# Luke Littler

Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number two. Nicknamed "the Nuke", Littler is the reigning PDC World Champion after winning the 2025 World Championship, where he became the youngest world champion in darts history, at 17 years and 347 days old. He has won four other major titles: the Premier League, Grand Slam and World Series Finals all in 2024, and the 2025 UK Open. He has won two World Series of Darts titles, also in 2024. Littler has won a total of thirteen PDC titles in his professional career; his five major titles are the ninth-most in PDC history.
In his youth career, Littler won the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship, five PDC Development Tours and the 2022 World Youth Masters, as well as the Junior Darts Corporation's JDC World Darts Championship and JDC Super 16 twice each.
Having played in British Darts Organisation and World Darts Federation events since he was 12, Littler won his first senior title at age 14. He competed in the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, becoming the youngest player to win a match at a WDF World Championship, before going out in the last 16. After qualifying for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship through his placement on the Development Tour, he became the youngest player to win a match at a PDC World Championship. A 66/1 outsider before the tournament, he defeated six opponents—including former world champions Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross—en route to the final, where he was defeated by Luke Humphries. In 2025, Littler reached the final for a second consecutive time, where he defeated Michael van Gerwen to win the title.
Littler is the youngest player to hit a televised nine-dart finish, which he achieved at the 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters two days before his 17th birthday. He is also the youngest to hit two televised nine-darters, having hit a second in the 2024 Premier League Darts final at age 17. Littler is the youngest player to hit a broadcast nine-darter, having achieved the feat in 2021 at age 14. Named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2024, he was also runner-up for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, behind Keely Hodgkinson. His rise to prominence at age 16 led to an increased interest in the sport, a phenomenon dubbed "Littlermania" or the "Littler effect".
Littler has been noted for his scoring power, hitting a large number of maximum 180 scores, and his proficiency on the double 10 section of the board's outer ring.

## Early life

Born on 21 January 2007, Littler spent his early childhood in Runcorn before moving to nearby Warrington. He has two brothers and a sister. He began playing darts when he was 18 months old, after his father bought him a magnetic dart board from a pound shop. He scored his first 180 at the age of six and a nine-dart finish at the age of 13. When he was 10, he joined the St Helens Darts Academy and began playing in under-21 leagues. He was educated at Padgate Academy in Warrington.

## Career
### Early career

In 2019, Littler won the England Youth Grand Prix and the Isle of Man Masters youth competition, where he was able to defend his title in 2020. The 2020 JDC Tour featured two titles from Littler, with him later winning three titles on the JDC Advanced Tour in 2021. Littler won the youth title at the England Open in September 2021 and finished second in the British Pentathlon.
In November 2021, Littler won his first seniors title at the Irish Open defeating Barry Copeland 6–2 in legs. This qualified Littler for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, at the age of 14. At the end of November, during the JDC MVG Masters tournament, he hit a nine-dart finish.

### 2022

Littler won the JDC Super 16 in Milton Keynes at the end of January 2022, beating Eleanor Cairns in the final. In March 2022, he won the youth competition at the Isle Of Man Open and advanced to the finals of the Isle of Man Classic. At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Littler started as a seeded player from second round and won his first match against Ben Hazel 3–2 in sets. He was then beaten 3–0 in sets by Richard Veenstra, who set a record average for a World Championship match at Lakeside.
During the Welsh Open warm-up tournament, Littler hit a 121.86 three-dart average in one of his matches. A day later, he won the final for another senior tournament win in his career. In June 2022, he also won the Romanian Classic, beating Jelle Klaasen in the final by 5–1 in legs. At the 2022 WDF Europe Cup Youth, he won the gold medal in three men's competitions (singles, team and overall). His best achievement was defeating Archie Self in the finals of the singles competition, 6–1 in legs. In the pair competition, together with Archie Self, he lost in the semi-finals, 4–1 in legs to Thomas Banks and Charlie Manby.
At the end of September 2022, Littler was selected by the national federation to participate in the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. On the second day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the pairs competition where he played alongside James Hurrell. They lost to Sam Canket and Nick Kenny from Wales, 4–1 in legs. On the third day of the tournament, he advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles competition, where he lost to Andy Baetens 5–4 in legs. In the team competition, he won the gold medal. In the points classification, as a representative of England, he contributed to winning a gold medal.
Littler won the JDC World Darts Championship in London at the end of December 2022, beating Harry Gregory 5–0 in legs.

