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 ranked world number one. Nicknamed "the Nuke", Littler has won two PDC World Darts Championships, in 2025 and 2026, and is the youngest world champion in darts history (17 years, 347 days). He has won 14 PDC major singles titles—ranked third all-time—and a total of 29 PDC titles.

Born and raised in Warrington, Littler established himself on the World Darts Federation (WDF) circuit. After winning the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship and five PDC Development Tour titles, Littler made his PDC World Championship debut at the 2024 edition, aged 16; as a 66/1 outsider, he reached the final and was defeated by Luke Humphries. That year, he won his first three PDC major titles, including the Premier League. He defeated Michael van Gerwen to claim his maiden World Championship in 2025, a year where he won six other majors—including his first World Matchplay—and became the youngest world No. 1 in PDC history. He retained his title at the 2026 World Championship, defeating Gian van Veen and becoming the fourth player to win successive PDC world titles. He has won four further major singles titles in 2026, as well as the World Cup of Darts for England, where he teamed with Humphries.

Littler's rise to prominence at age 16 led to an increased public interest in darts, a phenomenon dubbed the "Littler effect" or "Littlermania". He is a two-time PDC Player of the Year and was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2024. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 Birthday Honours and featured in Time list of "The 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026".

Early life Luke Littler was born on 21 January 2007 at Warrington Hospital in Warrington, Cheshire, the son of candle shop employee Lisa Littler and taxi driver Anthony Buckley. He has two brothers and one sister. He spent the first six years of his life in nearby Runcorn before moving back to Warrington, where he attended Padgate Academy. During childhood, he underwent eye surgery to fix his strabismus.

Littler began playing darts when he was 18 months old, after his father bought him a magnetic dartboard from a pound shop. He has claimed to have 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. Littler and his father chose his nickname, "the Nuke", during a conversation in a pub, believing it worked well as a rhyme with his first name.

Career Early career

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.

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 the second round and won his first match against Ben Hazel 3–2 in sets, becoming the youngest player to win a match at a senior darts world championship. He was then beaten 3–0 in sets by Richard Veenstra, who set a record three-dart average for a World Championship match at the Lakeside.

Littler won the JDC World Darts Championship in London at the end of December 2022, beating Harry Gregory 5–0 in legs.

2023: World youth champion 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. Also in 2023, Littler won the third and fourth seasons of the MODUS Super Series.

Littler competed in the 2023 PDC Development Tour series. He won five events and finished second on the 2023 Development Tour Order of Merit behind Gian van Veen. On 26 November, Littler beat Van Veen 6–4 in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final.

2024: Breakthrough year Littler made his first PDC World Championship appearance at the 2024 World Championship, qualifying as a result of his placement on the 2023 PDC Development Tour Order of Merit. He started off as an outsider with 66/1 odds. Littler reached the final by defeating former world champion Rob Cross 6–2 in the semi-finals. At 16 years and 347 days old, this made him the youngest player to reach the PDC World Championship final, beating the record previously held by 2008 finalist Kirk Shepherd. Littler faced Luke Humphries in the final on 3 January 2024, taking a 4–2 lead before eventually losing to Humphries 7–4. He earned £200,000 in prize money for his runner-up finish and entered the world's top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit, having started the tournament as the world number 164. Off the back of his World Championship run, it was announced that Littler would take part in the PDC's 2024 World Series of Darts and 2024 Premier League Darts.

Littler made his World Series 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 to capture his first PDC senior title. Littler was matched up against fourth-placed Michael Smith in the semi-finals of the play-offs,

As he had gained a PDC Tour Card, Littler played in his first Players Championship series, winning three titles. Littler also won two titles on the European Tour, hitting a nine-dart finish in his victory at the Belgian Darts Open before adding the Austrian Darts Open title. He won his second World Series title at the Poland Darts Masters by beating Rob Cross 8–3 in the final, before clinching the World Series Finals in September, defeating Michael Smith 11–4 in the final. In November, he defeated Martin Lukeman 16–3 in the Grand Slam of Darts final to secure his first ranking major title and enter the top five in the world on the PDC Order of Merit. Later that month, he faced Luke Humphries in the pair's third major final of the year at the Players Championship Finals, with Littler losing 11–7.

2025: World champion and world number one

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. Littler reached the final by defeating Meikle, Ian White, Ryan Joyce, Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting. In the final on 3 January 2025, he defeated three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in sets. Aged 17 years and 347 days, Littler became the youngest world champion in darts history, breaking Jelle Klaasen's record from when he won the 2006 BDO World Championship at age 21. Littler's win saw him earn the £500,000 top prize and surpass Van Gerwen on the PDC Order of Merit to become the world number two, behind Luke Humphries.

