\n World ranking: No 3
\n Home town: Vlijmen, Netherlands
\n Major titles: 48 and counting
\n PDC worlds best: Winner 2014, 2017 and 2019
\n Walk-on music: Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
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A decade ago, Van Gerwen was in Luke Littler’s position; the heir apparent to Phil Taylor’s throne who seemed capable of lifting the world title year after year. The fact he has only won three Ally Pally crowns feels almost disappointing; Van Gerwen has occasionally misplaced his ruthless streak here, losing as many finals as he has won.
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Van Gerwen is still only 35, though, and has time to reach a world title haul more fitting his incredible ability. Sometimes tripped up by his desire to totally dominate, the Dutchman has been more sanguine this year and may even enjoy the role of (slight) underdog in the final. If anyone can make tonight miserable for Littler, it is Van Gerwen at his merciless best.
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Road to final R2 beat James Hurrell 3-0, R3 bt Brendan Dolan 4-2, R4 bt Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2, QF bt Callan Rydz 5-3, SF bt Chris Dobey 6-1.
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Nickname: The Nuke
\n World ranking: No 4
\n Home town: Warrington
\n Major titles: PL, World Series, Grand Slam 2024
\n PDC worlds best: Final 2024, 2025
\n Walk-on music: Greenlight (Pitbull)
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At the start of last year’s tournament, Luke Littler was a name only known to darts aficionados who had picked up on his strong showings at floor events. His incredible run to last year’s world final made him famous far beyond the sport, but while other rising stars have wilted in the spotlight, Littler – still only 17 – has just kept climbing.
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Back in the final 12 months later, with three major titles under his belt this year, it feels like a matter of time until Littler is the champion and world No 1. He is the favourite to lift the trophy tonight after hitting a relentless gear from the quarter-finals on; Van Gerwen may have to hope there is some scar tissue left from last year’s defeat to Luke Humphries.
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Road to final R2 beat Ryan Meikle 3-1, R3 bt Ian White 4-1, R4 bt Ryan Joyce 4-3, QF bt Nathan Aspinall 5-2, SF bt Stephen Bunting 6-1.
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Hello and welcome to live coverage of the PDC World Championship final between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen. It’s a dream final between the two greatest 17-year-olds in darts history; what makes it even more tantalising is that one of them is now aged 35.
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On 17 February 2007, when Van Gerwen reinforced his reputation as the next genius of darts by hitting a televised nine-darter against Raymond van Barneveld, Littler was 27 days old. Now he’s the phenomenon and Van Gerwen is fighting to stay young and relevant.
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Littler is the big story – how can he not be – but this is probably a bigger game for Van Gerwen. When he won the worlds for the first time at the age of 24 (he lost his way for a few years after that initial impact), many felt he would threaten Phil Taylor’s record of 16 world championships. Instead he has been stuck on three titles since beating Michael Smith in 2019. It’s still more than anyone else in the same period, but it’s not the domination that was expected – and that is now assumed of Littler even before he has won his first.
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Littler can’t be stopped, only delayed. After surviving a mid-match battering to win last year’s final, Luke Humphries acknowledged as much. “All day, in the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking, ‘Get this won now because he’s gonna dominate world darts soon!’”
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Littler is odds-on favourite and leads in most of the big tournament statistics (average, 180s, highest checkout). Van Gerwen is slightly ahead on the doubles, though, and the outer ring is surely his route to victory. Yes, yes, of course it bloody is, he’s not going to finish every leg on the bull is he?
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You know what I mean. If the timing of his finishing is as good as it was in the quarter-finals, when he resisted an extended, Littlerian barrage from Callan Rydz, he will probably become a four-time world champion. But if both men males play as they did in the semi-final last night, Littler could win handsomely.
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Ach, I haven’t a clue. It should be brilliant, it could be epic, it might even be the greatest match of all time. As neutrals we are guaranteed one thing, something modern society values almost as highly as oxygen: narrative satisfaction. Either Luke Littler will become champion of the world at the age of 17 or Michael van Gerwen will end six confusing, sometimes miserable years without a world title. May the best genius win.
