Mike De Decker completed an unbelievable tournament run last night by beating the defending champion, Luke Humphries, to claim the 2024 World Grand Prix title. His win raised an unexpected question from darts media regarding Premier League inclusion though…
Mike De Decker concluded the 2024 World Grand Prix with a shock upset, beating reigning champion Luke Humphries 6-4 in the final.
De Decker found himself 4-1 up, much to fans and his own surprise, before Humphries fought back to 4-4.
After already securing clutch comebacks earlier in the week, it was easy to see a relentless Humphries go on to take the win from that stage, but De Decker would hold his nerve to win his maiden PDC major title.
The 28-year old Belgian had only made it as far as a quarter-final place on the European Tour and had never made it to that stage for a PDC major televised tournament.
His composed win and string of impressive performances this week has earned him plenty of new fans and recognition to go along with it.
Just look at the draw he had to overcome on route to victory:
✅ Damon Heta
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 13, 2024
✅ Gary Anderson
✅ James Wade
✅ Dimitri Van den Bergh
✅ Luke Humphries
Mike De Decker defeats five of the sport's biggest names to secure his maiden televised title! 🏆
What a run. What a story! 👏 pic.twitter.com/6lELbprjdt
His results have certainly captured our attention and this has also led to some media speculation on his suitability for the 2025 Premier League…
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Luke Humphries and Mike De Decker React to Premier League Question
De Decker moved up to 25th in the Order of Merit following his win.
While he still has some way to go to be considered an ‘elite’ player (top 16 or even top 8), his win has got the media questioning his suitability for inclusion in the Premier League.
When asked if he could be included in the Premier League in the future, De Decker gave a humble response:
“I have no clue. I’m happy with this and I’m not thinking about the Premier League whatsoever.
“To be honest I don’t think I’m ready for the Premier League just yet. If they put me in I’ll say yes, 100%, but if they don’t put me in then that’s fine. Maybe next year or the year after.”
Luke Humphries had already commented on De Decker’s Premier League inclusion which prompted this question.
Luke had said:
“He’s put himself in the mix for a lot of things now. Premier League.
“I don’t think they will discount him out of that, it’s a battle between him and Dimitri maybe for the Belgian to get in now because they’ve both won a major. Maybe it might be time to give Mike a chance.”
“You can’t just win one major tournament and expect to be in. He has to show that willing to play brilliantly.
“You’ve just got to show that level and that it stays there. It’s nice to give someone a chance, I think he’d relish a challenge. Maybe it’s worth trying someone else.”
See the full interview with Mike De Decker produced by Online Darts below:
Possible Contenders for 2025 Premier League
Premier League Darts tickets are on sale today for the 2025 season which runs weekly from February to May.
The Premier League is an invitation only, 17 week tournament with players consisting of the highest rank and also the most popular darts players on the PDC tour.
While no specific criteria is released for player selection, it’s usually easy for fans to understand 4-6 selections being based on PDC Order of Merit rank and tournament wins over the last 12 months (form players).
The last few selections are always more debatable with inclusion being based on a late surge in form (Luke Littler in 2024), overall popularity (Peter Wright 2024) or a combination of other factors.
For 2025, it’s fair to assume Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen are nailed on positions.
Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall get the fan votes and performed well in the 2024 Premier League taking 4th and 5th place so will likely be included once again.
That leaves three places up for grabs.
Peter Wright, while being a main ticket seller for these events has not performed well in the 2024 Premier League or campaign as a whole so could easily lose his position while Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price find themselves in a similar situation.
This means we could see two or three new faces in the 2025 campaign with possible names including:
- Dave Chisnall
- Ross Smith
- Damon Heta
- Stephen Bunting
- Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Chris Dobey
These are all top 16 players who have form and titles on their side in 2024.
Now that Mike De Decker has entered the conversation, it’s all to play for as performances at the business end of this season will be crucial for earning selection next year!
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