2026 Premier League Darts (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2026 BetMGM Premier League)[1] is an ongoing professional darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). The 22nd edition of Premier League Darts, the event began on 5 February 2026 at the Newcastle Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne and will end with the play-offs at the O2 Arena in London on 28 May 2026. The total prize fund is £1,250,000, with the overall winner receiving £350,000 and each weekly winner receiving a £10,000 bonus.
The eight-player tournament begins with a 16-week league stage. Following the league stage, the top four players will compete in the play-offs. The 2026 edition marked the introduction of Belgium to the schedule, with a night in Antwerp being included for the first time. Gian van Veen and Josh Rock are making their Premier League debuts. Luke Humphries entered the tournament as the defending champion, having defeated Luke Littler 11–8 in the 2025 final.
Rock hit a nine-dart finish in his 6–2 loss to Van Veen on night four.
Overview
Background
2026 Premier League Darts is the 22nd edition of the tournament to be staged by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) since the inaugural event in 2005.[2] The inaugural event was played in venues across the United Kingdom and was won by Phil Taylor, who defeated Colin Lloyd 16–4 in the final.[3][4] Taylor won six of the first eight editions of the tournament, only being stopped by James Wade in 2009 and Gary Anderson in 2011.[5] The amount of participants in the event has varied over time. Originally consisting of seven players, a wildcard spot was introduced for the 2007 edition to bring the total to eight.[6][7] The number increased to ten ahead of the 2013 edition,[8] before reverting back to eight players in 2022.[9] The tournament has expanded outside of the United Kingdom, with nights held in Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland, as well as Belgium from 2026 onward.[10][4]
The 2026 Premier League is taking place from 5 February to 28 May 2026.[11] Sportsbook BetMGM continued its sponsorship of the event after becoming title sponsor in 2024.[12]Luke Humphries entered the tournament as defending champion after defeating Luke Littler 11–8 in the 2025 final to win his first Premier League title.[13][14]
Format
The 2026 Premier League uses the same format that was introduced for the 2022 edition.[15] It remains an eight-person knockout bracket every Thursday night. The players are guaranteed to meet each other once in the quarter-finals throughout the first seven weeks, and once in the quarter-finals in weeks 9–15, with weeks 8 and 16 being drawn based on the league standings at that point. Players receive two points per semi-final finish, three points per runner-up finish, and five points per final win. Following the league phase, the top four players in the table contest the two play-off semi-finals with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd, where the winners progress to the Premier League final.[16]
All matches are played in leg format, with the number of legs required to win increasing as the tournament progresses:
League stage: Best of 11 legs
Semi-finals: Best of 19 legs
Final: Best of 21 legs
Prize money
As part of the PDC's biggest prize money increase in its history, the prize fund for the 2026 Premier League is £1,250,000, up from £1,000,000 the previous year. The champion will receive £350,000 and each night's winner during the league phase will earn a £10,000 bonus.[17]
Stage
Prize money
Winner
£350,000
Runner-up
£170,000
Semi-finalists (x2)
£110,000
5th place
£95,000
6th place
£90,000
7th place
£85,000
8th place
£80,000
Weekly winner bonus (x16)
£10,000
Total
£1,250,000
Broadcasts
The tournament is being broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Other broadcasters include AMC Networks in Hungary; DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Sport1 in Germany; Eurasian Broadcasting in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan; FanDuel TV in the United States and Brazil; Peacock in the United States and Canada; Fox Sports in Australia; L'Équipe in France; Nova in the Czech Republic and Slovakia; Sky Sport in New Zealand; VTM in Belgium; Arena Sport in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo; TV3 in the Baltic states; Viaplay in the Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark and Norway; beIN Sports in the Middle East and North Africa; and Zonasport in Croatia. It is also available for subscribers outside of Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the PDC's streaming service, PDCTV.[18]
Venues
The 2026 Premier League consists of 17 nights, held in cities across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. The 2026 edition marked the introduction of Belgium to the schedule, with a night at the AFAS Dome in Antwerp replacing Westpoint Exeter in Exeter.[11]
On night one in Newcastle, reigning world champion Luke Littler faced Premier League debutant Gian van Veen in a rematch of the 2026 World Championship final. Van Veen won the match 6–4 before beating 2021 champion Jonny Clayton 6–4 in the semi-finals. He set up an all-Dutch final against Michael van Gerwen, who earned 6–2 wins over Stephen Bunting and defending champion Luke Humphries.[25] In the final, Van Gerwen defeated Van Veen 6–4 to claim his first Premier League nightly win in two years. Van Gerwen expressed his desire to qualify for the play-offs but stated they were not his "main priority", explaining that ranking tournaments were more important to him than non-ranking tournaments such as the Premier League.[26] In the Premier League's first visit to Antwerp on night two, Gerwyn Price reached the final following 6–5 victories over Van Veen and Clayton, the latter marking his 10th consecutive win against his Welsh compatriot. Price won the night by defeating Van Gerwen 6–3. "I think I'm playing some of the best stuff I've played," said Price. "If I keep playing the way I am, there's no way I can't pick up a major, pick up Pro Tours, Europeans. I just need to keep entering as much as I can and keep the form rolling."[27]
Ahead of the third week in Glasgow, the PDC announced that Van Gerwen had withdrawn from the night due to illness, leading to his scheduled opponent Littler receiving a bye to the semi-finals, as well as two points in the league table and an extra leg to his leg difference.[28][29] Clayton ended his losing streak to Price before beating Littler 6–1 and Van Veen 6–2 to win night three and move to the top of the league table.[30] On night four in Belfast, Northern Ireland's Josh Rock hit a nine-dart finish—the 22nd nine-darter in Premier League Darts history—in the seventh leg of his 6–2 loss to Van Veen. Rock received a set of 18-carat golden darts worth £30,000 for the achievement. Despite his fourth consecutive opening-match defeat, he said that hitting a nine-darter in front of his home crowd was "phenomenal". He continued: "I honestly don’t care if I never hit a nine-darter in my life again—to have it in Belfast has just made my life a dream come true." Bunting secured his first points through a 6–4 victory over Humphries and a 6–0 whitewash of Clayton, before winning the week outright with a 6–2 win against Van Veen. Moving up to fifth in the table, Bunting called it "one of the best wins of my career".[31][32]
League stage
The fixtures were released on 22 January 2026.[1][33][34] All matches during the league stage are played to the best of 11 legs. Match winners are shown in bold and all players are accompanied by their three-dart average for the match.[35]
Five points are awarded for a night win, three points for the runner-up and two points for the losing semi-finalists. When players are tied on points, nights won is used first as a tie-breaker and after that overall matches won.
The top four players after 16 nights advance to the play-offs.
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Josh Rock (NIR)
