2021 Premier League Darts

The 2021 Unibet Premier League Darts is an upcoming darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the seventeenth edition of the tournament. The event was scheduled to begin on Thursday 4 February at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff and end with the play-offs at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on Thursday 27 May, but has been delayed due to the continuation of the COVID-19 outbreak.[1][2]

2021 Unibet Premier League Darts
Dates
TBA
Edition
17th
Number of players
10
Venues
7
Premier League Darts
< 2020 | 2021 | 2022 >

Glen Durrant is the current reigning champion, having beaten Nathan Aspinall 11–8 in the final of the 2020 tournament.[3]

Format

The tournament format will revert to that used in 2018, with a permanent list of ten players, instead of nine players and a guest "challenger" each week, as had been used in 2019 & 2020..[2]

Phase 1: In each round, the ten players play each other in five matches. Phase 1 matches have a maximum of twelve legs, allowing for the winner being first to seven or a six-six draw. At the end of Phase 1, the bottom two players are eliminated from the competition.

Phase 2: In each round, the remaining eight players play each other in four matches. Phase 2 matches have a maximum of fourteen legs, allowing for the winner being first to eight or a seven-seven draw. At the end of Phase 2, the bottom four players in the league table are eliminated from the competition.

Play-off Night: The top four players in the league table contest the two knockout semi-finals with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd. The semi-finals are first to 10 legs (best of 19). The two winning semi-finalists meet in the final which is first to 11 legs (best of 21).

Venues

The Brighton Centre was restored to the calendar, having last hosted the Premier League in 2017. The initial calendar also restored rounds in Birmingham, Belfast, Leeds, Berlin, Rotterdam, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and London; all of which had been scheduled for 2020 but cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; with Berlin replacing London as the scheduled host of the final. Milton Keynes and Coventry, which hosted rounds in 2020 following the pandemic, are not currently scheduled to be on the 2021 calendar.[1]

Locations of the 2021 Premier League venues in the UK and Ireland.
Other locations of the 2021 Premier League venues in Europe.
Cardiff Dublin Newcastle Rotterdam
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff 3Arena Utilita Arena Rotterdam Ahoy
Exeter Belfast Nottingham Manchester
Westpoint Arena SSE Arena Belfast Motorpoint Arena Nottingham Manchester Arena
Brighton Liverpool Sheffield Aberdeen
Brighton Centre M&S Bank Arena FlyDSA Arena P&J Live
Birmingham Glasgow Leeds London
Utilita Arena SSE Hydro First Direct Arena The O2 Arena
Berlin
Mercedes Benz Arena

Prize money

The prize money for the 2021 tournament will remain at £825,000.

StagePrize Money
Winner£250,000
Runner-up£120,000
Semi-finalists (x2)£80,000
5th place£70,000
6th place£60,000
7th place£55,000
8th place£50,000
9th place£35,000
10th place
League Winner Bonus£25,000
Total£825,000

Players

Nine of the ten players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship on 3 January. The top four on the PDC Order of Merit are joined by six wildcards. The tenth was announced following the 2021 Masters, with the final of that event serving effectively as a play-off between Mervyn King and Jonny Clayton, with the winner qualifiying.

Player Appearance in
Premier League		 Consecutive
Streak		 Order of Merit
Rank on 3/1/21		 Previous best performance Qualification
 Gerwyn Price 4th 4 1 5th (2019, 2020) PDC Order of Merit
 Michael van Gerwen 9th 9 2 Winner (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
 Peter Wright 8th 8 3 Runner-up (2017)
 Rob Cross 4th 4 4 Runner-up (2019)
 Nathan Aspinall 2nd 2 5 Runner-up (2020) Wildcard
 Gary Anderson 10th 2 8 Winner (2011, 2015)
 Dimitri Van den Bergh 1st 1 10 Debut
 Glen Durrant 2nd 2 13 Winner (2020)
 José de Sousa 1st 1 15 Debut
 Jonny Clayton 1st 1 18 Debut

References
  1. Phillips, Josh. "Fresh look revealed for 2021 Premier League with schedule confirmed". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  2. Allen, Dave. "Unibet Premier League reverts to ten players in 2021". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  3. "Premier League Darts 2020: Glen Durrant crowned unibet Premier League Champion". PDC.
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