The opening night of the BetMGM Premier League will see a rematch of the World Championship final, with Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen going head to head in Belfast.
They played out a thrilling affair, with the then 17-year-old Littler becoming the youngest world champion in darting history with a 7-3 sets victory.
The tournament sees eight of the top professionals in the PDC tour the UK and Europe, playing a knockout tournament every Thursday night.
Quarter-final losers receive no competition points, semi-finalists receive two, the losing finalist three, and the winner five, along with a £10,000 bonus for winning the night.
The top four players after 16 weeks then face off at the O2 Arena in London, with first playing fourth and second playing third – before the final and potential immortality.
There was some debate as to a few of the picks, which PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter defended by saying:
“We’ve looked at it in terms of popularity, in the way that they can get a 10,000 crowd going every week.”
Elsewhere in Belfast, world number one Luke Humphries starts his quest to avenge his defeat in last year’s final against 2023 World Matchplay champion, Nathan Aspinall.
2023 runner-up Gerwyn Price faces off against Chris Dobey, who makes his second Premier League appearance.
Also making his second appearance (excluding his night as a challenger), is Stephen Bunting, who marks his return after 10 years away with a tie against former world champion, and the world number four, Rob Cross.
Michael van Gerwen has the most Premier League titles under his belt, accruing seven titles in his twelve campaigns – only failing to make it to the semi-finals once, in 2020.
The tournament gets underway on Thursday 6th February at the SSE Arena in Belfast, and will be broadcast live across the Sky Sports network every Thursday.
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