There was already a lot of commotion before even one dart was thrown, but tomorrow night the Premier League Darts will really start. Up to and including May 25, eight darts players compete against each other every Thursday evening. Will Michael van Gerwen extend his title or will he be succeeded by another Premier League champion this year?
The start of the Premier League, tomorrow evening in Belfast, is immediately provided with a nice poster: the replay of the World Cup final between Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen. A poster that, moreover, should try to divert attention somewhat from all the criticism that there was prior to the Premier League. Van Gerwen and Smith, together with Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price, as numbers one to four in the world, were already assured of participation in the annual tournament, but the remaining four tickets are invariably handed out by the PDC itself.
Premier League Darts winners:
6 times: Michael van Gerwen/Phil Taylor
2 times: Gary Anderson
1 time: James Wade, Raymond van Barneveld, Glen Durrant, Jonny Clayton
The choice fell on Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jonny Clayton. And not, for example, Luke Humphries (number five in the world) and Danny Noppert (number eight in the world and UK Open winner). Joe Cullen, who narrowly lost to Van Gerwen in the Premier League final last year, is also not present. ,,A kick in the balls,’ is how the number twelve in the world called that fact. Humphries also made himself heard: ,,The only thing I can say is that I am proud of my results, even if they are apparently not good enough.”
Darts calendar 2023
View the complete darts calendar for this year here.
Players
These are the eight players who do participate in the Premier League:
Michael Smith
Nickname: Bully Boy
Age: 32 years
Nationality: English
World ranking position: 1
Result last World Cup: winner
Earnings in the past 2 years: 1,413,267 euros
Current major titles: World Cup
Peter Wright
Nickname: Snakebite
Age: 52 years
Nationality: Scottish
World ranking position: 2
Result last World Cup: 3rd round
Earnings in the past 2 years: 1,300,751 euros
Current major titles: none
Michael van Gerwen
Nickname: Mighty Mike
Age: 33 years
Nationality: Dutch
World ranking position: 3
Result last World Cup: 2nd
Earnings in the past 2 years: 1,194,202 euros
Current major titles: Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals
Gerwyn Price
Nickname: The Iceman
Age: 37 years
Nationality: Welsh
World ranking position: 4
Result last World Cup: quarterfinals
Earnings in the past 2 years: 825,969 euros
Current major titles: none
Johnny Clayton
Nickname: The Ferret
Age: 48 years
Nationality: Welsh
World ranking position: 7th
Result last World Cup: quarterfinals
Earnings in the past 2 years: 548,657 euros
Current major titles: none
Nathan Aspinall
Nickname: The Asp
Age: 31 years
Nationality: English
World ranking position: 9th
Result last World Cup: third round
Earnings in the past 2 years: 501,775 euros
Current major titles: none
Dimitri Van den Bergh
Nickname: Dancing Dimi
Age: 28 years
Nationality: Belgian
World ranking position: 11th
Result last World Cup: semi-final
Earnings in the past 2 years: 467,964 euros
Current major titles: none
Chris Dobey
Nickname: Hollywood
Age: 32 years
Nationality: English
World ranking position: 21st
Result last World Cup: quarterfinals
Earnings in the past 2 years: 311,408 euros
Current major titles: The Masters
Format
There are no changes to the format of the Premier League Darts compared to last year. Every Thursday evening, the eight players compete in a knockout system (best of 11) for the day victory. The PDC has predetermined which players will face each other on which night (see schedule below). So the evenings start with four quarterfinals. The winners of those quarter-finals will play each other in the semi-finals and the winners of the semi-finals will play for the evening win (and £10,000) in the final.
Will you be eliminated directly in the quarterfinals? Then you get zero points. Will you win in the quarterfinals, but lose in the semifinals? Then you get two points. Did you only lose in the final? Then you get three points. The winner of the evening earns five points for the ranking.
The four darts players with the most points after sixteen rounds compete against each other in the play-offs. The number one then plays in the semi-final (best of 19) against the number four and the number two against the number three. The winners of the semi-finals play in the final (best of 21) for the overall victory of the Premier League.
Prize money
The darts player who crowns himself the winner of the Premier League on May 25 also wins £275,000. The losing finalist will receive £125,000 and the two semi-finalists £85,000. There is also prize money for the four darts players who do not make the play-offs: 75 thousand pounds (number 5), 70 thousand pounds (number 6), 65 thousand pounds (number 7) and 60 thousand pounds (number 8). There is also 10,000 euros available for the winner of the day every Thursday evening.
Schedule
The game schedule is (almost) completely known. Only Round 8 and Round 16 are not yet fixed. It depends on the position at that time which darts players are facing each other in those rounds. The four darters who are first, second, third and fourth after Thursday 18 May will compete against each other on Thursday 25 May during the play-offs in London.
Round 1: The SSE Arena, Belfast (Thursday 1 February)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Jonny Clayton
Michael Smith v Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright v Chris Dobey
Nathan Aspinall v Gerwyn Price
Round 2: Cardiff International Arena (Thursday 9 February)
Michael Smith v Jonny Clayton
Nathan Aspinall v Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price v Chris Dobey
Michael van Gerwen v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Round 3 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (Thursday 16 February)
Nathan Aspinall v Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Gerwyn Price v Michael Smith
Jonny Clayton v Chris Dobey
Round 4 – 3Arena, Dublin (Thursday 23 February)
Michael Smith v Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Jonny Clayton v Nathan Aspinall
Chris Dobey v Michael van Gerwen
Round 5 – Westpoint Exeter (Thursday 2 March)
Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price
Nathan Aspinall v Michael Smith
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chris Dobey
Jonny Clayton v Peter Wright
Round 6 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool (Thursday 9 March)
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton
Chris Dobey v Nathan Aspinall
Michael Smith v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Round 7 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham (Thursday 16th March)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton v Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright v Michael van Gerwen
Chris Dobey v Michael Smith
Round 8 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle (Thursday 23 March)
Schedule depends on Premier League standings after Round 7.
Round 9 – Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin (Thursday, March 30)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Michael Smith
Nathan Aspinall v Chris Dobey
Jonny Clayton v Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price
Round 10 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham (Thursday 6 April)
Michael van Gerwen v Chris Dobey
Nathan Aspinall v Jonny Clayton
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright v Michael Smith
Round 11 – The Brighton Center (Thursday 13 April)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Michael van Gerwen
Chris Dobey v Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright v Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton v Michael Smith
Round 12 – Rotterdam Ahoy (Thursday 20 April)
Chris Dobey v Jonny Clayton
Michael Smith v Gerwyn Price
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall
Round 13 – First Direct Arena, Leeds (Thursday 27 April)
Michael Smith v Chris Dobey
Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price v Jonny Clayton
Nathan Aspinall v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Round 14 – AO Arena, Manchester (Thursday 4 May)
Peter Wright v Jonny Clayton
Chris Dobey v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Michael Smith v Nathan Aspinall
Gerwyn Price v Michael van Gerwen
Round 15 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield (Thursday 11 May)
Gerwyn Price v Nathan Aspinall
Chris Dobey v Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith
Jonny Clayton v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Round 16 – P&J Live, Aberdeen (Thursday, May 18)
Schedule depends on Premier League standings after Round 15.
Play-Offs – The O2, London (Thursday, May 25)
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