2022 Premier League Darts

2022 Cazoo Premier League Darts
Winner
 Michael van Gerwen
Runner-up
 Joe Cullen
Score
11–10
Dates
3 February – 13 June 2022
Edition
18th
Number of players
8
Venues
17
Nine Dart Finish
 Gerwyn Price (x2)
Premier League Darts
< 2021 | 2022 | 2023 >

The 2022 Cazoo Premier League Darts was a darts tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the eighteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 3 February 2022, at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, and finished with the play-offs, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on Monday 13 June 2022.[1]

Jonny Clayton was the reigning champion after defeating José de Sousa 11–5 in the 2021 final,[2] but he lost 10–4 to debutant Joe Cullen in the semi-finals.

Michael van Gerwen won a record-equalling sixth Premier League title by defeating Cullen 11–10 in the final, after Cullen missed a dart at double to win the title, which would have made him the third debutant in a row (after Glen Durrant and Clayton) to win the title at his first attempt.[3]

On Night 3, Gerwyn Price hit nine-dart finishes in consecutive matches (in his semi-final against Michael van Gerwen and the final against James Wade), making him the second person in Premier League history to hit two nine-darters on the same night, after Phil Taylor, who did both of his in the 2010 Premier League Darts final against Wade.

This tournament also saw the beginning of the PDC's new partnership with Winmau as their dartboard supplier.[4]

Format

[edit]

On 14 January 2022, the PDC announced a new format for the Premier League. Instead of the previously used round robin format, the event consisted of an eight-person knockout bracket every night. Each of the seven matches was played over the best-of-11 legs. The players were guaranteed to meet each other once in the quarter-finals throughout the first seven weeks and once in the quarterfinals in weeks 9–15, with weeks 8 and 16 being drawn based on the league standings at that point. Players received two points per semi-final finish, three points per runner-up finish, and five points per final win.[5]

Though it was assured that players meet each other only twice in the quarter-finals on regular nights (i.e. weeks 1–7 and 9–15), no other guarantees are made. So certain players were drawn onto the same semi-final branch more often than others. For example, while Price–Wright, van Gerwen–Anderson and Wade–Smith pairs were on the same branch only when they play each other in the quarter-finals, a Wright–Anderson and van Gerwen–Smith final was possible only twice on the regular 14 nights.

Following the regular phase, the top four players in the league table contested the two knockout semi-finals with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd.

Venues

[edit]

2022 saw the return of the Brighton Centre, which was last used as a Premier League venue in 2017.

class=notpageimage|
Locations of the 2022 Premier League venues in the UK and Ireland.
class=notpageimage|
Other locations of the 2022 Premier League venues in Europe.
Wales Cardiff England Liverpool Northern Ireland Belfast England Exeter
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
Thursday 3 February 		M&S Bank Arena
Thursday 10 February 		SSE Arena Belfast
Thursday 17 February 		Westpoint Arena
Thursday 3 March
England Brighton England Nottingham Netherlands Rotterdam England Birmingham
Brighton Centre
Thursday 10 March 		Motorpoint Arena Nottingham
Thursday 17 March 		Rotterdam Ahoy
Thursday 24 March 		Utilita Arena Birmingham
Thursday 31 March
England Leeds England Manchester Scotland Aberdeen Republic of Ireland Dublin
First Direct Arena
Thursday 7 April 		AO Arena
Thursday 14 April 		P&J Live
Thursday 21 April 		3Arena
Thursday 28 April
Scotland Glasgow England Sheffield England London England Newcastle
OVO Hydro
Thursday 5 May 		Utilita Arena Sheffield
Thursday 12 May 		The O2
Thursday 19 May 		Utilita Arena Newcastle
Thursday 26 May
Germany Berlin
Mercedes-Benz Arena
Monday 13 June

Prize money

[edit]

The prize money for the 2022 tournament increased to £1 million, including a £10,000 bonus to each night's winner.[6][7]

Stage Prize Money
Winner £275,000
Runner-up £125,000
Semi-finalists (x2) £85,000
5th place £75,000
6th place £70,000
7th place £65,000
8th place £60,000
Weekly Winner Bonus (x16) £10,000
Total £1,000,000

Players

[edit]

Usually, the top four players in the PDC Order of Merit following the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship would be joined by six invited players, of which they would have been announced following the World Championship final. However, this year, following the announcement of the new format, it was announced that only 8 players will participate in 2022.

It was revealed that the new format would encompass eight players, each playing against each other in a knockout tournament each night. The winner of each night would receive an additional £10,000 towards their prize money. Those who make it out of the last 8 each receive 2 points, the runner-up will receive 3 points and the winner receives 5.

The full list of players was announced on 31 January 2022, with the Top 6 players on the PDC Order of Merit joined by the reigning Premier League champion Jonny Clayton, and debutant Joe Cullen, fresh from winning his first televised title at the Masters the previous evening.[8]

This new format saw “Judgement Night” and relegation disappear from the league.

Player Appearance in
Premier League 		Consecutive
Streak 		Order of Merit
Rank on 31/1/22 		Previous best performance
 Gerwyn Price 4th 1[a] 1 5th Place (2019, 2020)
 Peter Wright 9th 9 2 Runner-up (2017)
 Michael van Gerwen 10th 10 3 Winner (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
 James Wade 12th 2 4 Winner (2009)
 Michael Smith 5th 1 5 Runner-up (2018)
 Gary Anderson 11th 3[b] 6 Winner (2011, 2015)
 Jonny Clayton 2nd 2 8 Winner (2021)
 Joe Cullen 1st 1 11 Debut
  1. ^ Price qualified for the 2021 Premier League Darts, but withdrew following a positive COVID-19 test.
  2. ^ Anderson qualified for the 2019 Premier League Darts, but withdrew following an injury.

League stage

[edit]