Luke Littler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Luke LittlerMBE |
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Littler in April 2025
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| Personal information | |||||||||
| Nickname | The Nuke | ||||||||
| Born | 21 January 2007 | ||||||||
| Home town | Warrington, England | ||||||||
| Darts information | |||||||||
| Playing darts since | 2017 | ||||||||
| Darts | 23g Target Signature Gen 1 | ||||||||
| Laterality | Right-handed | ||||||||
| Walk-on music | "Greenlight" by Pitbull featuring Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis | ||||||||
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |||||||||
| BDO | 2019–2020 | ||||||||
| PDC | 2023– (Tour Card: 2024–) |
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| WDF | 2019–2023 | ||||||||
| Current world ranking | NR (8 July 2021) | ||||||||
| BDO majors – best performances | |||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Last 16: 2022 | ||||||||
| World Masters | Last 64: 2022 | ||||||||
| PDC premier events – best performances | |||||||||
| World Ch'ship | Winner (1): 2025 | ||||||||
| World Matchplay | Last 32: 2024 | ||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Last 32: 2024 | ||||||||
| Grand Slam | Winner (1): 2024 | ||||||||
| Premier League | Winner (1): 2024 | ||||||||
| European Ch'ship | Last 32: 2024 | ||||||||
| UK Open | Winner (1): 2025 | ||||||||
| Players Ch'ship Finals | Runner Up: 2024 | ||||||||
| Masters | Quarter Final: 2025 | ||||||||
| World Series Finals | Winner (1): 2024 | ||||||||
| Other tournament wins | |||||||||
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European Tour Events (x3)
Players Championships (x3) World Series of Darts (x2)
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| Other achievements | |||||||||
| 2023 Toyo Tires Televised Performance of the Year 2023, 2024 Winmau Young Player of the Year 2024 PDC Player of the Year |
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Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007) is a professional darts player from England. He plays in events organized by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is currently ranked as the world number two darts player. Luke is known by his nickname, "the Nuke".
Littler became the youngest ever PDC World Champion when he won the 2025 World Championship. He was 17 years and 347 days old at the time. He has also won four other major TV titles: the Premier League, Grand Slam, and World Series Finals in 2024, and the 2025 UK Open. He has won a total of 13 PDC titles in his career.
As a young player, Luke won the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship. He also won five PDC Development Tour events. He won the 2022 World Youth Masters. He also won the Junior Darts Corporation's JDC World Darts Championship and JDC Super 16 twice each.
Luke started playing in darts events when he was 12. He won his first senior title at age 14. He competed in the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship. There, he became the youngest player to win a match at a WDF World Championship. He reached the last 16 of that tournament.
He qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship through his performance on the Development Tour. He became the youngest player to win a match at a PDC World Championship. He was an underdog, but he beat six opponents. These included former world champions Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross. He reached the final but lost to Luke Humphries. In 2025, Littler reached the final again. He defeated Michael van Gerwen to win the championship.
Littler is the youngest player to achieve a televised nine-dart finish. He did this at the 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters. This was just two days before his 17th birthday. He is also the youngest to hit two televised nine-darters. He hit his second in the 2024 Premier League Darts final at age 17. He was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2024. His rise in darts at age 16 made many more people interested in the sport. This was called "Littlermania".
Luke is known for his strong scoring. He often hits many 180s, which is the highest score in darts. He is also very good at hitting the double 10 part of the board.
Contents
Early Life and Darts Journey
Luke Littler was born on January 21, 2007. He grew up in Runcorn before moving to Warrington. He has two brothers and a sister. Luke started playing darts when he was very young, at just 18 months old. His father bought him a magnetic dartboard from a shop.
He scored his first 180 points when he was six years old. He achieved a nine-dart finish at age 13. When he was 10, he joined the St Helens Darts Academy. He began playing in leagues for players under 21. He went to Padgate Academy in Warrington for his education.
Career Highlights
Starting Out in Darts
In 2019, Luke Littler won the England Youth Grand Prix. He also won the Isle of Man Masters youth competition. He successfully defended this title in 2020. In 2020, he won two titles on the JDC Tour. He then won three titles on the JDC Advanced Tour in 2021.
Luke won the youth title at the England Open in September 2021. He also finished second in the British Pentathlon. In November 2021, Littler won his first senior title. He won the Irish Open by beating Barry Copeland 6–2. This win allowed him to play in the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship at just 14 years old. Later that November, he hit a nine-dart finish during the JDC MVG Masters tournament.
2022: A Busy Year
Luke won the JDC Super 16 in Milton Keynes in January 2022. He beat Eleanor Cairns in the final. In March 2022, he won the youth competition at the Isle Of Man Open. He also reached the finals of the Isle of Man Classic.
At the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship, Luke started in the second round. He won his first match against Ben Hazel 3–2. He then lost 3–0 to Richard Veenstra. Veenstra set a record for the highest average score in a World Championship match.
During the Welsh Open warm-up, Littler had a very high average score of 121.86 in one match. The next day, he won the final of that senior tournament. In June 2022, he also won the Romanian Classic. He beat Jelle Klaasen 5–1 in the final.
At the 2022 WDF Europe Cup Youth, he won gold medals in three boys' competitions. These were singles, team, and overall. He beat Archie Self 6–1 in the singles final. In the pairs competition, he and Archie Self lost in the semi-finals.
In September 2022, Luke was chosen to play in the 2022 WDF Europe Cup. He reached the quarter-finals in the pairs competition with James Hurrell. They lost to a Welsh team. He also reached the quarter-finals in the singles competition. He lost to Andy Baetens 5–4. In the team competition, he won a gold medal for England.
Luke won the JDC World Darts Championship in London in December 2022. He beat Harry Gregory 5–0.
