Who is playing in Premier League Darts 2026 and what is the schedule?

The PDC Premier League is back and is set to be more competitive than ever.

Luke Humphries is back to defend his title after triumphing over back-to-back world champion Luke Littler in the final of last season's edition.

The eight-player tournament starts on Thursday, 5 February in Newcastle.

There will be weekly fixtures until the finals night in London on Thursday, 28 May.

Premier League Darts is an annual tournament contested by eight players, run by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

The top four players in the world rankings qualify automatically and four others are selected as 'wildcard' entries by the organisers.

The tournament has taken place annually since 2005.

Every Thursday, the eight players go head-to-head in a straight knockout tournament.

Each player enters at the quarter-final stage, before moving to the semi-finals and then a final.

These matches are all played over the best of 11 legs, or a race to six.

Players take home points from each of these rounds. The winner of the night gets five points, the runner-up three points, and each semi-finalist wins two points.

A new tournament starts each Thursday with the quarter-final line-up changing on a weekly basis.

The players meet each other once at the quarter-final stage from weeks one to seven, and then again in weeks nine to 15.

The matches in weeks eight and 16 are played based on position in the league at that point.

The four players at the top of the table at the end of night 16 qualify for finals night, which take place on Thursday, 28 May.

The semi-finals of the play-offs are played over 19 legs, while the winner is crowned in a final match played across the best of 21 legs.

Title defender Humphries will make his return, alongside world champion Littler, debutant Gian van Veen and seven-time winner Michael van Gerwen.

All four players qualified through the PDC Order of Merit, which is the world ranking system for professional darts players.

The remaining four players, Jonny Clayton, Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock and Gerwyn Price, have all been selected as wildcards.

The PDC told BBC Sport its board of directors "discusses a range of factors" when deciding who gets a wildcard place, including "form, achievements, whether a player is considered 'ready' for the Premier League, their experience and profile".

Van Gerwen is the most successful Premier League player of all time with seven titles.

There is a £1,250,000 prize pot for the competition.

The winner of each night takes home a bonus of £10,000.

The pot is then split based on the final positions in the league table.

Winner: £350,000

Runner-up: £170,000

Semi-finalists: £110,000

Fifth: £95,000

Sixth: £90,000

Seventh: £85,000

Eighth: £80,000

The 2026 Premier League champion's prize has seen an increase of £75,000 compared to last year's winnings of £275,000.

Night one - Thursday, 5 February, Newcastle

Night two - Thursday, 12 February, Antwerp

Night three - Thursday, 19 February, Glasgow

Night four - Thursday, 26 February, Belfast

Night five - Thursday, 5 March, Cardiff

Night six - Thursday, 12 March, Nottingham

Night seven - Thursday, 19 March, Dublin

Night eight - Thursday, 26 March, Berlin

Night nine - Thursday, 2 April, Manchester

Night 10 - Thursday, 9 April, Brighton

Night 11 - Thursday, 16 April, Rotterdam

Night 12 - Thursday, 23 April, Liverpool

Night 13 - Thursday, 30 April, Aberdeen

Night 14 - Thursday, 7 May, Leeds

Night 15 - Thursday, 14 May, Birmingham

Night 16 - Thursday, 21 May, Sheffield

Play-offs - Thursday, 28 May, London

There will be live text commentary for each match night of the Premier League Darts.

Coverage will be on the BBC Sport app and website every Thursday.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.