### 2023

Littler continued to play on the World Darts Federation circuit in 2023. He won the British Classic, whitewashing Carl Wilkinson 5–0 in the final. On the same weekend, he also won the British Open, defeating Peter Jacques 5–2 in the final.
Littler made his debut at a PDC major event at the 2023 UK Open, qualifying for the tournament via an amateur qualifying event organised by Rileys. He reached the fourth round alongside fellow Rileys qualifier Thomas Banks, where he lost to eventual semi-finalist Adam Gawlas 10–8.
In May 2023, Littler won the third season of the MODUS Super Series, defeating Jacob Taylor 4–1 in legs in the final. In August 2023, he won the fourth season of the MODUS Super Series, defeating Colin Osborne 4–2 in the final.
Littler competed in the 2023 PDC Development Tour series. He won event three – defeating Jurjen van der Velde 5–1 in the final, event five – defeating Kevin Troppmann 5–3 in the final, and event sixteen – defeating Bradly Roes 5–2 in the final. He also won event twenty, where he hit a nine-dart finish in his last 16 win against Rune van Damme and defeated Gian van Veen 5–4 in the final. He won his fifth Development Tour title at event 24, defeating Cam Crabtree 5–1 in the final. Littler finished second on the 2023 Development Tour Order of Merit behind Gian van Veen.
On 26 November, Littler beat Gian van Veen 6–4 in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final. The next month, he retained his JDC World Darts Championship title, defeating Álmos Kovács 5–3 in the final.

### 2024

Littler made his first PDC World Championship appearance at the 2024 World Championship, qualifying as a result of his placement on the PDC Development Tour Order of Merit. He started off as an outsider with 66/1 odds. In the fourth round, he beat five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld 4–1. He then defeated Brendan Dolan 5–1 in the quarter-finals and former world champion Rob Cross 6–2 in the semi-finals. This made him the youngest player to reach the PDC World Championship final, as he was aged 16 years and 347 days. In the final, Littler lost 4–7 to Luke Humphries.
In January, Littler made his World Series of Darts debut at the Bahrain Darts Masters. He hit his first televised nine-dart finish in his quarter-final win against Nathan Aspinall, becoming the youngest player to do so. He won 8–5 against Michael van Gerwen in the final. Littler made another World Series final at the Dutch Darts Masters. In a rematch of the Bahrain final, Littler was defeated by Van Gerwen 8–6. He won his second World Series title at the Poland Darts Masters, beating Rob Cross 8–3 in the final.
As he had gained a PDC Tour Card, Littler played at his first Players Championship series, winning three titles. Littler also won two titles on the European Tour. Littler hit his third nine-dart finish of the year in his victory at the Belgian Darts Open. He also won the Austrian Darts Open. On 15 September, Littler won the World Series Finals, defeating Michael Smith 11–4 in the final.
On 17 November, Littler defeated Martin Lukeman 16–3 in the Grand Slam of Darts final, securing the title on debut and winning his first ranking major title. Also in November, he defeated Ross Smith 11–9 to reach his third ranking PDC major final at the 2024 Players Championship Finals. He lost the final to Luke Humphries 11–7.

#### Premier League Darts debut

Following the World Championship, Littler was announced to be part of the 2024 Premier League as one of the four chosen wildcards. Littler won his debut match against Luke Humphries 6–2, but lost his semi-final match 6–5. Littler reached the final in week two, but lost to Michael van Gerwen 6–5.
Night nine saw Littler win a Premier League night for the first time, beating Nathan Aspinall 6–4 in the final. Littler then won three more nights to top the table in the league phase after the 16 weeks. This meant that in the play-offs Littler played Michael Smith, who he defeated 10–5 in the semi-final. He then won his first major title, beating Humphries 11–7 in the final. He became the youngest player to win a major PDC tournament. Littler also hit a nine-darter in the final.

### 2025

Littler entered the second round of the 2025 World Championship as the fourth seed, where he defeated Ryan Meikle 3–1 in sets. He broke the record for the highest set average in a World Championship match by averaging 140.91 in the fourth and final set, missing double 12 for a nine-darter in the second leg of the set. Littler qualified for the final by defeating Meikle, Ian White, Ryan Joyce, Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting. In the final on 3 January 2025, Littler defeated three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in sets.
Aged 17 years and 347 days, Littler became the youngest ever PDC World Darts Champion, breaking the record previously held by van Gerwen, who was 24 when he won his first world title in 2014. Littler also won the Ballon d'Art trophy for the most 180s scored in the World Championship. He broke £1,000,000 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time and moved up to a career highest ranking of second in the world, behind Luke Humphries.
In March, Littler won the UK Open for the first time; he defeated James Wade 11–2 in the final. He had previously beaten Jonny Clayton in the semi-finals and Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals. At the Belgian Darts Open, he retained the title he won in 2024 by defeating Belgium's Mike De Decker 8–5 in the final – his third European Tour title.

