For the first time ever, the Premier League unfurled its gilded banner on Belgian soil, and when the confetti settled inside Antwerp’s AFAS Dome, it was Gerwyn Price – The Iceman himself – standing tallest courtesy of victory over Michael van Gerwen. Five points secured. £10,000 pocketed. A fresh etching carved into the granite tablet of Premier League folklore. History did not simply knock on Belgium’s door – it strode in wearing tungsten armour and a snarl.
The inaugural Antwerp contest began with nothing short of pyrotechnics disguised as precision. Luke Littler versus Luke Humphries – a rivalry already humming with subtext – delivered eleven legs of incandescent brilliance. The scoring was volcanic. Eleven legs of the finest quality – seven maximums apiece – a statistical arm-wrestle drenched in audacity. Yet in the crucial moments, composure proved decisive. Humphries blinked at match darts. Littler did not.
Next came what promised to be a thunderclap: Van Gerwen against Josh Rock. On paper, operatic. Unexpectedly ragged. Both men misfired, but it was Rock who appeared locked in an awkward duel with his own grip. The Dutchman, rarely this profligate, still found a way – a gritty, unpolished victory forged with a sub-90 average. Ugly? Yes. Effective? Absolutely. Ten clear average points separated them by the end.
Then there is Stephen Bunting – the Premier League’s tragic romantic. In Newcastle, he surged 2-0 ahead before Van Gerwen ruthlessly reeled off six consecutive legs. In Antwerp, déjà vu arrived dressed in cruel symmetry. 4-0 up on Jonny Clayton, coasting, commanding – and then collapse. Six straight legs conceded once more. The silver lining? Should The Bullet storm into a 6-0 lead in Glasgow, mathematics might finally spare him.
The semi-finals intensified further. Littler, imperious earlier, seemed primed to dispatch an under-par MIchael Van Gerwen. The narrative wrote itself. Except Van Gerwen (above) tore up the script. The Green Machine escalated, suffocated, conquered. For the second successive week, he marched into the final.
Over on the other half of the draw, Gezzy’s route was equally combustible. The all-Welsh duel with Clayton – a Valley’s derby brimming with subplots – twisted and writhed to a last-leg shoot-out.
Price broke throw at the critical juncture, denying his World Cup comrade. The hoodoo when facing his compatriot lingers for Clayton.
And so, the final: Van Gerwen versus Price. Only days earlier on the Players Championship circuit, the Iceman had stunned the Dutchman with a 117 average whitewash masterclass. Revenge simmered. Yet after parity through four shared legs, the Iceman accelerated with clinical ferocity and finishing. Relentless scoring. Antwerp was conquered.
In 2020 he lifted Euro Tour silverware on Belgian terrain. Now, Antwerp joins Hasselt in his Flemish conquest catalogue. Next stop: Glasgow.
2026 BETMGM PREMIER LEAGUE (Night Two)
AFAS Dome, Antwerp, Belgium
Quarter-Finals
Luke Littler 6-5 Luke Humphries
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Josh Rock
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Stephen Buntin
Gerwyn Price 6-5 Gian van Veen
Semi-Finals
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Final
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Michael van Gerwyn
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC / Jenny Segers
