2020 Premier League Darts

The 2020 Unibet Premier League Darts is an ongoing darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the sixteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 6 February at the P&J Live in Aberdeen and will end with the Play-offs at The O2 Arena in London on Thursday 22 October, after a delay was caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

2020 Unibet Premier League Darts
Winner
Runner-up
Score
Dates
6 February–22 October 2020
Edition
16th
Number of players
9 (plus 9 guests)
Venues
12
Nine Dart Finish
Michael Smith
Premier League Darts
< 2019 | 2020 | 2021 >

Michael van Gerwen is the four-time defending champion after defeating Rob Cross 11–5 in the 2019 final.

On 12 March 2020, it was announced that the double-header due to be played in Rotterdam had been postponed due to coronavirus concerns.[1] The following day it was announced that the Rotterdam dates would be moved to September, with the culmination of the tournament taking place there instead of London.[2] On 16 March 2020 it was announced the round to be played in Newcastle would be moved to October, taking over as the tournament's final round.

The May dates were postponed on 9 April 2020, with the PDC announcing a fully rescheduled calendar, the play-offs now taking place in Sheffield.[3] Further changes were announced in July, with the cancellation of the events in Birmingham, Belfast, Leeds, Berlin and the double header in Rotterdam; and the reinstatement of The O2 Arena as the host of the final. Six nights were added to the calendar to be held behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.[4]

Format

The tournament format will remain the same as 2019, with the only difference being the re-branding of 'contenders' to 'challengers' for this season.[5]

Phase 1: In each round, eight of the nine players play each other in four matches and the ninth player plays one match against one of the nine challengers. 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 player is 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 only change of venues from 2019 to 2020 was the introduction of the P&J Live in Aberdeen, which hosted the opening night's action.[6]

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the rounds in Birmingham, Belfast, Leeds, Berlin Rotterdam, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield were cancelled, with rounds being added in Milton Keynes to make up.[4]

Locations of the 2020 Premier League venues in the U.K. and Ireland.
Other locations of the 2020 Premier League venues in Europe.
Aberdeen Nottingham Cardiff Dublin
P&J Live
Thursday 6 February		 Motorpoint Arena Nottingham
Thursday 13 February		 Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
Thursday 20 February		 3Arena
Thursday 27 February
Exeter Liverpool Birmingham Belfast
Westpoint Arena
Thursday 5 March		 M&S Bank Arena
Thursday 12 March		 Arena Birmingham
(cancelled)		 SSE Arena Belfast
(cancelled)
Leeds Berlin Rotterdam Milton Keynes
First Direct Arena
(cancelled)		 Mercedes Benz Arena
(cancelled)		 Rotterdam Ahoy
(cancelled)		 Marshall Arena
Tuesday 25 August – Sunday 6 September
Glasgow Manchester Newcastle Sheffield
SSE Hydro (cancelled) Manchester Arena (cancelled) Utilita Arena
(cancelled)		 Sheffield Arena
(cancelled)
London
The O2 Arena
Thursday 22 October

Prize money

The prize money for the 2020 tournament remained 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
League Winner Bonus£25,000
Total£825,000

Players

The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship final on 1 January. The top four on the PDC Order of Merit are joined by five wildcards.[5]

Player Appearance in
Premier League		 Consecutive
Streak		 Order of Merit
Rank on 1/1/20		 Previous best performance Qualification
Michael van Gerwen 8th 8 1 Winner (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) PDC Order of Merit
Peter Wright 7th 7 2 Runner-up (2017) PDC Order of Merit
Gerwyn Price 3rd 3 3 5th (2019) PDC Order of Merit
Rob Cross 3rd 3 4 Runner-up (2019) PDC Order of Merit
Michael Smith 4th 3 5 Runner-up (2018) Wildcard
Gary Anderson 9th 1 6 Winner (2011, 2015) Wildcard
Daryl Gurney 3rd 3 7 Semi-final (2019) Wildcard
Nathan Aspinall 1st[lower-alpha 1] 1 8 Debut Wildcard
Glen Durrant 1st[lower-alpha 1] 1 22 Debut Wildcard

