With the clocks having changed, the heating starting to fire up and the evenings drawing in, we’re heading towards the most magical time of the year: darts season.
The Grand Slam, Players Championship Finals and World Championship are all on the horizon. And alongside the battle for silverware comes another fascinating question: who will make the 2027 Premier League line-up?
Four places go to the top four in the world rankings, with four more wildcard selections to be made. Some names are certainties. Others have everything to prove over the next two months.
The Certainties
Luke Littler
What is there to say? Luke Littler is world number one by over £2,000,000 right now. Even with first-round exits in the Grand Slam and the World Championship, he will retain that spot. He is a guaranteed entrant from now until the day he retires from darts.
Luke Humphries
Currently world number three, trailing Gian van Veen by just over £20,000, Humphries is the second guaranteed pick for the Premier League. His rivalry with Luke Littler, while not as heated as many which have come before it, is one of the most exciting darts has ever seen. He’s one of the most successful players of all time and, even if he does drop out of the top four in the rankings, is guaranteed a spot in the line-up.
The Near-Certainties
Gian van Veen
Van Veen is almost guaranteed a spot in the line-up as the current world number two, but an early exit in the Grand Slam and the World Championship, coupled with deep runs from Gerwyn Price, Luke Humphries and one of Jonny Clayton or Ross Smith, could see him slip out of the top four. This is highly unlikely, but would present the PDC with an interesting question.
Van Veen’s record this year hasn’t been what he would have expected, despite a few runs to quarter- and semi-finals. His run to the World Championship final last year, combined with his status as one of the new generation of young players and his popularity in the Netherlands, would almost certainly earn him a spot. But some popular players like Josh Rock, Stephen Bunting or Nathan Aspinall going deep into tournaments at the back end of the year could make some decision-makers doubt van Veen’s spot.
Gerwyn Price
Price has been one of the most consistent performers in the PDC this year. He’s made three major finals, losing all three, including from a dominant position over Luke Humphries at the World Grand Prix, and several semi-finals, including at the most recent major, the European Championship. He’s currently sitting fourth in the world rankings and will be expected to at least retain that spot with good form going into the final tournaments of the season. Should he drop out of the top four, Price will almost certainly be picked as a wildcard. He’s one of the most well-known names in darts and always gets a reaction from the crowd — much more positive nowadays than when he first rose up the rankings.
The Likelies
James Wade
Wade has participated in eleven Premier League campaigns, but was most recently selected back in 2022. Many expected him to be picked last year, but the PDC went with flashier players like Bunting and Aspinall, whose popular walk-on music gets the crowd involved quickly, and Josh Rock, who was an up-and-coming youngster when he got the nod. Wade didn’t hide his frustration and has channelled it into another excellent year. He has won a European Tour event and a World Series event this year, and made the final of the UK Open, as well as reaching at least the quarter-finals of all 2026 majors barring the European Championship.
The key question for Wade to answer is whether or not he can perform at the World Championship. Even a run to the last sixteen would surely force the PDC into selecting him, but his recent record at Ally Pally does not make for good reading. An early exit could see another player, particularly one who resonates well with crowds, jump him in the pecking order.
Ross Smith
World Series Finals winner. European Championship winner. World number six. Ross Smith has surely done enough to earn his Premier League debut. He ticks a lot of boxes. He’s one of the heaviest scorers on the tour, which always gets the crowds going, and sits in or around the top ten in almost every statistic for the 2026 season. He also comes across as a very likeable person in interviews, and his rise over recent months has to be among the biggest stories of the season. A run to the last four of the Grand Slam or the last eight of the World Championship should be enough to secure that spot. However, his best run at Ally Pally has only taken him to the last 32, and he’s exited before that stage in each of the last four World Championships. Another early exit might see Smith as the ninth man, much as it did for Luke Humphries in 2023 when it seemed to all the world that he would be in line for his debut.
Jonny Clayton
Clayton loves the Premier League. He was delighted to be selected again last year and showed it with a strong campaign, finishing second in the table and losing in a final-leg decider to Luke Humphries in the semi-final. He’s had another solid season, with wins on the European Tour and at the World Series, and runs to the quarter-finals in most majors, including being the man to stop Luke Littler from sweeping every major when he comfortably beat him at the World Series Finals. Clayton hasn’t necessarily looked like a contender to win majors, but his consistent deep runs and his excellent Premier League record give him a good chance of selection this year. A deep run in the remaining tournaments could be needed, though, if others, like Ross Smith already has, step up their game in the next two months.
The Question Marks
Michael van Gerwen
The PDC top brass may well be clucking their tongues, stroking their beards and wondering, ‘what’s to be done with this Michael van Gerwen?’ Nobody would have expected van Gerwen to be this far down a list like this two years ago, when he was appearing in yet another World Championship final, but here we are.
Van Gerwen is currently ranked thirteenth in the world and is due to lose a big chunk of his ranking money when the £200,000 he earned for that final comes off his total, a loss which is likely to see him ranked somewhere in the mid-twenties unless he can really turn his form around. His season has been nothing short of a disaster, not making a single major quarter-final, although two wins on the World Series have shown that he can still put it together at times.
