Darts sensation Luke Littler set to dazzle Glasgow fans but non Scottish players line up for 2025 Premier League
The eight-player line-up has been confirmed and there have been four wildcard slots dished out by PDC organisers
Teenage sensation and newly-crowned World championship winner Luke Littler will make his second appearance in the BetMGM Premier League after being selected as part of darts’ biggest roadshow - but there is NO Scottish representation in the 2025 line-up.
17-year-old darting phenomenon Littler has taken the sporting world by storm in the last 18 months and he created more history at the weekend by becoming the youngest ever world champion in a 7-3 demolition of Michael van Gerwen on the Alexandra Palace stage in London.
The ‘Nuke’ will aim to defend his Premier League title, but faces stiff competition from the likes of current world No.1 Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Rob Cross, who had automatically-qualified for the top four on the PDC Order of Merit.
Stephen Bunting will make his first appearance in the competition in a decade after he was named as one of four wildcard picks along with Gerwyn Price, Nathan Aspinall and Chris Dobey to complete the eight-player field for this year’s competition, which gets under way in Belfast on February 6.
Bunting is the highest-ranked player outside of the automatic picks at world No.5, with an impressive year on the circuit seeing 'The 'Bullet' charge to the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship and also finish runner-up on the 2024 PDC Players Championship series Order of Merit.
Among the big names to miss out on selection were 2023 world champion Michael Smith, world No.6 Dave Chisnall, and world No 7 and 2021 Premier League champion Jonny Clayton. Belgian star Mike De Decker became the first World Grand Prix champion to miss out on a spot the year after lifting that title.
There’s no place either for former world champions and Scottish duo Gary Anderson and Peter Wright, with the former sitting the latest edition out for the first time since 2013.
Commenting on the 2025 line-up, PDC chief executive Matt Porter told Sky Sports. “Obviously with Price, Dobey and Aspinall, there are players above them in the rankings who haven't been selected but we have looked at it in terms of big stage presence, popularity, and the way they can get a 10,000-person crowd every Thursday going.
“We want people on the edge of their seats. We want people up and enjoying their darts. That isn't to say other players can't do that. You have to make decisions on who is right at the time.”
Matches will take place every Thursday night between February - May as part of an unchanged format and are played in 17 different venues around the UK, Ireland and Europe - with stop offs in Germany and the Netherlands.
Since 2022, the format has carried a knockout bracket at each event, with each of the eight players facing each other once in the opening round across week 1-7 and then again in weeks 9-15, while the week 8 and 16 draws are based on overall league standings.
After week 16, the top four in the table advance to contest the semi-finals and the final at The O2 Arena in London. First plays fourth and second plays third in the best-of-19-leg semi-finals before a best-of-21-leg final.
2025 Premier League player profiles:
Luke Humphries (England)
- Nickname: ‘Cool Hand Luke’
- PDC Order of Merit: 1st
- Last year: Runner-up (2024)
- PL Best: Runner-up (2024)
- Walk-on Song: 'I Predict a Riot' by the Kaiser Chiefs
Luke Littler (England)
- Nickname: ‘The Nuke’
- PDC Order of Merit: 2nd
- Last year: Winner
- PL Best: Winner (2024)
- Walk on Song: 'Greenlight' by Pitbull featuring Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis
Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
- Nickname: ‘MVG’ / ‘Mighty Mike’
- PDC Order of Merit: 3rd
- Last year: Semi-finals
- PL Best: Winner (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023)
- Walk on Song: 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes
Rob Cross (England)
- Nickname: ‘Voltage’
- PDC Order of Merit: 4th
- Last year: 6th
- PL Best: Runner-up (2019)
- Walk on Song: 'Hot Hot Hot' by Arrow
Stephen Bunting (England)
- Nickname: ‘The Bullet’
- PDC Order of Merit: 5th
- Last year: DNP
- PL Best: 8th (2015)
- Walk on Song: 'Titanium' by David Guetta
Gerwyn Price (Wales)
- Nickname: ‘The Iceman’
- PDC Order of Merit: 9th
- Last year: 7th
- PL Best: Runner-up (2023)
- Walk on Song: 'Ice Ice Baby' by Vanilla Ice
Chris Dobey (England)
- Nickname: ‘Hollywood’
- PDC Order of Merit: 10th
- Last year: DNP
- PL Best: 7th (2023)
- Walk on Song: 'Let's Get Ready to Rumble' - PJ & Duncan
Nathan Aspinall (England)
- Nickname: ‘The Asp’
- PDC Order of Merit: 11th
- Last year: 5th
- PL Best: Runner-up (2020)
- Walk on Song: 'Mr Brightside' by The Killers
What are the key dates?
- Night 1 - The SSE Arena, Belfast - Thursday February 6
- Night 2 - OVO Hydro, GLASGOW - Thursday February 13
- Night 3 - 3Arena, Dublin - Thursday February 20
- Night 4 - Westpoint Exeter - Thursday February 27
- Night 5 - The Brighton Centre - Thursday March 6
- Night 6 - Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham - Thursday March 13
- Night 7 - Utilita Arena, Cardiff - Thursday March 20
- Night 8 - Utilita Arena, Newcastle - Thursday March 27
- Night 9 - Uber Arena, Berlin - Thursday April 3
- Night 10 - AO Arena, Manchester - Thursday April 10
- Night 11 - Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam - Thursday April 17
- Night 12 - M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool - Thursday April 24
- Night 13 - Utilita Arena, Birmingham, Thursday May 1
- Night 14 - First Direct Arena, Leeds - Thursday May 8
- Night 15 - P&J Live, Aberdeen - Thursday May 15
- Night 16 - Utilita Arena, Sheffield - Thursday May 22
- Play-Offs - The O2, London - Thursday May 29
Where can I tune in to watch all the action?
You can watch all the Premier League action live on Sky Sports. Punters can stream Sky Sports Darts through NOW TV.