MICHAEL Van Gerwen won the first night of the BETMGM Premier League yesterday beating Stephen Bunting and Luke Humphries on his way to the final!
In that final he bested 2026 World Championship finalist and the new Dutch #1, Gian Van Veen, winning 6-4 and becoming the first nightly winner of the 2026 Premier League!
But this got me thinking? In the last three Premier leagues, what did the winner of the first night go on to achieve and how are MvG’s chances looking for the rest of the tournament?
Let’s do some research!
2025 PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT ONE WINNER: LUKE HUMPHRIES
The SSE Arena in Belfast was the venue for night one of the 2025 Premier League and it was the world number one at that time, Luke Humphries, who managed to secure the win, a 6-1 result against Chris Dobey!
But how did he get on in the rest of the tournament? Well he went on to finish 2nd in the table, picking up three nightly wins and winning 21 out of his 34 matches played!
On finals night Cool Hand beat Nathan Aspinall in the semi-finals 10-7 and then won the whole tournament with an 11-8 victory over Luke Littler!
2025 night one winner? PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPION
2024 PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT ONE WINNER: MICHAEL SMITH
At the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff it was The Bully Boy, Michael Smith, who took the night one win in 2024, beating Gerwyn Price 6-2 in the final on that day!
What was his destiny for the rest of the PL? Smith went on to finish 4th in the league, coming down to a match decider on the final night with Aspinall to see who qualified for the play-offs, which Smith won.
He managed 17 victories in 31 matches over the league phase including one more nightly win other than in week one.
Unfortunately though for Bully Boy, he lost in the semi-final, 10-5 to the eventual champion that year, Luke Littler.
2024 night one winner? LOST IN SEMI-FINALS
2023 PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT ONE WINNER: CHRIS DOBEY
Back in Belfast in 2023, it was The Geordie, Chris Dobey, who bagged the victory in night one beating Michael Van Gerwen in a close 6-5 game!
However, that would be his only nightly win in the Premier League as he finished 7th out of eight players and was knocked out in the league phase.
2023 night one winner? KNOCKED OUT IN LEAGUE PHASE
What do you think Michael Van Gerwen’s chances are in this year’s Premier League? Tournament winner? Semi-final loss or knocked out in the league phase? We’ll have to find out!