2023: Rising Through the Ranks
Luke Littler continued to play on the World Darts Federation circuit in 2023. He won the British Classic by beating Carl Wilkinson 5–0. On the same weekend, he won the British Open. He defeated Peter Jacques 5–2 in that final.
Littler made his first appearance at a major PDC event, the 2023 UK Open. He qualified through an amateur event. He reached the fourth round but lost to Adam Gawlas 10–8.
In May 2023, Luke won the third season of the MODUS Super Series. He beat Jacob Taylor 4–1 in the final. In August 2023, he won the fourth season of the MODUS Super Series. He defeated Colin Osborne 4–2 in that final.
Littler played in the 2023 PDC Development Tour series. He won five events on this tour. He finished second overall on the 2023 Development Tour. On November 26, Luke beat Gian van Veen 6–4 in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final. The next month, he won the JDC World Darts Championship again. He beat Álmos Kovács 5–3 in the final.
2024: Breakthrough Year
Luke Littler made his first PDC World Championship appearance at the 2024 World Championship. He qualified through the PDC Development Tour. He was considered an outsider at the start. 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. He also beat former world champion Rob Cross 6–2 in the semi-finals. This made him the youngest player to reach the PDC World Championship final. He was 16 years and 347 days old. In the final, Littler lost 4–7 to Luke Humphries.
In January 2024, Littler played in his first World Series of Darts event, the Bahrain Darts Masters. He hit his first televised nine-dart finish in his quarter-final match. He became the youngest player to do this. He won the final 8–5 against Michael van Gerwen. Littler reached another World Series final at the Dutch Darts Masters. In a rematch, Van Gerwen defeated him 8–6. He won his second World Series title at the Poland Darts Masters. He beat Rob Cross 8–3 in that final.
After earning a PDC Tour Card, Littler played in the Players Championship series. He won three titles there. He also won two titles on the European Tour. Littler hit his third nine-dart finish of the year at the Belgian Darts Open. He also won the Austrian Darts Open. On September 15, Littler won the World Series Finals. He defeated Michael Smith 11–4 in the final.
On November 17, Littler defeated Martin Lukeman 16–3 in the Grand Slam of Darts final. He won this title in his first appearance. This was his first major ranking title. Also in November, he reached his third ranking PDC major final. He lost the 2024 Players Championship Finals to Luke Humphries 11–7.
Premier League Darts Debut
After the World Championship, Luke Littler was chosen to be part of the 2024 Premier League. He won his first match against Luke Humphries 6–2. He reached the final in week two but lost to Michael van Gerwen 6–5.
On Night nine, Littler won a Premier League night for the first time. He beat Nathan Aspinall 6–4 in the final. Littler then won three more nights. He finished at the top of the league table after 16 weeks. In the play-offs, Littler beat Michael Smith 10–5 in the semi-final. He then won his first major title by 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 that final.
2025: World Champion and More Titles
Luke Littler entered the 2025 World Championship as the fourth seed. He defeated Ryan Meikle 3–1 in sets in the second round. He set a new record for the highest set average in a World Championship match. He averaged 140.91 in the fourth set. Littler reached the final by beating Meikle, Ian White, Ryan Joyce, Nathan Aspinall, and Stephen Bunting. In the final on January 3, 2025, Littler defeated three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in sets.
At 17 years and 347 days old, Littler became the youngest ever PDC World Darts Champion. He broke the record previously held by van Gerwen. Littler also won the Ballon d'Art trophy for hitting the most 180s in the World Championship. He earned over £1,000,000 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time. He moved up to his highest ranking of second in the world, behind Luke Humphries.
In March 2025, 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. At the Belgian Darts Open, he won the title again. He defeated Belgium's Mike De Decker 8–5 in the final. This was his third European Tour title.
On night seven of the 2025 Premier League, Littler hit his third televised nine-dart finish. This happened in the final against Michael van Gerwen. He then won the match 6–4. He became the first player to win five nightly events in a single Premier League season. He extended this record to six wins on night 16. He finished the league stage with 45 points, the highest ever in a Premier League season. On Finals Night on May 29, he defeated Gerwyn Price 10–7 in the semi-finals. He reached the final, playing Luke Humphries again. However, Littler lost 11–8 to Humphries. He teamed up with Humphries for the first time at the World Cup of Darts. They were considered favorites but lost 8–4 to Germany in the second round.
Playing Style
Luke Littler is known for his powerful scoring during matches. He often hits the maximum score of 180 points. He uses darts made by Target with long 45mm points. Littler plays quickly and is very good at finishing games by hitting the double 10 section of the board.
Life Outside Darts
Luke Littler is a big fan of football club Manchester United. He also supports the rugby league club the Warrington Wolves. After he beat Raymond van Barneveld in the 2024 World Championship, footballer James Maddison invited him to watch a Premier League match.
Littler is friends with Twitch streamer and YouTuber Morgan Burtwistle, also known as Angryginge. Luke has appeared in many of Burtwistle's livestreams and videos. They play football and EA Sports FC together. On February 7, 2025, Littler played Burtwistle in a darts game on livestream and won 3–2.
In February 2025, Luke Littler was made an honorary citizen of his hometown, Warrington. The Warrington Borough Council gave him this award. It was to recognize his "outstanding achievements" in darts. Littler said it was "a real honour".
World Championship Results
WDF World Championship
- 2022: Third round (lost to Richard Veenstra 0–3)
PDC World Championship
- 2024: Runner-up (lost to Luke Humphries 4–7)
- 2025: Winner (beat Michael van Gerwen 7–3)
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 | |
| 20 March 2025 |  Michael van Gerwen |
2025 Premier League Darts | 3 x T20; 3 x T20, T20, T17, D15 |
See also
In Spanish: Luke Littler para niños
