They played each other two or three times a year back then. But then there were a lot fewer tournaments than now. Different times. In the Premier League and on floor tournaments, the top players can easily meet seven times, for example."

"Look at Nathan Aspinall and Danny Noppert, they pretty much played each other weekly by their ranking," he laughs. "That's a logical consequence of how the sport has evolved. As a fan, you want to see the top players play against each other. So our job is to take into account both people who go to watch once, and those who religiously follow every tournament."

There is a sense that the top sixteen are being protected harder than in the past. "But also more rewarded," Porter said. "If you're in that top sixteen, you deserve some reward for that. It motivates players just outside that top sixteen to work even harder. And again: fans who go to a tournament go with high expectations and want to see the best players at work."

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