We are just over a month away from the opening night of this year's Premier League Darts campaign, but one in-form player has questioned whether his "face fits" for the competition.
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2025 World Darts Championship, a total of eight players will be chosen for the upcoming Premier League Darts season, which will begin in Newcastle on February 5 and end at the O2 Arena in London on May 28.
The first four players will qualify based on performance, with the four highest-ranked players on the Professional Darts Corporation's Order of Merit automatically selected, and the remaining four spots will be invitations from the PDC.
Last year, for example, the top four from the PDC Order of Merit – Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Rob Cross – automatically qualified, while the remaining four players – Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall – were selected later on.
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The four wildcards are often awarded to the most in-form players at the start of the year.
Ahead of this month's Premier League line-up announcement, crowd favourite Ryan Searle has certainly given himself a chance after reaching the World Darts Championship semi-final with a 5-2 victory over Jonny Clayton.
"Heavy Metal", who is now ranked number 7 in the PDC rankings, was asked about a potential spot in the Premier League during his post-match press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The 38-year-old was keen on taking part but raised doubts as to whether he would get picked.
"I've kind of said privately that the Premier League is something that I would like to do once, just to say that I've done it. Whether this is the year, I don’t know," Searle began.
"If you look at Chris Dobey last year, he kind of had a similar path to me, where previous majors he didn't do a huge amount and then got to the Worlds and made a semi and they put him in."
He added: "I'm not sure whether my face fits for that but, you know, we'll see what happens."
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A reporter soon asked: "You said that you didn't feel like your face fits for the Premier League and that Chris Dobey was in last year for reaching the same stage. Why does Ryan Searle's face not fit?"
Searle responded: "Well, look at me. It's as simple as that. So we'll leave that there. Obviously, if they ask me I'd say yes. I'll snap their arm off for it but if not, we'll carry on going."
Ryan Searle opens up on eye condition after win over Jonny Clayton
Searle has Dominant Optic Atrophy (DOA), a rare, inherited genetic eye condition that causes progressive blurred vision and poor depth perception.
Speaking to the media after his victory over Clayton, the Devon-born thrower opened up on the condition.
"I'm trying to raise money for the Cure ADOA Foundation. It's something that means a lot to me. I have it, it's a hereditary condition, so I've passed it to both of my children," he said.
"My daughter is registered as visually impaired, her vision is really bad. She's registered as visually impaired. I don't think she'll ever drive when she's older, so if I can raise a lot of awareness for that and find a cure for it, that means a lot to me."
Searle will face the winner of the clash between Luke Littler and Krzysztof Ratajski.
Topics: Darts, World Darts Championship
Jack Kenmare