Luke Littler facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Luke Littler
Littler in 2024
Personal information
Nickname	"The Nuke"
Born	(2007-01-21) 21 January 2007 (age 17)
Home town	Warrington, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	2017
Darts	23g Target
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–)
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	Quarter Final: 2024
Players Ch'ship Finals	Runner Up: 2024
World Series Finals	Winner (1): 2024
Other tournament wins
British Classic 2023 British Open 2023 Irish Open 2021 Isle of Man Classic 2023 Romanian Classic 2022 Welsh Open 2022 MODUS Super Series 3 2023 MODUS Super Series 4 2023 European Tour Events Austrian Darts Open 2024 Belgian Darts Open 2024 Players Championships Players Championship (MK) 2024 Players Championship (WIG) 2024 (x2) World Series of Darts Bahrain Darts Masters 2024 Poland Darts Masters 2024 Youth events PDC World Youth Ch'ship 2023 JDC World Ch'ship 2022, 2023 PDC Development Tour 2023 (x5) World Youth Masters 2022 British Classic 2021 England Open 2021, 2022 Isle of Man Open 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 Welsh Open 2021, 2022 JDC Tour 2020 (x2) JDC Super 16 2021, 2022
Other achievements
2023 Toyo Tires Televised Performance of the Year 2023 Winmau Young Player of the Year 2024 Becomes the youngest player ever to hit a televised 9-dart finish, aged 16 years and 363 days at the Bahrain Darts Masters 2024 Becomes the youngest player ever to win a PDC Major Title, aged 17 years and 123 days, at the Premier League Darts 2024 Wins his first ranking PDC Major Title at the Grand Slam of Darts and breaks into the world's top 5 for the first time 2025 Wins his first World Championship Title and breaks £1,000,000 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time
Medal record Men's Darts Representing  England WDF Europe Cup Gold 2022 Gandía Men's team Gold 2022 Gandía Men's overall WDF Europe Cup Youth Gold 2022 Budapest Boys singles Gold 2022 Budapest Boys team Gold 2022 Budapest Boys overall Bronze 2022 Budapest Boys pairs

Luke Littler (born 21 January 2007) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently the World No. 2. He is the reigning PDC World Champion after winning the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, where he became the youngest world champion in darts history, at 17 years and 347 days old. Littler has won 11 senior PDC titles and is the reigning Premier League, Grand Slam and World Series Finals champion. He has also won two World Series of Darts titles and the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship.

Having played in BDO and WDF 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 Darts Championship. After qualifying for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship through his placement on the PDC Development Tour, he became the youngest player to win a match at a PDC World Darts 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 at age 16. 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 the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2024, he was runner-up for BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2024, behind Keely Hodgkinson. His rise to prominence at age 16 led to an increased interest in the sport, a phenomenon dubbed Littlermania.

Early life

Born on 21 January 2007 in Warrington, Littler lived in Runcorn until he was six, when he moved 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. 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 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. Littler defeated Cameron Crabtree 4–2 in the last 16 and then achieved three consecutive ton+ averages in his final 3 games of the tournament, averaging 101.54 in victory over Dylan Quinn, averaging 113.34 in a whitewash 4–0 win against Tavis Dudeney and 105.85 in a 5–0 whitewash of Carl Wilkinson in the final. On the same weekend Littler 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, after qualifying for the tournament via an amateur qualifying event organised by Rileys Sports Bars. A first-round 6–0 whitewash defeat of Nick Fullwell was followed by a 6–2 victory against Rusty-Jake Rodriguez in the second round and a 6–5 victory over Ritchie Edhouse in the third round. This meant that Littler had reached the fourth round at the tournament, the best showing of a Rileys qualifier alongside Thomas Banks. Littler lost his fourth-round match to eventual semi-finalist Adam Gawlas 10–8. For his showing Littler acquired £2,500 in prize money, which ranked him on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time.

Littler competed in the 2023 PDC Development Tour series. He reached the final at event two, losing to Dylan Slevin 5–4 in a deciding leg. He then 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. At event twenty, Littler, averaged 115.22 in his last-32 win against Lewy Williams, hit a nine-dart finish in his last-16 win against Rune van Damme and defeated Gian van Veen 5–4 in the final to win the tournament. Littler reached the final at event 23, losing to Gian van Veen 5–4 in a last-leg decider. At Development Tour 24 (DT24), the final Development Tour event of the year, Littler won his fifth Development Tour title, defeating Cameron Crabtree 5–1 in the final. Littler finished second on the 2023 Development Tour Order of Merit with £20,175.

