The 2026 Premier League darts championships begins in Newcastle later tonight, as Luke Humphries prepares to open his title defence at the Utilita Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Night One of the new Premier League season will feature a blockbuster line-up in the North East, as eight of the sport\u2019s biggest names go head-to-head in the first of 16 league nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning champion Humphries is aiming to emulate Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen by becoming the third player to retain the coveted title, although he faces a tough start against 2023 runner-up Price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always the added expectation when you\u2019re defending champion, but I\u2019m really looking forward to this one,\u201d declared Humphries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think my performances at the World Masters have given me a big boost of confidence; my scoring ability in Milton Keynes was as good as it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a great record in the Premier League which I\u2019ve got to fall back on, so I\u2019d love to join that club and become only the third player to retain this title.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries toppled 2024 champion Littler in last year\u2019s showpiece, and the world number one begins his title challenge against debutant Gian van Veen in a repeat of last month\u2019s World Championship final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler has claimed top spot in the league phase in each of his previous two Premier League campaigns, and he\u2019s brimming with confidence ahead of his latest clash against the Dutch debutant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better preparation for the Premier League than winning the World Masters, so I\u2019m full of confidence and ready to go,\u201d insisted the 19-year-old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGian will be up for it. It\u2019s obviously his first game in the Premier League and he\u2019ll want to make a good impression, but I\u2019m standing in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt still hurts losing in the final last year, so this is up there with the tournaments I really want to win again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Veen will become the fifth Dutchman to compete in a full Premier League season, and the European Champion is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his fellow countrymen Van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld by clinching the prestigious trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt all feels real now; I\u2019m really looking forward to it,\u201d reflected the world number three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel like my game is in a very good place. I\u2019m very confident, but I know it\u2019s going to be tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not used to losing as many matches as I\u2019m maybe going to over the next few weeks, so I think that will really define myself as a person in terms of how I come back from that, but I\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen, meanwhile, is eyeing a record-extending eighth Premier League crown in 2026, and he will take on world number seven Stephen Bunting in his quarter-final clash at the Utilita Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The seven-time champion has only missed out on Finals Night in two of his previous 13 Premier League appearances, and he\u2019s determined to get back on track following his fifth-place finish in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always love to perform on the big stage week after week, and now we\u2019re playing against some new faces, it\u2019s exciting,\u201d claimed the three-time World Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLast year\u2019s Premier League was a bit of a rollercoaster for me, but as I always say, it\u2019s a sprint not a marathon, so we\u2019ll see what happens this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf course I\u2019m really proud with how I\u2019ve performed in the Premier League, but that\u2019s in the past, and now I need to make sure my eyes are on the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the evening\u2019s opener, newcomer Josh Rock will take on 2021 champion Jonny Clayton, who returns to the Premier League fold for the first time in three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clayton has featured at Finals Night in all three of his previous Premier League appearances, but Rock is confident of hitting the ground running in Newcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was a dream of mine as a young kid to be in the Premier League,\u201d admitted Northern Ireland\u2019s World Cup champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still hard to believe I\u2019m actually in it. When I got the phone call to say I was in, it was a dream come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI believe I\u2019m up to the task, and I\u2019m really looking forward to the challenge over the next 16 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ranking points are awarded per night – with five to the winner, three to the runner-up and two to the semi-finalists – to form the league table from which the top four players will progress to Finals Night at The O2 in London on Thursday May 28. The 2026 Premier League darts championships begins in Newcastle later tonight, as Luke Humphries prepares to open his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-8970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed.jpg",2400,1601,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025WGPsf-_Humphries-17_compressed.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8971,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions\/8971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Quarter-Finals<\/strong> Draw<\/strong>
Josh Rock v Jonny Clayton
Luke Littler v Gian van Veen
Luke Humphries v Gerwyn Price
Stephen Bunting v Michael van Gerwen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"