He may still be selected for the Premier League on name value alone, much as Raymond van Barneveld was towards the end of his time at the top of the game. But questions over van Gerwen’s performances since his injury and personal issues weigh heavily on him. Some might even suggest that time away from the spotlight would be better for him in the long run.
Nathan Aspinall
Aspinall is a real crowd favourite, mostly thanks to his walk-on song and everyman persona, but he’s put in some very strong performances this season. He’s been somewhat unfortunate to keep running into Luke Littler in major tournaments, as his losing average of 105 in the European Championship will attest, but he’s put together a strong season, highlighted by a very strong performance in making the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix to get back into the world’s top ten. Aspinall’s popularity always makes him a contender for the Premier League, but the question will be whether he’s done enough to knock the likes of Clayton, Wade or Smith to the outside. A title in the next two months will guarantee him a spot, but if he doesn’t make at least a semi-final at the Grand Slam or World Championship, he’s as likely to miss out as he is to be picked.
The Outsiders
Josh Rock
Josh Rock is a bit of an enigma. He’s clearly got the talent to compete right at the top of the game, and his ranking of world number eight shows that. If not for an inspired Justin Hood performance at the World Championship, he may well have been the young player to truly break through instead of Gian van Veen. But that loss, coupled with a very disappointing Premier League campaign, has really halted the momentum Rock built up in 2025.
This feels like a big end to the season for Rock who, despite being ranked eighth in the world, doesn’t feel like a contender at the back end of tournaments in the same way that he did a year ago. If he can find his ruthless side and get over the line in big games against the world’s top players, he could still make it. But anything short of a first individual major final at the Grand Slam or World Championship and he’s likely to be on the outside looking in, wondering if he’s the next player to be chewed up and spit out by a Premier League that has been known for doing a lot of damage to promising young players like Jelle Klaasen.
Stephen Bunting
It’s been quite the disappointing season for Bunting too, who mirrors Rock in many ways. He rose steadily up the rankings in 2024 and 2025 with some excellent performances and deep runs, breaking into the top four at one point, and made his second consecutive Premier League appearance, and third in his career, last year. But he finished comfortably outside the play-offs, tied on points with Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen. His performances in majors have been poor this season, and he hasn’t shown the same levels that took him to the World Championship semi-finals in 2025. Similar to Rock, he surely needs a final appearance at the Grand Slam or World Championship to be in the conversation, no matter how popular he may be with the crowds.
Wildcards
Wessel Nijman
Nijman has been one of the best players in the world over the last two years. He is ranked twelfth in the world and has won several European Tour and Pro Tour events. However, his performances in TV majors haven’t come close to his true ability. Nijman seems to have a block when it comes to performing in the big events, but if he can get over this, he’ll be in the conversation. Much like Bunting and Rock, he must appear in the final of either the Grand Slam or World Championship to make it into the Premier League conversation. But the ability is there, and he’s shown Premier League levels of performance away from the big stage.
Rob Cross
Rob Cross has been on a slide down the rankings for some time now, and the top level of his game which caused him to become world champion in his first year on the tour seems to be long gone. However, he is a former world champion and a name which the PDC knows casual fans may well still be aware of. If he can find some form and make a strong case for himself over the next two months, there’s a small chance of seeing Cross back among the big names.
Michael Smith
From world champion in 2023 to world number 37 in 2026. Difficulties maintaining his form following that big win, combined with a horrible case of arthritis, have completely pulled the rug out from under Smith, who most would have expected to win another world title by now. Most fans would like to see Bully Boy overcome his issues, and the PDC would surely jump at the chance to get him back into the Premier League if he can make a deep run at Ally Pally.
Beau Greaves
Greaves has had a very good first year on the PDC circuit. She’s become the first female player to win on the European Tour and the first female winner of a Pro Tour event. She’s regained her Women’s World Matchplay title, gaining entry into the Grand Slam and World Championship as a result, and has advanced towards the top 64 in the world, a position which would ensure she stays on the tour once her two-year Tour Card runs out in 2028. The PDC would love to have her in the Premier League, but her season to date can’t justify it yet. A World Championship semi-final would probably be enough, but that may be a step too far for Beau for now.
Any World Championship Finalist
Finally, anyone who makes the World Championship final is sure to be in the conversation. Mark Dudbridge was given a chance to play in the first-ever Premier League after his run to the final of the biggest tournament on the calendar, and the same would likely be true today, especially if that player was a young prodigy (Charlie Manby perhaps), a veteran returning to form (Peter Wright perhaps) or a German who could really bring in the fans from Germany (Martin Schindler perhaps).
My Premier League Line-Up as of Now
- Luke Littler
- Luke Humphries
- Gian van Veen
- Gerwyn Price
- James Wade
- Ross Smith
- Jonny Clayton
- Michael van Gerwen
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