On 26 November, Littler beat Gian van Veen 6–4 in the 2023 PDC World Youth Championship final.

On 17 December, Littler retained his JDC World Darts Championship title, defeating Álmos Kovács 5–3 in the final.

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.

2024

World Darts Championship

Littler made his debut at the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship qualifying as a result of his placement in the PDC Development Tour, where he started off as a 66/1 outsider in the odds. He whitewashed former world champion Christian Kist in the first round. He also broke two records, one for the highest average for a debutant at the World Darts Championship with a 106.12 and the other for being the youngest winner. In the second round, he defeated 2023 UK Open champion Andrew Gilding 3–1; in the third round, he defeated Matt Campbell 4–1. In the fourth round, he beat five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld 4–1. Littler went on to beat Brendan Dolan 5–1 in the quarter-final before beating former world champion and 8th seed Rob Cross 6–2 in the semi-final. Littler lost 7–4 in the final against newly crowned world number one Luke Humphries. He is the youngest player to reach the PDC World Darts Championship final, aged 16 years and 347 days. Following the tournament, Littler was announced to be part of the 2024 Premier League Darts as one of the four chosen wildcards by the PDC.

Players Championships and Players Championship Finals

As he had gained a PDC Tour Card for 2024, Littler played at his debut 2024 PDC Players Championship series. In Players Championship 1, he defeated Jim Williams 6–1 in legs in the first round, winning the match with an 11-darter to finish. In the second round, he defeated Luke Woodhouse 6–3. In the third round, Littler won 6–1 against Michele Turetta, hitting a nine-darter in the final leg. In the fourth round, Littler beat Cameron Menzies 6–2 to enter his first pro-tour quarter-final. In the quarter-finals, Littler defeated James Hurrell 6–3. In the semi-finals, Littler won 7–6 in his match against Alan Soutar. Having reached the final of a Players Championship event the first time, Littler averaged 109.64 to defeat Ryan Searle 8–7, who averaged 111.71 in the process, to win his first Players Championship on his debut. Before the second event, Littler was awarded a silver pin for his nine-darter against Michele Turetta; he was also awarded a gold pin for his televised nine-darter against Nathan Aspinall at the Bahrain Darts Masters.

Following the 2024 World Matchplay, Littler won his second Players Championship title at PC15, defeating Boris Krcmar, Pascal Rupprecht, Jonny Clayton, Rhys Griffin, Krzysztof Ratajski and Chris Dobey before overcoming Wessel Nijman 8–6 in the final.

Following the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals, Littler won his third Players Championship title at PC20, defeating Stephen Bunting 8–7 in a last-leg decider in the final.

Littler qualified for the 2024 Players Championship Finals as the 8th seed and whitewashed 57th seed Rob Cross 6–0 in the first round, averaging 112.73. Littler then defeated Ritchie Edhouse 6–2, again missing Double 12 for a nine–darter for the match and Danny Noppert 10–3, averaging 105.33 and 104.70 in the respective victories. Littler defeated Mike De Decker 10–3 with a 103.73 average and Ross Smith 11–9, averaging 104.38, to reached his third-ranked PDC Major final. He lost the final to Luke Humphries 11–7, averaging 100.08 in defeat to Humphries' 103.69.

UK Open

In the fourth round of the 2024 UK Open, Littler was drawn against three-time UK Open champion James Wade. Littler defeated Wade 10–7, hitting a 170 checkout en route. Littler was drawn against Martin Schindler in the fifth round, where he won 10–8, beating his personal best result at the event to reach the sixth round for the first time. In the sixth round, Littler was drawn to play Dave Chisnall. Littler won the match 10–5 to reach his second PDC major quarter-final. He lost there 10–8 to Damon Heta.

European Tour and European Championship

Littler qualified for the 2024 Belgian Darts Open (ET1) at the Tour Card Holder qualifiers, which was thus his first European Tour event. Littler defeated de Sousa 6–5 in his debut match. Littler then achieved wins over Krzysztof Ratajski, Damon Heta., Jermaine Wattimena, and Ricardo Pietreczko Littler defeated Rob Cross 8–7 in the final, to win his first PDC European Tour event on debut. Littler hit third nine-dart finish of the year enroute to his victory.

Littler qualified for the 2024 German Darts Grand Prix (ET4), beating Arno Merk in the first round. In the second round Littler lost to Luke Humphries 6–5 in a deciding leg.