In March, Littler won the UK Open for the first time, defeating James Wade 11–2 in the final. He retained his Belgian Darts Open title to win his third European Tour title. On night seven of the 2025 Premier League, Littler hit a nine-dart finish in the final against Michael van Gerwen before winning the match 6–4. He became the first player to record six nightly wins in a single Premier League season after his victory on night 16 and finished the league stage on a record-setting 45 points. On Finals Night on 29 May, he defeated Gerwyn Price 10–7 in the semi-finals before losing 11–8 to Luke Humphries in a rematch of the 2024 final. At the World Matchplay, Littler hit a nine-dart finish in his semi-final match against Josh Rock. In a repeat of their UK Open meeting, Littler defeated Wade 18–13 in the final to win the World Matchplay for the first time. He also became the fifth player to complete the so-called PDC Triple Crown by winning the World Matchplay, the World Championship and the Premier League.

Littler followed his World Matchplay victory by winning back-to-back World Series titles in Australia and New Zealand, as well as a second European Tour title of the year at the Flanders Darts Trophy. At the World Grand Prix, he won his seventh PDC major title by defeating Luke Humphries 6–1 in the final. He won his sole Players Championship title of the year at Players Championship 32, beating Dennie Olde Kalter 8–2 in the final. In November, Littler retained the Grand Slam by defeating Humphries 16–11 in the final. By reaching the final of the tournament, Littler overtook Humphries on the PDC Order of Merit and became the new world number one, the youngest player to achieve the feat.

2026: Second world title

At the 2026 World Championship, Littler won his first three matches without losing a set. Following a 4–2 victory against Rob Cross in the fourth round, he defeated Krzysztof Ratajski 5–0 and Ryan Searle 6–1 to reach his third consecutive World Championship final. In the final, Littler beat Gian van Veen 7–1 to become the fourth player to win back-to-back PDC World Championships, following Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson. Littler was the first recipient of the new, increased £1 million fee for the tournament winner.

Following the World Championship, Littler won the inaugural editions of the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters and Poland Darts Open, as well as his first World Masters and his second UK Open. During the Premier League, he equalled his own record of six nightly wins in a single season, finishing the league stage with 43 points to top the table for the third consecutive year. On Finals Night on 28 May, Littler defeated Gerwyn Price 10–9 and Humphries 11–10 to win his second Premier League title. At the World Cup of Darts, he represented England alongside Humphries for the second consecutive year, with the pair defeating the Netherlands 10–5 in the final to win Littler's first World Cup title and England's record-extending sixth title overall.

Littler hit a nine-dart finish in the opening leg of his second-round victory over Nathan Aspinall at the World Matchplay. He reached the final of the tournament, where he defended his title by defeating Gerwyn Price 18–9. He set new records for the highest tournament average in World Matchplay history (111.04) and the highest average in a World Matchplay final (111.53), both previously held by Phil Taylor.

Playing style and equipment

Littler has been noted for his calmness and mentality despite his young age, being able to score powerfully and convert high checkouts under pressure. He is known to take alternative and sometimes risky routes for finishes, and frequently experiments with his throwing technique. He is efficient in hitting the double 10 segment of the dartboard, as well as converting the 170 checkout, the highest possible finish in darts, nicknamed the "Big Fish".

Using his 23g Gen 1 darts manufactured by Target, his set-up includes characteristically long 45mm points, which leave more space in the board for his darts to group together.

Sponsorships and management In February 2024, Littler signed a deal with fashion brand BoohooMAN to allow him to help promote the Motor Neurone Disease Association. He has also been sponsored by Xbox and KP Nuts.

Littler has been sponsored by darts manufacturer Target Darts since he was aged 12. In October 2025, Littler announced he was now being managed by Target, in addition to the sponsorship agreement, having previously been managed by ZXF Sports Management since 2020.

In January 2026, following his second world championship win, Littler further extended his relationship and sponsorship with Target Darts, signing a new 10-year deal reported as being worth up to £20 million. The agreement is said to cover a range of Littler-branded products and merchandise. 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. Google revealed that he was the United Kingdom's most searched athlete in 2024, while also placing third in the most searched people category ahead of Keir Starmer and King Charles III. In June 2025, Littler was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 Birthday Honours for services to darts. He was nominated for Breakthrough of the Year at the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards and listed in "The 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026" by Time.

