You remember the kid. Sixteen, unseeded, 66/1 with the bookies, and the Ally Pally crowd singing that he had school in the morning. That was 2024. He made the final anyway.
Two years later he was back on the same stage as the defending world champion, and they were booing him.
Thank you for booing me
Fourth round, Rob Cross, and most of the room wanted Cross. Littler won 4-2 anyway: 17 maximums, a 106.5 average. Then he ran around the stage at them. When they handed him the mic, he let them have it.
Afterward he admitted he had lost his head. He said he could learn to deal with the crowd and not let as much emotion out. He also said the noise had fuelled him and made him play better. After Cross, he dropped two sets in his last three matches.
The final, January 3, 2026, was against Gian van Veen, the same player he had beaten in the World Youth final two years earlier. It was the youngest final the tournament had ever seen, and it was over fast. Littler won 7-1. He averaged almost 106, hit 15 maximums and took out the Big Fish, the 170 checkout. He was the first man to keep the title since Gary Anderson a decade earlier, and the first player to collect a £1 million winner's cheque. He was 18.
"You guys pay for tickets and you pay for my prize money, so thank you for my money, thank you for booing me."
Luke Littler, to the Alexandra Palace crowd after beating Rob Cross in the World Championship fourth round, as reported by LBC
A pound shop board
Before any of that, there was a magnetic dartboard from a pound shop.
His dad, Anthony Buckley, a part-time taxi driver, bought it when Luke was 18 months old. His mum, Lisa, later shared the video: a toddler in a nappy, hitting 20s. He spent his first six years in Runcorn before the family moved back to Warrington.
The first 180 came at around six. The first nine-darter came at 13. By 10 he was at the St Helens Darts Academy, beating players years older than him, and his dad was driving him to tournaments in the taxi. Luke has said he would love to learn to drive so his dad would not have to.
At 14 he hit a nine-darter at the JDC MVG Masters. In November 2023 he beat van Veen 6-4 to win the PDC World Youth Championship.
"I was around six when I got my first 180."
Luke Littler, in an interview cited by Euronews, January 2024
School in the morning
Then came his first Ally Pally. He was 16, unseeded and 66/1. The crowd sang that he had school in the morning, and he kept winning. He beat Rob Cross 6-2 in the semis and became the youngest player ever to reach the final.
On January 3, 2024, he led the world No. 1, Luke Humphries, 4-2 in sets, with a chance to go 5-2 up. He did not win another set. Humphries took five straight and the title, 7-4. Littler went home with £200,000, and a record 3.7 million people had watched on television.
Here is the part most people missed. On the day of the 2025 final, he sat down and watched the whole 2024 defeat again. That night, January 3, 2025, he beat Michael van Gerwen 7-3 and became the youngest world champion in darts history, at 17. By July he had won the World Matchplay too, completing the PDC Triple Crown 18 months after turning professional.
"I could end 2025 winning absolutely nothing, but I won one of the best."
Luke Littler, to Sky Sports after winning the World Championship, January 3, 2025
Down bad
The boos did not stay at the Ally Pally. They followed him onto the Premier League road, 16 or 17 weeks of it, a different city every week.
One night in Brighton he averaged 79. After Brighton, and again after Manchester, he went home and told his girlfriend, Faith, that he did not want to do it anymore. He said it was the crowd, every week.
He kept turning up. He equalled his own record of six nightly wins. On finals night at the O2 Arena in London, he was 6-3 down to Humphries, the man who had beaten him in his first world final. He won 11-10 and took the £350,000 first prize.
On stage, when he talked about the weeks he wanted to quit, he got emotional. Humphries said it showed how much the title meant to him, and how hard the job is.
"I don't want to do it anymore."
Luke Littler, recalling what he told his girlfriend during the 2026 Premier League season, speaking on stage after winning the final, May 2026, as reported by the Press Association
The sweep that wasn't
By midsummer he had the World Championship, the World Masters, the UK Open and the Premier League. With Humphries he won the World Cup of Darts for England. In Blackpool he beat Gerwyn Price 18-9 to defend his World Matchplay title. His 111.53 average was a record for a Matchplay final, and his 111.04 for the tournament broke Phil Taylor's record of 106.31. He said he could get a lot better.
Then the run stopped. On September 20, in the World Series of Darts Finals quarterfinals in Amsterdam, Jonny Clayton beat him 10-4 and ended his bid to win every major of the year. On September 28, as defending champion at the World Grand Prix in Leicester, he won the first set against Luke Woodhouse and lost the next two. In the deciding set he missed six darts at 54. Days later, at the World Youth Championship in Wigan, 22-year-old Cam Crabtree beat him 6-5 in the semis.
He is still world No. 1. On October 23 he plays William O'Connor in the first round of the European Championship in Dortmund. A week later, on October 30, Netflix goes live with Beat Luke Littler: 20 amateurs, picked from open heats in London and Manchester, get a shot at him for £501,000.
The kid from the pound shop board is two and a half years into his professional career. Everybody in darts is still trying to beat him.
GAMECHANGER™"We're still only two and a half years into my professional career."
Luke Littler, after retaining the World Matchplay title in Blackpool, July 2026, as reported by ITV News
Reporting draws on the Press Association via the Express & Star and Roscommon Herald, Sky Sports, TNT Sports, The Irish Times, NBC, Euronews, LBC, ITV News, Nation.Cymru, Flashscore, Dartsnews and Wikipedia's documented record of his career.
Sources (15)
Euronews: 5 things about the 16-year-old prodigy · Dartsnews: Where is Luke Littler from · AP via NBC: Littler, 16, loses world final · TNT Sports: Littler wins world title at 17 · Irish Times: Back-to-back world titles · LBC: Booed at the Ally Pally · PA via Roscommon Herald: Considered walking away · PA via Anglo-Celt: Premier League win · ITV News: Retains World Matchplay · Nation.Cymru: Clayton ends clean sweep bid · PA via Express & Star: World Grand Prix loss · Flashscore: World Grand Prix exit · PA via Express & Star: World Youth semifinal · Sky Sports: European Championship draw · ITV News: Netflix live event