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The 2025 European Darts Championship featured some of the most exciting games we've seen in the past few months, including the tournament final between Luke Humphries and Gian van Veen.
Van Veen was able to pull out the win in a nail-biter, picking up his first career major and boosting his odds significantly regarding his chances of making the 2026 Premier League lineup.
How likely is it that Gian van Veen will play in the 2026 Premier League?
For those who are unaware, the Premier League of Darts is composed of eight players, with four being the top four on the Main OoM after the PDC WC, and the other four being selected by a committee.
MORE: 7 darts players who could be in Premier League Darts one day
The Premier League spans from February to May, with the eight players competing each week on Thursday nights.
It's an unranked event, meaning the money players earn doesn't go towards the Main OoM, but it's an amazing opportunity for the best players in the world to play one another each week, while doing it in front of thousands of fans in sold-out arenas.
Van Veen hasn't played in the Premier League yet, but has a very good chance at changing that in a couple of months.
In August, I made an early prediction article for the 2026 Premier League lineup, and didn't feature van Veen on the list at that point.
MORE: Predicting the PDC 2026 Premier League of Darts lineup
With what's transpired since then, I would definitely move a few people around, including adding van Veen in.
Winning a major definitely helps, but as we saw last year, for instances like the World Grand Prix when Mike De Decker won, it wasn't enough.
This situation with Gian van Veen is different, as he started this tournament as the world number 15 and finished as world number 7.
If the year ended right now, there's a very high chance he'd already get a committee pick, but he can strengthen that case even more in the next two months.
Van Veen will be defending virtually no prize money at the next three majors.
The Grand Slam of Darts is next, which van Veen competed in 2023, but didn't advance past the round robin round. As long as he makes it past the group stage, he'll be adding ranking money.
MORE: Latest players to qualify for 2025 Grand Slam of Darts: Littler, Humphries headline field
He'll only have to defend a second-round appearance when the Players Championship Finals come around, which we'd expect him to do, as he's currently ranked #4 on that OoM.
Lastly, he'll be defending zero money at the World Championship coming up, since he had a first-round exit on debut in 2023.
Players like James Wade will have to perform well at the end of this year to avoid being leapfrogged by van Veen.
Wade will be defending £50,000 from his semifinal run at the 2023 Grand Slam as well as £20,000 from a quarterfinal run at the Players Championship Finals.
There are a ton of players in the mix for the Premier League next year, so there's no guarantee van Veen makes it as of now, but he has full control of how he plays in the next few majors, which will ultimately determine his destiny for that event.
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