Premier League Darts

Premier League Darts is a darts tournament which launched on 20 January 2005 on Sky Sports. The league is now played weekly from February to May, having originally started as a fortnightly fixture. The tournament originally featured seven players and now sees ten of the biggest names from the PDC circuit competing in a double round-robin format, with matches held across Europe at different venues. The top four players in the PDC Order of Merit are joined by six wildcard selections to make up the ten-man field. The current sponsor is Unibet.

For the current tournament, see 2020 Premier League Darts.

Premier League
Tournament information
VenueVarious
LocationVarious
CountryUnited Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany
Established2005
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£855,000 (2019)
Month(s) PlayedFebruary – May
Current champion(s)
Michael van Gerwen

The previous sponsors were McCoy's, Whyte and Mackay, who succeeded Holsten, having signed a three-year contract to support the event in October 2007,[1] and 888.com. The prize fund rose from £265,000 to £340,000 in 2008, steadily increasing each year for a prize fund of £855,000 in 2019. The winner currently receives £250,000.

Phil Taylor has dominated this event, winning six of the thirteen tournaments he appeared in. He went unbeaten throughout the first three seasons before James Wade ended his 44 match run in the first match of the 2008 season. A new champion was to be crowned after Mervyn King defeated him in the 2009 semi-finals. Wade defeated King 13–8 in the final, to pick up the £125,000 first prize. Phil Taylor defeated James Wade the following season to claim his fifth title in the competition in 2010; however, he was defeated in the semi-final of the 2011 tournament. Gary Anderson became champion in his début season by defeating Adrian Lewis in a repeat of the world championship final earlier that year. Phil Taylor reclaimed the title the following year, after defeating Simon Whitlock in the 2012 final, but lost the 2013 final to Michael van Gerwen. A year later, Taylor – who lost four of his first five games of the season and only secured qualification to the playoffs on the final league night – lost to eventual champion Raymond van Barneveld in the semi-finals.

Television coverage

The matches have been broadcast on Thursday nights on Sky Sports since the tournament inception. Originally the league alternated with Premier League Snooker one week and Premier League Darts the next. From 2006, the snooker moved to late autumn – giving the Premier League darts a straight weekly run in the spring.

American sports channel OLN aired the 2006 Premier League Darts season on a slight delay, in August 2006. In 2018 BBC America started airing Premier League Darts on Thursday nights. In 2020 BBC America started airing Premier League Darts on Sunday mornings.

German sports channel Sport1 broadcasts most matches live on TV and gives coverages of a selection of matches.

The PDC announced in January 2007 that the contract with Sky Television for coverage of the Premier League had been extended to 2010.[2]

Sponsorship

The tournament has had six title sponsors since it was formed in 2005. They are 888.com (2005, 2011), Holsten (2006–2007), Whyte and Mackay (2008–2010), McCoy's (2012–2013) and Betway (2014–2017). Unibet was the sixth when they took over for the 2018 tournament.

Finals
Year Final Tournament
Champion Score Runner-up Best of Venue Prize-pool Players Venues League winner
2005 Phil Taylor (101.01) 16–4 Colin Lloyd (97.20) 31 legs G-Mex, Manchester £150,000 7 11 Phil Taylor
2006 Phil Taylor (101.41) 16–6 Roland Scholten (92.01) Plymouth Pavilions £167,500
2007 Phil Taylor (99.20) 16–6 Terry Jenkins (90.81) The Brighton Centre £265,000 8 15
2008 Phil Taylor (108.36) 16–8 James Wade (100.14) Cardiff International Arena £340,000
2009 James Wade (90.38) 13–8 Mervyn King (85.83) 25 legs Wembley Arena £405,000
2010 Phil Taylor (111.67) 10–8 James Wade (100.08) 19 legs £410,000
2011 Gary Anderson (94.67) 10–4 Adrian Lewis (85.75)
2012 Phil Taylor (97.08) 10–7 Simon Whitlock (95.32) The O2 Arena, London £450,000
2013 Michael van Gerwen (103.29) 10–8 Phil Taylor (104.10) £520,000 10 Michael van Gerwen
2014 Raymond van Barneveld (101.93) 10–6 Michael van Gerwen (102.98) £550,000 16
2015 Gary Anderson (104.85) 11–7 Michael van Gerwen (105.81) 21 legs £700,000
2016 Michael van Gerwen (104.68) 11–3 Phil Taylor (98.84) £725,000
2017 Michael van Gerwen (104.76) 11–10 Peter Wright (101.06) £825,000
2018 Michael van Gerwen (112.37) 11–4 Michael Smith (97.01) 15[lower-alpha 1]
2019 Michael van Gerwen (103.36) 11–5 Rob Cross (100.98) 9[lower-alpha 2] 16
2020 Utilita Arena, Newcastle
  1. A scheduled night at Westpoint Arena was cancelled due to Storm Emma. An extra round was held at Rotterdam Ahoy to compensate.
  2. 9 players played regularly, with 9 others serving as 'contenders' for each of the first 9 nights.