#### Premier League

Littler won night two of the 2025 Premier League in Belfast, defeating Luke Humphries 6–5 in the final. Night four saw the same final, though Littler lost to Humphries 6–4. He then defeated Nathan Aspinall to win night five.

## Playing style

Littler has been noted for his heavy scoring during matches, frequently hitting the maximum score of 180. Using darts manufactured by Target with characteristically long 45mm points, Littler plays at a quick pace and is known for his efficiency in checking out on the double 10 segment.

## In popular culture
### Impact on darts

   "Darts has gone crazy. You wouldn't believe the difference since young Luke came along,"
Following Littler's unexpected run to the final at the 2024 PDC World Championship, an unprecedented number of new fans began to both play and watch darts, and a record high of 3.7 million viewers watched the 2024 world final. The president of the Professional Darts Corporation, Barry Hearn, attributed this phenomenon to Littler's success and described it as "Littlermania", while others have dubbed it the "[Luke] Littler effect".
Littler was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2024, becoming the first darts player to receive the award. He also finished as runner-up for BBC Sports Personality of the Year behind 2024 Summer Olympics gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson.

### Media appearances

In January 2024, Littler revealed on BBC Radio 1 that he was inspired to choose "Greenlight" by Pitbull featuring Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis as his walk-on song after he and his father attended the 2017 WWE event WrestleMania 33, which featured "Greenlight" as its theme song. WWE later tweeted an invitation to Littler for their upcoming house show at the O2 Arena in April, which he accepted, and John Cena posted an uncaptioned picture of Littler on his famously cryptic Instagram after Littler admitted to being a fan. Later that year, he was given a tour of WWE's headquarters Titan Towers by Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
In March 2024, he made an appearance on the 232nd episode of The Jonathan Ross Show alongside Rob Beckett, Millie Bobby Brown, Liam Gallagher, Raye, and John Squire. He was involved in a darts challenge where he played against Beckett, Brown, and Raye in a three-on-one scoring challenge. The three scored a total of 83, while Littler hit a score of 140. The clip went viral after viewers of the show were amused by his nonchalant reaction to Brown admitting to being a huge fan of him. That same month, he made an appearance on Fantasy Football League alongside Stuart Broad.
Following his 2025 World Championship win, Littler paraded his trophy at Old Trafford during half-time of Manchester United's match against Brighton & Hove Albion on 19 January 2025. The Warrington Wolves honoured Littler by renaming their stadium, the Halliwell Jones Stadium, to the Luke Littler Stadium for one night only on 21 February 2025, the date of their opening home match of the 2025 Super League season against the Catalans Dragons.

### Sponsorships

In February 2024, Littler signed a deal with fashion brand BoohooMAN to allow him to help promote the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and signed a multi-year professional contract with Target Darts.

## Personal life

As Littler rose to public prominence during the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, he and his then-girlfriend Eloise Milburn (who played darts on the PDC Women's Series in 2023 and 2024) received backlash for their age difference, as he was 16 and she was 21. Milburn's mother defended her after she received abuse online and was called a "gold digger". Littler told The Daily Telegraph that he would "stick with [Milburn] whether people like it or not", though they ended their relationship in July 2024.
Littler is a supporter of football club Manchester United and rugby league club the Warrington Wolves. Following his victory over Raymond van Barneveld in the last 16 of the 2024 World Championship, footballer James Maddison invited him to watch Tottenham Hotspur play AFC Bournemouth in a Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Littler is friends with popular Twitch streamer and YouTuber Morgan Burtwistle, better known as Angryginge. Littler has been seen in many livestreams and videos on Burtwistle's channel, where he plays football and EA Sports FC. On February 7, 2025, Littler played Burtwistle on livestream in a game of darts, where he won against Burtwistle, 3–2.
In February 2025, Littler was made an honorary citizen of his hometown Warrington by Warrington Borough Council at a ceremony at the Parr Hall to recognise his contribution to the borough and his "outstanding achievements" in the sport of darts. Littler described the accolade as "a real honour".

