Fans Raging at Shock Decision

The 2026 Premier League Darts line-up was officially confirmed on Monday afternoon, and it has caused a real stir. The eight-man field for the tournament was revealed by Sky Sports broadcasters Emma Paton and Wayne Mardle.

While the announcement included all eight players, half of the field was already known in advance. This is because the top four players in the world qualify for the Premier League automatically. As a result, Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen were already assured of the positions before the line-up was made official.

The remainder of the field, though, is made up of wildcard entries decided by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), who are the organisers of the tournament. With so much talent in the sport at present, the destination of the four wildcard spots is always a controversial topic.

The 2026 line-up proved no exception as a number of deserving candidates missed out. World Championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle failed to make the cut, as did another strong performer at Alexandra Palace in quarter-finalist Justin Hood. Gary Anderson, who was also beaten in the semi-finals, was another player left out, although reports suggest that this was at his own request.

One Wildcard Entry For Premier League Darts 2026 Has Attracted Huge Criticism

After accounting for the four automatic qualifiers, the remaining spots were given to Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock, Gerwyn Price and Stephen Bunting.

Having finished rock bottom of the league table in the 2025 tournament, there was plenty of surprise that Bunting was handed another Premier League opportunity, particularly after he was dumped out of the worlds in the third round by world number 63 James Hurrell.

Even during the official announcement itself, Mardle was taken aback at the decision, stating:

“I’m slightly surprised at Stephen Bunting. He’s had a decent enough year but not as good as some in my opinion. He can consider himself a little fortunate. He played OK in the Premier League last year but results didn’t go well, especially for the first eight weeks when he didn’t win a game.

“You can’t argue with any of them in terms of their ability and what they are capable of, but Bunting will be the one who will breathe a huge sigh of relief.”

Fan reaction to the decision, though, was far more cutting.

One comment on social media read:

“What an absolutely disgraceful inclusion. How can a man who’s made no TV major semis in 2025 and was an absolute disgrace in the Premier League be chosen over Danny Noppert who’s made 4 semis?”

Another agreed: “Bunting being in the Premier League is an absolute joke,” while a third called the call “genuinely pathetic”:

“Absolutely f****** ridiculous. Bunting in there is genuinely pathetic. The Premier League really is a glorified exhibition these days!”

A final comment summed up the general feeling towards the decision:

“All things considered, Bunting being in this year’s Premier League has to be the worst inclusion the PDC have ever made!”

Amid all of the backlash on social media, Bunting himself took to X to express his own thoughts on the decision.

“I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have been selected for this year’s Premier League,” he wrote. “I accept the back end of the year didn’t go too well, but with 6 tournament wins in 2025 I would have been gutted not to have been selected. #LetsGoBuntingMental.”

In fairness to Bunting, he has won a number of tournaments over the past 12 months, and even secured a nightly victory in the 2025 Premier League when he took the spoils in Berlin. ‘The Bullet’ has historically been a crowd favourite, but he will need his darts to do the talking in a big way when the 2026 Premier League Darts season begins in Newcastle on the 5th of February.