It was eagerly awaited which eight darts stars would be invited to the Premier League 2026. On Monday the PDC announced the official line-up for the elite league.
On Monday afternoon, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) announced the field of participants for the 2026 Premier League. Almost as expected, the announcement also caused a lot of discussion.
While the nomination of the best four players in the official darts world rankings “Order of Merit” in the person of Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen was already certain, attention was primarily focused on the awarding of the four wildcards.
There is a Premier League debutant in Josh Rock, and Gerwyn Price also received another invitation from the PDC. The “Iceman” is the weakest placed participant at twelfth in the world rankings, but has proven his class in the Premier League again and again.
Gian van Veen is also taking part in the prestigious competition for the first time. The Dutchman was crowned European champion in 2025 and also reached the World Cup final, where he had no chance against Luke Littler last weekend.
Premier League starts on February 5th in Newcastle
As number five in the world, Jonny Clayton has earned the invitation from a sporting perspective. The Welshman wasn’t at his absolute best recently, but was at least able to show consistent results.
Also taking part is the newly crowned “People’s Champion” Stephen Bunting. “The Bullet”‘s previous record in the Premier League is quite roomy, but he stabilized his performance significantly, especially in the summer of 2025.
Gary Anderson, Ryan Searle, Danny Noppert and James Wade were not taken into account. Darts fans are also looking in vain for a German player in the field of participants for the Premier League 2026, which will begin on February 5th in Newcastle.