Background and career
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 30 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's list of "The 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026".
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.
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.
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. The next month, he retained his JDC World Darts Championship title, defeating Álmos Kovács 5–3 in the final.
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. Competing in the Premier League for the first time, he ended the league phase with four nightly wins to top the table. Littler was matched up against fourth-placed Michael Smith in the semi-finals of the play-offs, winning 10–5 to progress to the Premier League final. After hitting a nine-darter in the 11th leg of the match, he defeated Luke Humphries 11–7 to win his first major title, becoming the youngest player to win a PDC major tournament. 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.
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. He won his sixth major title of the year at the Players Championship Finals with an 11–8 win against Nathan Aspinall.