Records and statistics
As of 10 March 2020.

Total finalist appearances
Rank Player Nationality Won Runner-up Finals Appearances
1 Phil Taylor England62813
2 Michael van Gerwen Netherlands5277
3 Gary Anderson Scotland2028
4 James Wade England12310
5 Raymond van Barneveld Netherlands10114
6 Rob Cross England0112
Terry Jenkins England0115
Mervyn King England0112
Adrian Lewis England01110
Colin Lloyd England0113
Roland Scholten Netherlands0113
Michael Smith England0113
Simon Whitlock Australia0116
Peter Wright Scotland0116
  • Active players are shown in bold
  • Only players who reached the final are included
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by family name

Champions by country
Country Players Total First title Last title
 England 2 7 2005 2012
 Netherlands 2 6 2013 2019
 Scotland 1 2 2011 2015

Nine-dart finishes

Nine nine-dart finishes have been thrown in the Premier League. The first one was in 2006, and the most recent one was in 2020.

Player Year (+ Week) Location Method Opponent Result
Raymond van Barneveld 2006, Week 5 Bournemouth 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Peter Manley 8–3 (L)
Raymond van Barneveld 2010, Week 12 Aberdeen 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Terry Jenkins 8–6 (L)
Phil Taylor 2010, Final London T20, 2 x T19; 3 x T20; T20, T17, D18 James Wade 10–8 (L)
3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12
Phil Taylor 2012, Week 2 Aberdeen 3 x T20; T20, 2 x T19; T20, T17, D18 Kevin Painter 8–5 (L)
Simon Whitlock 2012, Semi-Final London 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T15, D18 Andy Hamilton 8–6 (L)
Adrian Lewis 2016, Week 11 Belfast 3 x T20; 2 x T20, T19; 2 x T20, D12 James Wade 7–5 (L)
Adrian Lewis 2017, Week 11 Liverpool 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Raymond van Barneveld 7–4 (L)
Michael Smith 2020, Week 4 Dublin 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 Daryl Gurney 7–5 (L)

Tournament records
  • Most titles: 6 – Phil Taylor
  • Most tournament appearances: 14 – Raymond van Barneveld
  • Most matches played: 211 – Raymond van Barneveld
  • Longest unbeaten run: 44 matches – Phil Taylor (2005–2008)
  • Biggest victories (league stage): 11–1 Phil Taylor v Wayne Mardle (2005), 11–1 Phil Taylor v Peter Manley (2005)
  • Biggest victories (playoff stages): 16–4 Phil Taylor v Colin Lloyd (2005 final)
  • Most 180's by one player in a single match: 11 – Gary Anderson v Simon Whitlock (2011).[3][4]
  • Most 100+ averages in a season: 18 – Michael van Gerwen (2017). Van Gerwen became the first player to average over 100 in every match of a season.
  • Highest match average: 123.40 – Michael van Gerwen (2016)
  • Highest group stage overall average: 107.95 – Phil Taylor (2012)
  • Highest average in the final: 112.37 – Michael van Gerwen (2018)

Whitewashes
Year Player Legs Player
2007Terry Jenkins
87.32		0–8 Colin Lloyd
96.97
2008Phil Taylor
96.97		8–0 Wayne Mardle
88.43
2012James Wade
96.97		8–0 Simon Whitlock
80.79
2014Phil Taylor
99.45		0–7 Michael van Gerwen
109.59
2015James Wade
93.93		0–7 Michael van Gerwen
116.90
2016Robert Thornton
75.68		0–7 Dave Chisnall
101.16
2016Robert Thornton
88.38		0–7 Phil Taylor
102.15
2017Adrian Lewis
94.53		0–7 Michael van Gerwen
110.75
2018Raymond van Barneveld
96.58		0–7 Michael Smith
103.15
2019Daryl Gurney
94.45		0–7 James Wade
109.59

High averages
Ten highest Premier League one-match averages
Average Player Year (+ Round) Opponent Result
123.40 Michael van Gerwen 2016, Week 4 Michael Smith 7–1
119.50 Peter Wright 2017, Week 5 Adrian Lewis 7–2
117.95 Michael van Gerwen 2016, Week 10 Robert Thornton 7–5
117.35 Phil Taylor 2012, Week 4 Simon Whitlock 8–4
116.90 Michael van Gerwen 2015, Week 12 James Wade 7–0
116.67 Michael van Gerwen 2016, Week 5 Peter Wright 7–2
116.10 Phil Taylor 2012, Week 13 James Wade 8–1
116.01 Phil Taylor 2009, Week 12 John Part 8–3
115.80 Phil Taylor 2015, Week 7 Raymond van Barneveld 4–7
115.25 Phil Taylor 2016, Week 4 Dave Chisnall 7–5
Five highest tournament averages
Average Player Year
107.48 Michael van Gerwen 2016
106.73 Phil Taylor 2012
105.26 Michael van Gerwen 2015
104.68 Michael van Gerwen 2017
104.11 Michael van Gerwen 2018

