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Luke Littler sees his unforgettable participation in the PDC Darts World Cup rewarded with a wild card for the Premier League. The very young Englishman is one of four players who received an invitation on Thursday.
Littler made history in recent weeks by immediately reaching the World Cup finals as a debutant at the age of just 16. Although his compatriot and top favorite Luke Humphries proved to be too strong, Littler won many hearts with his performances in London’s Alexandra Palace and also caused the viewing figures to explode at Sky in England.
That success increased pressure on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) to include Littler in the Premier League, a prestigious and lucrative competition with eight players, although the young Englishman has yet to win a major major title.
“I am in the top 32 and am certain of qualifying for many tournaments in the coming months,” said Littler. “I discussed the invitation to the Premier League with my manager and my parents. The conclusion was: let’s just do it, who knows, it might never happen again. We know that Monday and Tuesday are the floor tournaments and Wednesday the qualifiers for the European Tour, plus Thursday the Premier League and then possibly another European Tour round. And again the following week. I just have to get used to the darts life. School? I don’t do that anymore.”
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Four players were already assured of a ticket: world champion and new number 1 Luke Humphries, the 2022 world champion Michael Smith, Nathan Espinall (all English) and the Dutch star Michael van Gerwen. The PDC decided to hand out the four wildcards to Luke Littler, Welshman Gerwyn Price, Scotsman Peter Wright and Englishman Rob Cross.
They will compete against each other for seventeen weeks, each on a Thursday and can be followed live on VTM2. The event starts on February 1 in Cardiff and ends on May 23 in London (with the top four). Van Gerwen is the two-time defending champion. Dimitri Van den Bergh has already participated twice: in 2021 (fifth) and 2023 (sixth).
© PDC
