Two words. Luke Littler. That’s it. That’s the name—a 17-year-old from Warrington who has single-handedly changed the sport of darts in one calendar year.
The Nuke blasted onto the global scene just over 12 months ago at the 2024 World Championships. Fast forward twelve months, and he has just won the 2025 edition of the tournament to become the youngest-ever World Champion. He is still a teenager.
The monumental rise of this darting sensation in the past year has astounded most across the sporting sphere.. Littler has seemingly proliferated the sport of darts with his quiet persona and yet generationally magnificent talent.
His shy nature off stage starkly contrasts how he orchestrates the crowd during a game. He seems to be on nine darters every other leg. He hit four nine darters just in 2024, two of which were televised. The highlight was nine perfect arrows in the Premier League final back in May, which he went on to win.
He won his first match of this year’s World Championships in the second round by averaging over 140 in the last set with 11, 10 and 11 dart legs.
He was the bookies’ favourite going into the tournament, an incredible pressure to place on such a young prodigy. But he delivered on the biggest stages in darts, overcoming that immense pressure to perform repeatedly when it mattered.
The route to winning culminated in the demolition of three-time world champion Michael Van Gerwen, who was a prodigy when he broke onto the pro circuit in 2006.
It felt fitting when Sky Sports commentator Dan Dawson coined Littler’s win as “a changing of the baton” from veteran to youth prospect. Except this prospect is one of a kind that only comes around occasionally.
Luke Littler’s rise to the top has been a staggering spectacle that rarely happens in sports, let alone just darts. How darts have grown over the past year, in terms of eyes on the sport and young kids picking up the game, is eye-opening regarding the sheer impact that the Nuke has had just by playing.
He now holds so much gravitas in the darting circle, more than anyone else, and perhaps the most ever. To be compared to the legend that is Phil Taylor and to even surpass some records that he set spotlights Littler’s excellence.
The Alexandra Palace triumph pushes Littler to number two in the world, behind only Luke Humphries, who has had a reign of dominance in recent times. But could the other Luke be about to overtake him? Littler is still far behind in earnings, a credit to Humphries’ immaculate form throughout 2023, which ended with a win at the Palace against Littler last time out. But even he has struggled lately and lost to Peter Wright in Round four.
The Premier League lineup for 2025, which begins on the sixth of February, was announced on Monday. Most of the eight names are all but nailed on before they are officially announced. But in an uncertain year where some top players from the past are out of form, there was much speculation on who would be selected. Humphries, Littler, and MVG were the three who were guaranteed to be involved.
However, the World Championships, with the stature of the event and the timing as one year transitions into the next, serve as a perfect audition for players to prove why they should be involved. The other five players, alongside the aforementioned, were semi-finalists Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey—as well as Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price. The latter lost out to Dobey in the quarter-finals, and the former world champ looked to be back somewhere near his best.
It is undoubtedly a stellar lineup, with the Premier League set to be an entertaining weekly matchup throughout late Winter and early spring. Every Thursday, the players play at a different venue, mainly in the UK but with a handful in mainland Europe, such as Berlin or Rotterdam. Players gather points for wins, and a league table is formatted with the top four at the end of the season, progressing to the playoffs at the 02 at the end of May. Littler outlasted Humphries in 2024 on a box office evening in South London. This year should be some more of the same.
Ostensibly, there has never been a bigger buildup and expectation for the Premier League, which the PDC must be thrilled about. And they make their selections with the entertainment aspect in mind, including someone like Price. Someone who can perform at the highest level loves to play the villain and will get the crowd involved in his games, for better or worse. Who could forget him infamously wearing ear defenders to block out the boos back in 2023 at the World Championships?
The next question regarding Luke Littler is, what is next? Something so hard to execute is longevity. At just 17, already a champion of the world, can he keep it going? Realisitically, Littler could rule the sport for the next few decades, he has his whole career ahead of him still. However, it is hard to adjust that career arc projection when someone peaks so early. Remember that there are so many talented darts players in this modern age, with the competition for Littler being better than ever.
At his current rate, Littler will have earned as much from World Championships by age 22 as Phil Taylor did in his entire career, even after adjusting for inflation. It is an astounding metric that can be interpreted in different ways. Yes, the prize money has sky-rocketed. But the sport’s gross revenue is now generating because more eyeballs on one particular man from Warrington is the catalyst.
One sure thing is that Luke Littler will be around long. So, it will take some unfathomable brilliance to get the better of this generational teenager.