At the 2024 Austrian Darts Open (ET5) Littler won his second European Tour title In the final Littler won 8–4 against Joe Cullen.

At the 2024 German Darts Championship (ET9) Littler whitewashed Dylan Slevin 6–0, averaging 101.33, in the last 32. In the last 16 Littler defeated Ryan Searle 6–2 and in the quarter-finals beat Damon Heta 6–5. Littler averaged 107.88 in his 7–2 semi-final victory over Daryl Gurney to book a place in the final. In the final Littler averaged 106.87 but it was not enough to defeat Peter Wright, who took the title with an 8–5 win.

At the 2024 Czech Darts Open (ET13) Littler defeated Nathan Aspinall. In the third round Littler set his highest PDC average of his career to date, averaging 116.51 to defeat Damon Heta 6–3, who himself averaged 105.59. Littler's first 9 average of 131.48 eclipsed the 130.33 he recorded in his 6–2 win in the Premier League against Michael van Gerwen while his 3 dart average eclipsed the 115.22 he hit at 2023's Development Tour 20 against Lewy Williams. In his quarter-final match against van Gerwen Littler averaged 110.57 with a first 9 average of 132.10 in a 6–1 win. Van Gerwen put in a 112.19 average, the highest losing average in European Tour history. In his semi-final match against Luke Humphries Littler averaged 106.73 with a first 9 average of 122.42 but lost 7–4 with Humphries averaging 108.56.

Littler qualified for the 2024 European Championship as the number 3 seed as a result of his performances on the 2024 European Tour but lost 6–4 to Andrew Gilding in the first round.

Premier League Darts

Littler won his debut match at the 2024 Premier League Darts beating Luke Humphries 6–2. Littler lost his semi-final match narrowly against Michael Smith, 6–5.

Littler reached the final in week two at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany. He defeated Rob Cross 6–5 and Luke Humphries 6–5 before losing to Michael van Gerwen 6–5. On night four at the Newcastle Arena, Littler hit a 170 checkout en route to a 6–5 victory over Peter Wright in the quarter-finals, before losing to Michael van Gerwen 6–5 in the semi-finals. On night seven at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, Littler averaged 114.00 to defeat Michael van Gerwen, who averaged 110.94, 6–2. In the semi-final, Littler lost 6–3 to Nathan Aspinall.

Night nine at the SSE Arena, Belfast saw Luke Littler win a Premier League for the first time in his career. Littler beat Luke Humphries 6–5 in a deciding leg in the quarter-finals, Michael van Gerwen 6–3 in the semi-finals and Nathan Aspinall 6–4 in the night's final. Littler then won night ten at the Manchester Arena, again defeating Van Gerwen and Aspinall 6–3 and 6–4, respectively, before achieving a 6–3 victory over Gerwyn Price in the final for back-to-back-night wins. Littler made a third-consecutive-night final on night eleven at Arena Birmingham, defeating Rob Cross and Luke Humphries each 6–5, in deciding legs before only averaging 88.12 in a 6–3 loss to Michael van Gerwen in the night final, with Van Gerwen only averaging 90.38 himself. On night twelve at Rotterdam Ahoy Littler was defeated 6–3 by Michael Smith in his quarter-final match.

Littler picked up his third night win in the Premier League on night thirteen at the Liverpool Arena, defeating Gerwyn Price 6–3 at the quarter-final stage before coming back from 5–2 down to defeat Nathan Aspinall in the semi-finals, with Aspinall missing five match darts. Littler secured the night win with a 6–2 victory over Rob Cross. This saw him finish night thirteen top of the table on 31 points, five points clear of second-place Luke Humphries. Littler won Night 14 at P&J Live, Aberdeen. Littler defeated Nathan Aspinall 6–5 again and Michael Smith 6–1, averaging 110.1, to reach the final where he beat Rob Cross 6–4.

Littler defeated Michael Smith 10–5 in the semi-final. He then won his first major title and his first Premier League title on debut, beating Luke 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.

World Series of Darts

Littler made his World Series of Darts debut at the second staging of the Bahrain Darts Masters, where he defeated Man Lok Leung 6–3 in the first round. In the quarter-finals of the event, he beat Nathan Aspinall 6–3, hitting his first televised nine-dart finish enroute, becoming the youngest player to ever do so. In the semi-finals, Littler defeated Gerwyn Price 7–3 to be in his first World Series of Darts final on debut, which he won 8–5 against Michael van Gerwen.

Littler made a consecutive world series final at the Dutch Darts Masters by defeating Dirk van Duijvenbode 6–2, Luke Humphries 6–5, and Gerwyn Price 7–4 before losing in a world series final rematch to Michael van Gerwen 8–6.