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Format Best of 13 sets
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Start time 8.15pmish
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Palace in north London”,”caption”:”Ally Pally's calm before the storm.”,”credit”:”Photo: Every Second Media/Shutterstock” }} ],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1735929026000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”13.30 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1735932975000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”: “14.36 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1735929026000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”13.30 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”13.30″,”title”:”Preamble”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Friday, January 3, 2025 14:36 ET”,”SecondaryDateLine”:”First published Friday, January 3, 2025 13:30 ET”},{“id “:”67782ba68f08b8ff95e04c45″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Three-dart average
Littler 102.13
\n Van Gerwen 99.75
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Checkout percentage
Littler 41.0
\n Van Gerwen 43.9
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180s
Littler 64
\n Van Gerwen 43
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Highest checkout
Littler 170
\n Van Gerwen 158
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Stats courtesy of the wonderful Darts Orakel
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main events
What tonight's world rankings mean
It's very simple. If Littler wins, he will be in the top three.
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Luke Humphries
-
luke littler
-
michael van gerwen
And if Van Gerwen wins, he will move into the top three.
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Luke Humphries
-
michael van gerwen
-
luke littler
Rob Cross will remain in fourth place regardless of the result.
Reading Jonathan Liu on semi-final night
Eric Bristow, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen: Turns out this was the preamble. When future chroniclers come to write the story of this sport, they will recognize two eras: before Luke Littler and after.
“I'm really happy to have the honor of working here, Professor.” says Ian Copestake. “When you were 17, you must have been knocking out pretend commentary on your ZX80, and now we're all here. It's clear that the designers of the PDC Trophy are also cricket fans!”
I was 18 years old, so I was unlucky. And it was ZX81.
As former BDO World Champion Mark Webster pointed out on Sky Sports last night:This match is an echo of the 2013 final. Van Gerwen has created a new sensation – He hit 17 perfect darts in the semifinals.yet it was the most spine-chilling dart I've ever seen – and 52-year-old Phil Taylor was an old don trying to delay the inevitable.
Taylor hadn't won a world title in three years, which is the equivalent of 1,000 years for most athletes. Van Gerwen led 4-2 but was made to pay the price when he missed a dart to make it 5-2. Taylor won the remaining five sets to win 7-4 and become the world champion for the 16th and final time. As Bernie Ronay writes in this essay, it was “about reasserting Taylor's time-honoured predominant qualities in the face of a younger generation.”
Van Gerwen may not have been as dominant as Taylor, but he was still the best player of his time. And even now, at 35, he wants to reaffirm his time-honoured qualities.
Previously, I played darts.
You just got here, right? It's okay, we're all darts fans now. All you need to do to check your sincerity is fill in the missing words in this popular hymn.boredom boredom _______”.
Wait, the start time is 8pm, not 8:15pm. I emphasize that this is also the fault of the AI and not my fault. Blimey, it's 45 minutes from here.
Apple news summary says Littler is world champion
Not satisfied with the thrilling progress of Project 2030, the year when all humanity will go extinct, artificial intelligence is now beginning to ruin the years left for humanity. Early morning today, As reported by BBCan Apple News summary written by our old friend Artie Foucault reported that Luke Littler was the new darts world champion.
Did you say 2030? Enjoy tonight's final. Let's leave that aside.
Profile: Michael van Gerwen
Nickname: Mighty Mike/MvG
World ranking: 3rd place
Birthplace: Freimen, Netherlands
Main titles: 48 titles, more to be continued
PDC World's Best: Winners of 2014, 2017 and 2019
Walk-on music: Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
Ten years ago, Van Gerwen was in Luke Littler's shoes. The heir apparent to Phil Taylor's throne looked like he could lift the world title every year. The fact that he has won Ally Pally honors only three times seems almost a shame. Van Gerwen has been on a ruthless winning streak here at times, losing as many finals as he has won.
