10 things you didn’t know about Darts World Champion Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler

Miraculously, at 17, Luke 'The Nuke' Littler won the PDC World Darts Championship, beating icon and three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 and bagging himself £500,000.

After winning the title at 17, Littler is now the youngest player to become a world champion in darts, surpassing Van Gerwen, who won his first world championship in 2014 at 24. Here are ten other things you may not know about Luke Littler.

Littler secured his first senior title when he was 14 at the 2021 Irish Open, but he started throwing darts much earlier than that. He was 18 months old and still in nappies when he started throwing darts at a magnetic board. His parents uploaded the footage to YouTube if people didn't believe them.

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Littler was born on January 21, 2007, in the Cheshire town of Runcorn. He eventually moved to Warrington when he was six and has lived there ever since.

Littler loves fast food and has admitted to eating pizza before some of his matches. In his hometown of Warrington, his favourite takeaway, Hot Spot, has created a signature special called the Luke Wrap, containing doner meat, lettuce, onions, and mayo. You may need to lie down after eating that.

Littler's favourite sports teams are rugby league side Warrington Wolves and Premier League giants Manchester United. He even met Sir Alex Ferguson after his impressive run to the World Championship final in 2024.

Littler has expressed his love for the EA Sports FC computer game and plays the Pro Clubs feature for a popular online team called 'Girth and Turf,' who include popular creators like Angry Ginge. His Pro Clubs teammates were seen in the crowd at the semi-final win over Stephen Bunting and his victory over Van Gerwen.

'The Nuke' has become the first darts player to amass a global following, becoming the first darts player to reach over one million followers on Instagram (1.7m). His followers include a host of Premier League footballers, Conor McGregor and David Beckham.

According to the Express, Karl Holden of the St Helens Darts Academy said: "It might sound bad, but we sort of got rid of him out of the academy. When he was 13, he was just too good for the Under-21s. He would never achieve anything there, so we said, 'Go and beat all the men in the world'."

Littler's darting idol is five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, whom he beat in the last 16 of last year's World Championships. According to the Independent, speaking after his victory over Barny, Littler said, "It's incredible beating one of my idols on the biggest stage of all."

Littler is the youngest player to hit a televised nine-darter, which he achieved at the 2024 Bahrain Masters, two days before his 17th birthday. He is also the youngest player to hit a broadcast nine-darter, which he hit in 2021 at 14.

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Life may have been entirely different for Littler had he chosen to stay in the junior world championships rather than make his debut at Alexandra Palace in 2023. He qualified through the PDC Development Tour, and what a Return on Investment it was, securing £200,000 as runner-up rather than winning £5000 had he stayed in the juniors and won.