## World Championship results
### WDF

* 2022: Third round (lost to Richard Veenstra 0–3) (sets)

### PDC

* 2024: Runner-up (lost to Luke Humphries 4–7)
* 2025: Winner (beat Michael van Gerwen 7–3)

## Career finals
### PDC major finals: 7 (5 titles)

* Legend
* World Championship (1–1)
* UK Open (1–0)
* Premier League (1–0)
* World Series Finals (1–0)
* Grand Slam (1–0)
* Players Championship Finals (0–1)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2024 | World Championship | Luke Humphries | 4–7 (s) |
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | Premier League | Luke Humphries | 11–7 (l) |
| Winner | 2. | 2024 | World Series Finals | Michael Smith | 11–4 (l) |
| Winner | 3. | 2024 | Grand Slam | Martin Lukeman | 16–3 (l) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2024 | Players Championship Finals | Luke Humphries | 7–11 (l) |
| Winner | 4. | 2025 | World Championship | Michael van Gerwen | 7–3 (s) |
| Winner | 5. | 2025 | UK Open | James Wade | 11–2 (l) |

### PDC World Series finals: 4 (2 titles)

| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | Bahrain Darts Masters | Michael van Gerwen | 8–5 (l) |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2024 | Dutch Darts Masters | Michael van Gerwen | 6–8 (l) |
| Winner | 2. | 2024 | Poland Darts Masters | Rob Cross | 8–3 (l) |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2024 | Australian Darts Masters | Gerwyn Price | 1–8 (l) |

## Performance timeline

WDF
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 |
| WDF Ranked televised events |||
| World Championship | 3R | WD |
| World Masters | 3R | NH |
PDC
| Tournament | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| PDC Ranked televised events ||||
| World Championship | DNQ | F | W |
| World Masters | DNQ | DNQ | QF |
| UK Open | 4R | QF | W |
| World Matchplay | DNQ | 1R | |
| World Grand Prix | DNQ | 1R | |
| European Championship | DNQ | 1R | |
| Grand Slam | DNQ | W | |
| Players Championship Finals | DNQ | F | |
| PDC Non-ranked televised events ||||
| Premier League | DNP | W | |
| World Series Finals | DNP | W | |
| World Youth Championship | W | DNP | |
| Career statistics ||||
| Season-end ranking (PDC) | 31 | 2 | |
PDC Premier League Darts
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 2024 | CAR SF | BER F | GLA QF | NEW SF | EXE SF | BRI SF | NOT SF | DUB QF | BEL W | MAN W | BIR F | ROT QF | LIV W | ABD W | LEE SF | SHF SF | LON W |
| 2025 | BEL QF | GLA W | DUB QF | EXE F | BRI W | NOT F |
PDC European Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 2024 | BDO W | DNQ | DNQ | EDG 2R | ADO W | BSD 1R | DNP | DNP | GDC F | FDT 3R | HDT WD | SDT 3R | CDO SF |
| 2025 | BDO W | DNP | DNP | GDG | ADO | EDG | DDC | EDO | BSD | FDT | CDO | HDT | SDT | GDC |
PDC Players Championships
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| 2024 | WIG W | WIG 2R | LEI QF | LEI 1R | DNP | DNP | LEI 4R | LEI 3R | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | MIL 1R | MIL 2R | MIL W | MIL 3R | DNP | DNP | DNP | WIG W | WIG 4R | DNP | DNP | WIG SF | WIG QF | WIG 4R | WIG 2R | WIG 2R | DNP | DNP |
| 2025 | WIG 3R | WIG QF | DNP | DNP | LEI SF | LEI 2R | DNP | DNP | LEI | LEI | LEI | LEI | ROS | ROS | HIL | HIL | LEI | LEI | LEI | HIL | HIL | MIL | MIL | MIL | HIL | HIL | LEI | LEI | LEI | WIG | WIG | WIG | WIG | WIG |
PDC World Series of Darts
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 2024 | BAH W | DUT F | USA SF | NOR DNP | POL W | AUS F | NZE SF |
| 2025 | BAH QF | DUT SF | NOR | USA | POL | AUS | NZE |
PDC Development Tour
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 2023 | MIL QF | MIL F | MIL W | MIL QF | MIL W | WIG QF | WIG 4R | WIG QF | WIG 4R | WIG QF | HIL QF | HIL 4R | HIL 6R | HIL 5R | HIL 3R | LEI W | LEI 5R | LEI QF | LEI 1R | LEI W | MIL 4R | MIL QF | MIL F | MIL W |
Performance Table Legend :
| W | Won the tournament | F | Finalist | SF | Semifinalist | QF | Quarterfinalist | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | DQ | Disqualified |
| DNQ | Did not qualify | DNP | Did not participate | WD | Withdrew | NH | Tournament not held | #R RR Prel. | Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round | NYF | Not yet founded |

## Nine-dart finishes

Luke Littler's televised nine-dart finishes :
| Date | Opponent | Tournament | Method | Ref. |
| 19 January 2024 | Nathan Aspinall | 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters | 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 | |
| 23 May 2024 | Luke Humphries | 2024 Premier League Darts | 3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 | |