However, Van Gerwen is still only 35 years old, and there is still time to reach the world title shot worthy of his incredible ability. Although at times stumbled by his desire to dominate completely, the Dutchman is more optimistic this year and may even enjoy the role of (slightly) underdog in the final. If there's anyone who can make tonight a disaster for Littler, it's the relentlessly awesome Van Gerwen.
The road to the finals 2nd round is James Harrell 3-0, 3rd round is Brendan Dolan 4-2, 4th round is Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2, QF is Callan Riz 5-3, SF is Chris Dobey defeated 6-1.
Profile: Luke Littler
Nickname: The Nuke
World ranking: 4th place
Birthplace: Warrington
Main titles: PL, World Series, Grand Slam 2024
PDC World's Best: Final 202 4, 2025
Walk-on music: Greenlight (Pitbull)
When last year's tournament began, Luke Littler's name was only known to darts enthusiasts who knew of his strong performance in floor events. His astonishing run in last year's world finals made him famous beyond the sporting world, but at just 17 years old, Littler continues to rise as other rising stars steal the spotlight.
Twelve months later, he was back in the finals. With three major titles under his belt this year, it feels like it's only a matter of time before Littler becomes champion and world No. 1. He is the favorite to lift the trophy tonight. The quarterfinals begin. Van Gerwen may have to hope the scars from last year's loss to Luke Humphries remain.
The road to the finals R2 has Ryan Meikle 3-1, R3 has bt Ian White 4-1, R4 has bt Ryan Joyce 4-3, QFbt Nathan Aspinall 5-2, SFbt Stephen Bunting 6-1 I broke it.
tournament statistics
average of 3 darts
Littler 102.13
Van Gerwen 99.75
checkout rate
Littler 41.0
Van Gerwen 43.9
180s
Littler 64
van gerwen 43
best checkout
Littler 170
van gerwen 158
Statistics courtesy of the wonderful people. dart oracle
preamble
Hello. Welcome to the live coverage of the PDC World Championship Finals. luke littler and michael van gerwen. This is a dream final between two of the greatest players in darts history, both 17-year-olds. What's even more interesting is that one of them is currently 35 years old.
On February 17, 2007, Littler was just 27 days old when Van Gerwen scored a nine-darter in a televised game against Raymond van Barneveld, cementing his reputation as the next darts prodigy. Ta. Now he is a phenomenon, and Van Gerwen is fighting to maintain his youth and social status.
Littler is a big deal – there’s no way he isn’t – but this is probably a bigger game for Van Gerwen. When he won his first world championship at the age of 24 (he lost track for several years after the initial shock), many felt he would threaten Phil Taylor's record of 16 world championships. Instead, he has failed to win three titles since defeating Michael Smith in 2019. That's still more than anyone else at the same time, but it wasn't the domination that was expected, and it now seems like that to Littler even before he won his first championship.
Littler cannot be stopped, only delayed. Luke Humphries, who overcame a brutal mid-game hit to win last year's final, acknowledged that. “All day long I was thinking in the back of my mind, 'Let's win this now, because he's going to rule the world of darts in no time!'
Littler is the odds-on favorite and leads in most of the big tournament stats (average, 180 seconds, best checkout). However, Van Gerwen has a slight lead in doubles and the outside ring is clearly his route to victory. Yes, yes, of course it sucks, he's not going to finish all the bull's legs, right?
you know what i mean. If the timing of the finish is as good as it was in the quarter-finals when he resisted an extended littorian barrage from Callan Ritts, he will likely become a four-time world champion. But both male The boys will play like they did in the semi-finals last night and Littler could win in style.
Oh, I don't have a clue. It should be great, it could be epic, it could even be the greatest match of all time. As neutrals, we are assured of something that modern society values almost as highly as oxygen: the satisfaction of a story. Will Luke Littler become world champion at the age of 17, or will Michael van Gerwen end six tumultuous and sometimes miserable years without a world title? May the greatest genius win.
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format best of 13 sets
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start time Around 8:15 p.m.