The format is similar to that of 2019, with 9 main players plus 9 invited players, now referred to as 'challengers' in a re-brand from the tag of 'contenders'. The 9 main players earn league points if they win or draw against the challengers. The challengers do not earn any league points but they earn financial bonuses if they win or draw their match.[5]

Player Venue Order of Merit
Rank on 1/1/20
John Henderson Aberdeen 31
Fallon Sherrock Nottingham 91 [lower-alpha 2]
Jonny Clayton Cardiff 16
William O'Connor Dublin 37
Luke Humphries Exeter 35
Stephen Bunting Liverpool 17
Chris Dobey Milton Keynes 19
Jeffrey de Zwaan Milton Keynes 20
Jermaine Wattimena Milton Keynes 23
  1. Competed in 2019 Premier League Darts as a contender.
  2. Not a PDC Tour Card holder following the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship

League stage

Players in italics are "Challengers", and only play on that night.

  1. Please note these are not calculated properly and are not indicative of actual averages for each night.

Play-offs – 22 October

The O2 Arena, London

Score
Semi-finals (best of 19 legs)

–

–
Final (best of 21 legs)

–
Night's Total Average:
Highest Checkout:
Most 180s:
Night's 180s:

Table and streaks

Table

After the first nine rounds in phase 1, the bottom player in the table is eliminated. In phase 2, the eight remaining players play in a single match on each of the seven nights. The top four players then compete in the knockout semi-finals and final on the playoff night.

The nine challengers are not ranked in the table, but the main nine players can earn league points for a win or draw in the games against them.

Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.

# Name Pts Matches Legs Scoring
Pld W D L LF LA +/- LWAT 100+ 140+ 180s A HC C%
1 Glen Durrant964113928+11158254695.5714443.68
2 Michael van Gerwen864023729+812854418101.6914451.39
3 Michael Smith763123430+41176401796.7116739.53
4 Nathan Aspinall763123533+21169422097.8217041.67
5 Peter Wright763123332+11070492297.1315743.42
6 Gary Anderson662223536−11087502094.5012236.08
7 Gerwyn Price5613233330982311696.8615741.25
8 Rob Cross561323537−21476461794.1712841.18
9 Daryl Gurney260242840−12972511393.2214438.36

(Q) = Qualified For The Playoffs (E) = Eliminated From Playoff Contention

Streaks
Player Phase 1, Nights 1 to 9 Phase 2, Nights 10 to 16 Play-offs
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 SF F
Glen Durrant W D W L W W
Michael van Gerwen W W L W L W
Michael Smith L D W W W L
Nathan Aspinall W L W W L D
Peter Wright L D W L W W
Gary Anderson W D L W L D
Gerwyn Price D D D W L L
Rob Cross D W L L D D
Daryl Gurney L L D L D L
Challengers L D L L W D N/A
Legend: WWinDDrawLLoss—Eliminated

Positions by Week
Player Phase 1, Nights 1 to 9 Phase 2, Nights 10 to 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Glen Durrant 1 2 1 4 1 1
Michael van Gerwen 4 1 2 1 3 2
Michael Smith 9 8 4 5 2 3
Nathan Aspinall 2 5 3 2 4 4
Peter Wright 8 7 7 8 7 5
Gary Anderson 3 4 8 6 6 6
Gerwyn Price 6 6 6 3 5 7
Rob Cross 5 3 5 7 8 8
Daryl Gurney 7 9 9 9 9 9
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References
  1. https://www.pdc.tv/news/2020/03/12/rotterdam-double-header-postponed
  2. https://www.pdc.tv/news/2020/03/13/rotterdam-double-header-moved-september
  3. https://www.pdc.tv/news/2020/04/09/unibet-premier-leagues-may-dates-moved
  4. Phillips, Josh. "Revised 2020 Unibet Premier League schedule confirmed". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  5. Phillips, Josh. "2020 Premier League to feature 'Challengers'". Professional Darts Corporation. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  6. http://www.pdc.tv/news/2019/09/09/2020-unibet-premier-league-dates-confirmed
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