The PDC have announced the full line-up for the 2025 Premier League darts as Luke Littler looks to defend his crowd.
After reaching the 2023 World Darts Championship final and claiming a £200,000 prize, Littler was rewarded with a debut in the Premier League and the chance to mix it up with the big boys.
Littler grabbed the opportunity with both hands, going all the way in the competition and beating world number one Luke Humphries 11-7 in a stunning final where he hit a nine-darter.
The 17-year-old sensation has since followed that up with victory in the World Championship, where he beat Michael van Gerwen in the final to collect the iconic Sid Waddell trophy and net £500,000.
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'The Nuke' will be hoping to continue his incredible run and he automatically qualified for the tournament alongside Humphries, van Gerwen and Rob Cross as they are in the top four in the PDC Order of Merit.
That left a further four spots open for the eight-player tournament, with some tricky decisions for the PDC to make given the story andard of players.
Beforehand, PDC chief executive Matthew Porter had promised an "interesting announcement" and said that the promotion's decision was "not going to please everybody".
After an image featuring eight silhouettes had fans guessing on who would be present, the line-up was released live on Sky Sports News on Monday afternoon.
Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall were all included after impressive runs in the World Championship, with former world champions Michael Smith and Peter Wright snubbed.
Other notable omissions include Gary Anderson, Jonny Clayton, Dave Chisnall and Damon Heta.
Line-up in full:
Luke Littler
Luke Humphries
Michael van Gerwen
Rob Cross
Stephen Bunting
Gerwyn Price
Chris Dobey
Nathan Aspinall
What is the Premier League darts format?
The Premier League will stage events in the likes of Belfast, Glasgow, Dublin, Cardiff, Newcastle, Berlin and Manchester before concluding the action on May 29 in London for Finals Night, featuring the top four players in the league standings after 16 weeks.
Games take place every Thursday night from February right through to the end of May, with an eight-person knockout bracket taking place. Players will play each other once in weeks 1 to 7 and then again in weeks 9 to 15.
Each nightly winner gets five points, with the runner up collecting three and the losing semi-finalists gaining two.
Though the prize pot has not been confirmed, the PDC website does say that players will compete for £1 million.
Last year Littler received £275,000 in prize money for winning in his first Premier League appearance.
Topics: Darts, World Darts Championship
Josh Lawless