Appearances

Since the tournament made its debut in 2005, Phil Taylor made an appearance in every Premier League competition until his retirement following the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship. Raymond van Barneveld has competed in every Premier League since joining the PDC in 2006. From 2005 until the 2010 tournament, the top six players in the PDC Order of Merit after the PDC World Darts Championship automatically qualified, with one wildcard (2005 and 2006) and two wildcards (2007–2010) chosen by either the PDC or Sky Sports. From the 2011 tournament, only the top four in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualified, with four wildcards (2011 and 2012) chosen by both the PDC and Sky Sports. In 2013, the tournament grew from eight players to ten, with the top four players in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualifying and six other players chosen as Wildcards on the basis of their performance in the past year or in earlier editions of the Premier League.

In 2020 Nathan Aspinall and Glen Durrant were the latest players to make their Premier League debuts.

Premier League players and performance
Player # 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Phil Taylor 13 W W W W SF W SF W RU SF 5 RU SF DNP
Colin Lloyd 3 RU SF 5 Did not play
Peter Manley 4 SF 6 6 6 Did not play
Roland Scholten 3 SF RU 8 Did not play
Mark Dudbridge 1 5 Did not play
John Part 3 6 DNP 8 6 Did not play
Wayne Mardle 4 7 7 DNP 5 WD Did not play
Raymond van Barneveld 14 DNP SF SF SF SF 6 SF 5 SF W SF 7 6 6 9 DNP
Ronnie Baxter 2 DNP 5 Did not play 5 Did not play
Terry Jenkins 5 DNP RU 7 5 8 7 Did not play
Dennis Priestley 1 DNP SF DNP C Did not play
Adrian Lewis 10 DNP 7 SF C 7 RU 6 8 6 6 SF 8 Did not play
James Wade 10 Did not play RU W RU 5 SF SF DNP 7 6 7 DNP SF DNP
Mervyn King 2 Did not play RU SF Did not play
Jelle Klaasen 2 Did not play 7 Did not play 9 Did not play
Simon Whitlock 6 Did not play SF 6 RU 6 10 Did not play 8 DNP
Gary Anderson 8 Did not play C DNP W 8 10 SF W SF SF SF DNP –
Mark Webster 1 Did not play C DNP 8 Did not play
Andy Hamilton 2 Did not play SF 7 Did not play
Kevin Painter 1 Did not play 7 Did not play
Michael van Gerwen 8 Did not play W RU RU W W W W –
Robert Thornton 3 Did not play C Did not play 5 8 DNP 8 Did not play
Wes Newton 2 Did not play 9 9 Did not play
Peter Wright 7 DNP 5 9 5 RU 7 8 –
Dave Chisnall 4 Did not play 7 SF 9 5 DNP
Stephen Bunting 1 Did not play 8 Did not play C
Kim Huybrechts 2 Did not play 10 DNP 10 DNP
Michael Smith 4 Did not play 10 DNP RU 7 –
Rob Cross 3 Did not play SF RU –
Daryl Gurney 3 Did not play 5 SF –
Mensur Suljović 2 Did not play 9 6 DNP
Gerwyn Price 3 Did not play 10 5 –
Nathan Aspinall 1 Did not play C –
Glen Durrant 1 Did not play C –
Table Legend
W Won in playoffs RU Runner-up SF Lost in the semi-finals # Place in table, not qualified for playoffs
# Place in table, relegated WD Withdrew during tournament C Challenger DNP Did not play at that year

When Gary Anderson withdrew from the 2019 season just before it began, Chris Dobey, Glen Durrant, Steve Lennon, Luke Humphries, John Henderson, Nathan Aspinall, Max Hopp, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jeffrey de Zwaan were named as "contenders" to play in Anderson's place each of the first eight weeks.[5][6] This format was extended – this time as part of the original schedule – to the 2020 season, with 9 regular players and 9 challengers. John Henderson, Fallon Sherrock, Jonny Clayton, William O'Connor, Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting, Chris Dobey, Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jermaine Wattimena were the challengers.

References
  1. Whyte & Mackay to sponsor Premier League Archived 3 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine planetdarts.tv
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 February 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "888.com Premier League Darts – Night 11". PDC. 22 April 2011. Archived from the original on 23 December 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  4. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/sports-latest/2011/04/22/premier-league-super-scot-gary-anderson-breaks-180-record-during-demolition-of-simon-whitlock-86908-23078799/
  5. "2019 Unibet Premier League Field Announced". Sky Sports. B Sky B. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  6. Phillips, Josh. "Premier League 'Contenders' To Replace Injured Anderson". PDC. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
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