Premier League Darts 2025: Official line-up confirmed as Stephen Bunting ends decade-long absence

The line-up for the 2025 edition of Premier League Darts has been revealed and World Darts Championship winner Luke Littler will be hoping to make a successful defence of his coveted crown.

The defending Premier League champion heads the eight-player field, with his participation being confirmed by virtue of his position within the PDC's Order of Merit top four.

'The Nuke' is joined in the competition by world number one Luke Humphries, world number three Michael van Gerwen and fourth placed Rob Cross - each of whom featured in last year's event.

2023 runner-up Gerwyn Price also returns to the fold as one of the four wild card picks, whilst Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey and the hugely-popular Stephen Bunting, who reached the semi-finals of the 2025 World Darts Championship, complete the line-up.

Former world champions Michael Smith and Peter Wright are both omitted from last year's event.

2025 Premier League Darts line-up:

Name:	Best Premier League Finish:
Luke Humphries	Runner-Up: 2024
Luke Littler	Winner: 2024
Michael van Gerwen	Winner: 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
Rob Cross	Runner-up: 2019
Stephen Bunting	Eighth: 2015
Gerwyn Price	Runner-up: 2023
Chris Dobey	2023: Seventh
Nathan Aspinall	Runner-up: 2020

2025 Premier League line-up displayed in order of PDC two-year world ranking.

Luke Humphries

2024 World Darts Championship winner Luke Humphries will be bidding to get his hands on the coveted title for the first time, after being denied victory by Luke Littler 12 months ago.

'Cool Hand' was installed as the pre-tournament favourite, but was unable to see off his Warrington rival in the final at London's O2 Arena last May.

Humphries finished second in the group stage, four points adrift of Littler, and despite advancing through to the tournament showpiece at the expense of Michael van Gerwen, Littler ultimately proved too hot to handle, winning the tie 11-7.

Humphries has however enjoyed a remarkable 15 months or so, capturing a plethora of ranking titles, including the Players Championship, Grand Slam of Darts, World Matchplay and, of course, the World Championship.

Michael van Gerwen

Michael van Gerwen is the record seven-time winner of Premier League Darts and will be gunning for title number eight in 2025.

The Dutch star first reigned supreme in the event back in 2013, before reeling off four successive title wins between 2016 and 2019 as he cemented himself as the undisputed world number one.

He added to his tally in 2022 and retained it yet again in 2023, seeing off Gerwyn Price in the final, but was unable to find that same groove in 2024 despite reaching the last four, when he succumbed to a 10-5 loss to Luke Humphries in the semi-finals.

MVG is also a three-time world champion and has amassed almost a half a century of major, ranking PDC titles throughout a glittering career.

Luke Littler

Recently crowned World Darts Champion Luke Littler is the favourite to make a successful first defence of his Premier League crown as he bids to further strengthen his rapidly-growing reputation in the game.

The Warrington star fulfilled a lifelong dream when he captured the coveted Sid Waddell trophy with a thumping 7-3 victory over Michael van Gerwen at London's Alexandra Palace at the turn of the year, after reaching the final, on debut, 12 months earlier.

His remarkable run in the capital in 2023/24 secured him of a spot in the Premier League for the first time, and he made a mockery of those who felt his inclusion in the demanding and challenging four-month long darting roadshow would be too much too soon.

Littler romped to top spot in the group stages, securing a spot in Finals Night with a number of weeks to spare, before he saw off Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries at the O2 Arena - whilst also landing a sensational nine-darter - en-route to being crowned champion.

Rob Cross

Rob Cross is amongst the real outsiders this year despite his ranking within the top four of the PDC's Order of Merit.

'Voltage' surprisingly hasn't landed a major ranking title in over two years now, but his consistency in reaching the latter stages of tournaments has helped retain his elevated standing in the world rankings.

Cross reached the semi-finals and final of his opening two runs at the Premier League in 2018 and 2019, but hasn't fared better than sixth in any of his three appearances since.

The Londoner does possess undoubted title-winning credentials though, with the 2018 World Darts Championship ranking amongst his successes over the years, although he will surely have to show real improvements if he is to seriously challenge for the crown in 2025.

Stephen Bunting

It's the pick many darts fans had been hoping for, and it's the pick that the PDC have ensured they have got!

Stephen Bunting may not have pulled up too many trees during his one and only previous venture into the Premier League - a decade ago - but he is a far better player now than he was back then, and he will be confident of challenging for a coveted top four spot.

'The Bullet', backed by his loyal and vociferous army of fans, enjoyed a stellar 2024 on the floor, reaching six Players Championship finals as well as landing the Masters title almost 12 months ago.

But it was his form on the big stage - in reaching the Alexandra Palace semi-finals over the Festive period - which will have caught the imagination of the PDC's powers that be, leaving them with little choice but to include Bunting back in the Premier League for the first time since 2015.

He's often a player who rises to the big occasion, so don't be surprised if he is to cause a stir on the great darting roadshow over the coming weeks and months.

Gerwyn Price

'The Iceman' Gerwyn Price may have endured plenty of tungsten struggles over the past 12 months, but he has managed to retain his Premier League spot.

Price is, of course, a former World Darts Champion as well as a Grand Prix winner, so will toe the oche confident of upsetting his odds and enjoying a far more productive Premier League campaign this time around.

His well-publicised struggles on the doubles hamstrung his hopes of success 12 months ago, but with a decent run at Alexandra Palace behind him, there's hope that we could still see the very best of Price in 2025.

This will be his seventh appearance in the competition, with his previous best run coming just two years ago (in 2023) when he came runner-up to Michael van Gerwen.

Chris Dobey

Without doubt, the biggest victim of Luke Littler's remarkable run to the 2024 World Darts Championship, Chris Dobey will be keen to make a better fist of his second Premier League campaign in 2025.

'Hollywood' struggled for consistency on his debut showing in 2023, but looked primed to have done enough to earn a second crack at the tournament 12 months ago, only for Littler to gate-crash the PDC's plans for the 2024 event.

But, back-to-back World Championship quarter-final appearances followed by an even deeper run to the last four in 2025, means he is one of the new additions to the line-up for the upcoming competition.

The North East native has landed one major ranking title in his career to date, the 2023 Masters crown, which was enough to secure his Premier League participation a couple of years ago.

Nathan Aspinall 

Nathan Aspinall will be one of the outsiders to land the coveted Premier League silverware in 2025, but never write off 'The Asp'.

The world number 11 has already tasted success in the World Matchplay and UK open, and will have his sights set on an even more productive Premier League campaign following the heartbreak of missing out on Finals Night in 2024.

He had been positioned inside the top four for long periods of the competition, only to drop out on the final night at the expense of close friend Michael Smith, who edged a tightly-contested affair to rubber-stamp his own spot in the last four.

The 2025 World Darts Championship quarter-finalist possesses the quality and composure to go at least one step further this time around however.