At the 2024 World Series of Darts Finals Littler won the event on debut, defeating Michael Smith 11–4 in the final.

World Matchplay and World Grand Prix

Qualifying as a result of his ranking on the ProTour Order of Merit, Littler made his debuts at the World Matchplay, where he lost 10–6 to Michael van Gerwen in the first round, and the World Grand Prix where he was defeated by 4th seed Rob Cross 2–1 in sets.

Grand Slam of Darts

At the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts Littler won his first major ranking title.

Littler began his campaign in Group F, starting with a 5–0 win over Keane Barry, completing the match in six minutes averaging 112.16. He then defeated 2024 UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh 5–1, securing his place in the knockout stages. In his final group match, Littler defeated Lourence Ilagan 5–3, missing Double 12 for a nine-dart finish in the last leg of the match.

In the second round, Littler came back from 8–4 down to defeat Mike De Decker 10–9 in a last-leg decider. He then beat Jermaine Wattimena 16–2, with the widest margin of victory in a Grand Slam quarter-final. Littler faced Gary Anderson in the semi-finals and led 7–4 after 11 legs. He then lost seven consecutive legs to trail 11–7, but took the match to a deciding leg and won 16–15. In the final, Littler defeated Martin Lukeman 16–3, securing the Grand Slam of Darts title on debut.

2025

World Darts Championship

Littler qualified for the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship as the fourth seed. He received a bye to the second round as a top-32-seeded player. In the second round, Littler defeated Ryan Meikle 3–1 in sets, breaking 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 set 4. Littler qualified for the final by defeating Meikle, Ian White, Ryan Joyce, Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting. In the final, Littler defeated three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in sets. Aged 17 years and 347 days, Littler became the youngest ever World Darts Champion, breaking the record previously held by van Gerwen, who had been 24 when he won his first world title in 2014. Littler also won the Ballon d'Art 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.

Personal life

A supporter of Manchester United FC and the Warrington Wolves, Littler planned to go on a stadium tour of Old Trafford after the 2024 World Championship final. As runner-up in the tournament, he won £200,000. With his winnings he also planned to pay for his friends to go with him to Blackpool or Alton Towers. Following Littler's victory over Raymond van Barneveld in the last 16 of the event, Spurs player James Maddison invited him to watch Tottenham Hotspur play AFC Bournemouth in a Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Littler announced on BBC Radio 1 that he gained inspiration for his walk-on song from his time with his dad at Wrestlemania 33. WWE later reached out on social media platform X, inviting him to a non-televised live event at the O2 Arena in April, where Littler accepted the invitation, saying "sounds good with me". Multi-time world champion John Cena posted a cryptic picture of Littler on his Instagram, honouring him after Littler admitted to being a fan.

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

In March 2024, Littler made an appearance on the 232nd episode of The Jonathan Ross Show alongside comedian Rob Beckett, singer-songwriter Raye and actress Millie Bobby Brown. He was involved in a darts challenge where he played Brown, Raye and Beckett in a three-on-one scoring challenge. The three celebrities scored a total of 83, while Littler hit a score of 140. The clip went viral after viewers of the show were amused by Littler's nonchalant reaction to Brown admitting to being a huge fan of him.

Also in March 2024, Littler made an appearance on Fantasy Football League, alongside former England cricketer Stuart Broad.

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; 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".

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: 6 (4 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score	Ref.
Runner-up	1.	2024	World Darts Championship	Luke Humphries	4–7 (s)
Winner	1.	2024	Premier League	Luke Humphries	11–7 (l)
Winner	2.	2024	World Series of Darts Finals	Michael Smith	11–4 (l)
Winner	3.	2024	Grand Slam of Darts	Martin Lukeman	16–3 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2024	Players Championship Finals	Luke Humphries	7–11 (l)
Winner	4.	2025	World Darts Championship	Michael van Gerwen	7–3 (s)

PDC world series finals: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

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

Performance timeline

PDC Premier League Darts

PDC European Tour

PDC Players Championships

PDC World Series of Darts

PDC Development Tour

Nine-dart finishes

Luke Littler's televised nine-dart finishes

Date	Opponent	Tournament	Method	Ref.
19 January 2024	Aspinall, NathanNathan Aspinall	2024 Bahrain Darts Masters	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12
23 May 2024	Humphries, LukeLuke Humphries	2024 Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12

See also

In Spanish: Luke Littler para niños