The Dutchman endured a dismal World Championship and now has huge questions that want answering.
Michael van Gerwen struggled in 2025 (Picture: Getty)
Michael van Gerwen’s 2025 nearly received off to one of the best of begins. Regardless of being trounced by Luke Littler within the ultimate of the World Darts Championship 12 months in the past, the very fact Mighty Mike had navigated his approach again to the title decider was seen as a significant step in the best course.
However wanting again, it’s honest to say that was one step ahead, two steps again for the three-time world champion. Whereas there’s definitely no humiliation in dropping to Gary Anderson on the World Championship stage, a fourth-round exit on the current Ally Pally showdown bookended a fairly depressing 12 months for the Dutchman.
After the 2025 ultimate look, Van Gerwen’s greatest end in a significant television-ranked occasion got here on the European Championship, the place he reached the semi-final stage. In any other case, a collection of disappointing outcomes and performances has left Van Gerwen nervously wanting over his shoulder.
It’s not panic stations simply but for Van Gerwen, however due to the intricacies of the darts Order of Benefit, the 36-year-old might discover himself tumbling down the rankings even additional. At the moment in fourth, Van Gerwen will start 2026 needing to defend prize cash earned in 2024 from the World Championship, World Masters and World Matchplay, as per the two-year Order of Benefit cycle.
Having struggled considerably in 2025, it means his margin for error is far smaller than he’d have hoped for this time round, which might spell hazard for his hopes of enjoying in future editions of the Premier League. The highest 4 within the PDC Order of Benefit qualify for the Premier League routinely, but when it have been primarily based on annual earnings for 2025 alone, he’d as an alternative be down in twentieth.
It’s one thing that hasn’t gone unnoticed, with former skilled Matt Edgar elevating the priority on the Love the Darts podcast. He defined: “There’s rather a lot on the horizon for him. He’s defending the ultimate from the World Championship as a part of this 12 months’s cycle of defending prize cash. There’s an terrible lot of his prize cash for grabs, the place if it doesn’t go nicely, he might see himself drop to the underside of the highest 16.
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“Now, he’s world quantity 4. This dialog, I didn’t begin it with, is he going to take any of the highest three locations again? My concern is how far down the rankings does he go proper now?”
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