Two Players Have Withdrawn from Previous Editions of Premier League Darts due to Medical Issues
The 2026 Premier League Darts campaign gets underway next month and organisers will be hoping everything goes smoothly, after several previous instances of players pulling out of the competition at late notice.
After 2025 Premier League Darts runner-up Luke Littler claimed a second successive PDC World Darts Championship with a 7-1 win over the Netherlands’ Gian van Veen, he and seven other players will now turn their attention to the upcoming Premier League.
The 16-week competition will feature the 2025 Premier League champion, Luke Humphries, Littler, Van Veen, and Michael van Gerwen due to them being the top four players in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) world rankings.
While the PDC also decided upon the four other competitors, with Jonny Clayton, Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, and Josh Rock confirmed as wildcards.
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The format involves each league night being made up of quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final over 11 legs, followed by a finale in London on May 28, with the top four point scorers reaching the showpiece event at the O2 Arena.
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Matches will take place each Thursday from February 5 to May 28 and will be played across Europe.
The series gets underway in Newcastle and will also feature events in Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The total prize amounts to £1.25 million, with the winner set to pocket £350,000 while the runner-up will receive £170,000.
All eight players will be hoping they can make the event, but this has not always been the case, as back in 2021, then-world champion Price was forced to pull out of the Premier League after testing positive for Covid-19 before being replaced by James Wade on the eve of the tournament.
Speaking at the time, the ‘Ice Man’, who was then rated as world number one, admitted that he was “upset” at being denied the opportunity to compete and felt “stripped” of the chance to add to his 2020/21 PDC World Darts Championship crown.
The Welshman has never won the tournament, although he did reach the 2023 final before losing to Van Gerwen.
Meanwhile, 2011 and 2015 champion Gary Anderson has also been forced to withdraw from the competition due to medical issues on two separate occasions.
In 2016, he was ruled out of the opening night of the competition after he was diagnosed with “displaying symptoms of having a viral upper respiratory tract infection”.
Then, three years later, in 2019, the Scot withdrew from the Premier League again due to a back injury.
Anderson will not take part in the 2026 edition of the tournament despite recently reaching the semi-final of the World Darts Championship.
He confirmed during his run to the last four that he wouldn't compete in this year's Premier League, partly due to the intense travel demands of the 16-week competition.
"No, no I'm quite happy, I need to concentrate on my rankings," said Anderson.
"If I done the Premier League, Europeans gone, Players Championship gone. I couldn't give a monkeys. I can't do it, it's been great the years I've done it."
The 2026 Premier League Darts will take place from Thursday, February 5 to Thursday, May 28. You can purchase hospitality tickets on Seat Unique or watch live on Sky Sports via NOW TV.
Topics: Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Darts
Luke Davies