The Darts Premier League 2026 – Can Humphries hold on to his crown?

With many still suffering from darts fever after Luke Littler’s destruction of Gian van Veen in the 2025 World Championship, we are here to preview the next biggest PDC competition. We are going to give you an early 2026 Darts Premier League prediction in the following article. We will look at the history of the event, and profile all 8 contenders, before making our final decision on who we feel will win on Playoffs night.

This will be the 22nd edition of the Darts Premier League which started back in 2005. Michael Van Gerwen holds the highest number of victories with 7, followed by darts legend Phil Taylor with 6. Van Gerwen will at this event go level with that other famous dutchman, Raymond Van Barneveld, on 14 Premier League appearances. The tournament has been dominated by English (10) and Dutch (8) winners. The only other victors have been 2 from Scotland and 1 from Wales. 14 of the losing finalists have also been English, with 3 Dutch and 1 from Australia, Portugal, Scotland and Wales. The event is very much seen as one of the most prestigious to win, and it always includes the top 4 ranked players in the world plus 4 wildcards chosen by the PDC.

  2026 Darts Premier League – Format & Schedule

The format is a straight 8-man knockout draw played on a Thursday weekly, with a league table based on results. The first 8 weeks will see all the players meet each other at least once in the quarter finals. From the 8th week, players are seeded by league position. Points are allocated each week based on finishing positions. The final week sees the top 4 in the league qualify for the playoffs. The venues and dates are shown below;

• Newcastle – 5th February
• Antwerp – 12th February
• Glasgow – 19th February
• Belfast – 26th February
• Cardiff – 5th March
• Nottingham – 12th March
• Dublin – 19th March
• Berlin – 26th March
• Manchester – 2nd April
• Brighton – 9th April
• Rotterdam – 16th April
• Liverpool – 23rd April
• Aberdeen – 30th April
• Birmingham – 14th May
• Sheffield – 21st May
• FINALS NIGHT- London (O2 Arena) – 28th May

 Who are the 2026 Darts Premier League Contenders

Let’s look over all 8 players in this year’s 2026 Darts Premier League.

Where to watch the 2026 Darts Premier League

Finding a 2026 Darts Premier League live stream is pretty easy as you can go to PDCTV which streams all events. It’s covered by Sky Sports and most countries that have an interest in darts also have a broadcaster showing it as well. There are plenty of bookmakers that stream the weekly events as well. Check the terms and conditions for each sportsbook to make sure you qualify for any live feeds that are offered.

• UK/Ireland: SkySports
• Netherlands: Live on Viaplay.
• Germany/Austria/Switzerland: Live on DAZN.
• USA/Canada/Brazil: Live on DAZN

Prediction for the 2026 Darts Premier League

Despite the stellar field, this tournament has rarely produced shock winners. It’s usually won by the best player in the world at the time of the tournament. That is mainly because the setup favours consistency over the 16 league weeks. I can’t see it being anything other than a two horse race between the two Lukes again. (Littler and Humphries have contested the last 2 finals). I personally think it’s going to be Littler who wins through in this one, to take his 2nd Premier League title. 2026 Darts Premier League Prediction: Luke Littler