Media appearances

In March 2024, he made an appearance on the 232nd episode of The Jonathan Ross Show alongside Rob Beckett, Millie Bobby Brown and Raye. 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. That same month, he made an appearance on Fantasy Football League alongside Stuart Broad. He has appeared on the darts-themed game show Bullseye on two occasions. In July 2026, Netflix announced a new show called Beat Luke Littler, in which 20 amateur darts players will be chosen to face Littler in a live darts event for the chance to win £501,000. The show is scheduled to air on 30 October 2026, hosted by Gary Lineker and Richard Osman.

Personal life Littler is a supporter of football club Manchester United and rugby league club the Warrington Wolves. Littler has paraded his PDC World Championship trophy at Manchester United's Old Trafford following his victories in 2025 and 2026. 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.

Littler is friends with Twitch streamer and YouTuber Morgan Burtwistle, better known as Angryginge. Burtwistle has been seen supporting Littler at darts tournaments and the pair have recorded themselves playing matches against each other.

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 invited Littler to their upcoming house show at the O2 Arena in April, which he accepted, and John Cena posted an uncaptioned picture of Littler on his Instagram account after Littler admitted to being a fan. Later that year, he was given a tour of WWE's headquarters Titan Towers, along with Peter Wright by William Regal, ahead of the 2024 US Darts Masters. In addition he also received a personal video message from Cody Rhodes.

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". In July 2026, a mural of Littler was unveiled on the side of Golden Square Shopping Centre in Warrington; he attended the unveiling, where he signed the artwork, took photos with fans, and played darts in front of the crowd.

World Championship results WDF World Championship 2022: Third round (lost to Richard Veenstra 0–3) (sets)

PDC World Championship 2024: Runner-up (lost to Luke Humphries 4–7) 2025: Winner (beat Michael van Gerwen 7–3) 2026: Winner (beat Gian van Veen 7–1)

Career finals PDC major finals: 18 (14 titles)

Legend World Championship (2–1) World Matchplay (2–0) World Grand Prix (1–0) UK Open (2–0) Premier League (2–1) World Series Finals (1–1) Grand Slam (2–0) Players Championship Finals (1–1) World Masters (1–0)

OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScore Ref.Runner-up 1. 2024 World Championship 4–7 (s) Winner 1. 2024 Premier League Darts 11–7 (l) Winner 2. 2024 World Series of Darts Finals 11–4 (l) Winner 3. 2024 Grand Slam of Darts 16–3 (l) Winner 5. 2025 UK Open 11–2 (l) Runner-up 3. 2025 Premier League Darts 8–11 (l) Runner-up 4. 2025 World Series of Darts Finals 7–11 (l) Winner 7. 2025 World Grand Prix 6–1 (s) Winner 9. 2025 11–8 (l) Runner-up 1. 2024 Dutch Darts Masters 6–8 (l) Winner 2. 2024 Poland Darts Masters 8–3 (l) Runner-up 2. 2024 Australian Darts Masters 1–8 (l) Winner 3. 2025 Australian Darts Masters 8–4 (l) Winner 4. 2025 New Zealand Darts Masters 8–4 (l) Winner 5. 2026 Saudi Arabia Darts Masters 8–5 (l)

WDF

PDC

Premier League Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 F 2024 SF F QF SF SF SF SF QF W WFQFWW SF SF W 2025 QF W QF F W F W W QF SF SF QF W F SF W F 2026 QF SF SF QF W SF W W QF QF F W W W SF SF W

European Tour

Players Championships

World Series Tournament 2024 2025 2026Bahrain MastersWQFQFDutch MastersFSFNHUS MastersSFQFFNordic MastersDNPQFSFPoland MastersWSFNHAustralian MastersFWDNPNew Zealand MastersSFWDNPSaudi MastersNHW

Development Tour

Titles The following is a list of titles won by Luke Littler in his career.

PDC titles Source:

Majors (14) 2024 (×3): Premier League, 5, 16, 20, 24 Senior titles Gold ranked 2021 Irish Open Gibraltar Open Isle of Man Classic Bronze ranked 2022 Romanian Classic Non-ranked 2022 British Internationals

MODUS Super Series Sources: Champions Week (x2) Series 3 10 March 2024 2 x T20, T19; 3 x T20; 2 x T20, D12 23 May 2024 2024 Premier League Darts3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12 20 March 2025 2025 Premier League Darts 3 x T20; 3 x T20, T20, T17, D15 26 July 2025 2025 World Matchplay 3 x T20; 3 x T20, T20, T17, D15 21 July 2026 2026 World Matchplay 3 x T20; 3 x T20, T20, T17, D15