World champion Luke Littler headlines the line-up for the 2025 Premier League Darts, with Stephen Bunting returning to the eight-player elite match after a 10-year absence.
Littler, 17, grew to become the youngest ever PDC World Championship winner on Friday when he beat Michael van Gerwen within the ultimate at Alexandra Palace.
The Warrington teenager is the defending Premier League champion, having crushed Luke Humphries within the ultimate final Might when he produced a memorable nine-dart end.
Former world champion Humphries makes his second look within the match, having lifted the World Cup, World Matchplay and Gamers Championship titles in 2024.
Bunting has been rewarded for his latest resurgence after being chosen as one among 4 wildcard entries for the match.
The 39-year-old reached the semi-finals of the World Championship, dropping to Littler, and at quantity 5 on the earth is the highest-ranked participant outdoors of the highest 4 automated qualifiers.
Bunting final took half within the 2015 Premier League season and took part as one of many challenger gamers in 2020.
Gerwyn Value, Nathan Aspinall and Chris Dobey are the opposite wildcard alternatives alongside the 2 different automated picks in Rob Cross and Van Gerwen, who’s looking for his eighth Premier League crown.
World quantity six Dave Chisnall and former world champions Peter Wright and Michael Smith took half within the 2024 version however miss out this time round.
PDC chief government Matt Porter informed Sky Sports activities: “Clearly with Value, Dobey and Aspinall, there are gamers above them within the rankings who have not been chosen.
“However we’ve got checked out it when it comes to big-stage presence, reputation, and the way in which they will get a ten,000-person crowd each Thursday going.
“We would like folks on the sting of their seats. We would like folks up and having fun with their darts. That is not to say different gamers cannot do this. You must make selections on who is correct on the time.”
The Premier League takes place at venues throughout the UK and Europe and begins on 6 February in Belfast.
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, 2025-01-06 17:59:00
