Luke Littler is the youngest Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship winner in history but the 17-year-old darts sensation confesses that his first passion was a different sport
Darts hero Luke Littler was more interested in Crystal Palace than Alexandra Palace as a kid – he wanted to be a footy ace instead.
The teen sensation has become the youngest Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship winner in history, even though he reckons he was born to be a footballer. But ‘The Nuke’ has breathed new life into darts after a meteoric rise to the top over the past year.
The 17-year-old, famously a big Manchester United fan, admitted: “I wouldn’t say born to be world champion because I was mainly focusing on my football.”
Littler said he switched his dreams to Premier League Darts – rather than the FA’s Premier League – when he discovered his talent at the oche aged 10.
Asked if he was “born to play darts” he confessed to SportsBoom that he believed football was his true calling. He added: “But these past six, seven years where I’ve fully took it on and focused on it, yeah!”
The arrows ace trousered half a million quid alone after bagging his first world title and is predicted to make as much as £50million in his career, having raked in some £1m already in prize money this past year.
Luke demolished three-times world champ Michael van Gerwen 7-3 to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy on Friday night at Ally Pally. After bursting onto the scene with a run to last year’s final aged just 16 he became one of the three top Googled names of 2024 – ranking higher than King Charles.
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The Warrington wonderkid is so young it meant there was no booze involved in celebrating his famous victory. But he said that didn’t stop him being left bleary-eyed as he stayed up late soaking in the incredible achievement.
He told BBC’s Today show yesterday: “I checked my phone. Replied to loads of messages, Instagram, my friends. I had four hours sleep.” Programme host Nick Robinson also asked Luke what he planned to spend his £500,000 cash prize on.
He replied: “I can buy what I couldn’t a few years a go. But I’m not the kind of person to just go and splash it. It’s a just a case of knowing it’s there.”