World number one Luke Humphries scraped into November’s Players Championship Finals as reigning world champion Luke Littler criticised tournament officials.
Humphries, 30, began the day 58th in the competition’s rankings and could have missed the finals if he had lost in the opening round of the Players Championship 34 event.
However, he gained a 6-2 victory over Dutchman Martijn Dragt in round one to qualify before losing 6-4 to Rob Owen in the second round at Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan.
This was the last of 34 Players Championship events held across the year. The 64 best-performing players will now advance to the finals in Minehead, Somerset from 21-23 November.
It later emerged someone had died in an incident on the M6.
Afterwards, Littler posted on Instagram: “Missed registration today for the pro tour, but someone sadly lost their life. Thinking of everyone.”
He reached the last 32 on Thursday before losing 6-5 in a deciding leg against Canada’s Matt Campbell – and then criticised officials in a post on social media, claiming other players had been allowed to play when arriving late for events.
In an Instagram post, which was later deleted, Littler wrote: “Not the best day today but played some decent stuff.
“But really glad to hear from a few of the other players that people have been let in almost half an hour late for a pro tour but I can’t be two minutes late.
“Says a lot, one rule for one and one for another.”
Dutchman Wessel Nijman beat England’s Luke Woodhouse 8-5 to win the Players Championship 34 title.
Three-time world champion and current world number three Michael van Gerwen will not feature at the finals as he was outside the top 64 in the rankings and did not play the last two events.
Dutchman Gian van Veen shocked world number one Luke Humphries to win his first PDC title at the European Championship in Dortmund.
The 23-year-old beat countryman and four-time champion Michael van Gerwen 11-9 in the semi-finals before holding his nerve to come through a tense match with Humphries 11-10.
“I said it to my girlfriend when I walked on stage, whenever I win my first TV title I wouldn’t cry – and here I am crying,” Van Veen told ITV Sport.
“I will never forget this moment or even this crowd. It is phenomenal to win my first major in Germany.
“I said to Luke after the game, when he hit the bull to go 10-10, that is why he is world number one. That’s how amazing person Luke is. It is definitely a night to never forget.”
LUKE LITTLER is a whisker away from becoming world No.1 for the first time.
The teen sensation battered Luke Humphries in Sunday’s World Grand Prix final to slash the buffer ‘Cool Hand’ enjoyed at the top of the PDC Order of Merit.
4
Littler is breathing down Humphries’ neckCredit: Getty
4
Cool Hand’s lead at the top has been slashedCredit: Getty
Darts world rankings are determined by the amount of prize money a player has won in ranking tournaments over a rolling two-year period.
Littler was 16 years old and barely even on the radar two years ago.
He has racked up virtually all of his staggering £1,665,500 haul since bursting onto the scene at the 2024 World Darts Championship.
And that doesn’t even include the cash he’s banked at non-ranking events.
Humphries has been untouchable at the top of the standings for nigh on two years.
But the hiding he got from Littler in Leicester has cut the gap to just over £70,000.
Humphries will need a heroic effort to remain on top as he’s defending maximum winnings at the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals next month.
Josh Rock and Danny Noppert are two of the other big winners from the World Grand Prix.
Rock, 24, is up from ninth to eighth in the world, having started the year 16th.
And Noppert has jumped from 13th to 10th after losing to Humphries in the semi-finals.
Luke Littler reveals he’s going solo after shock split from manager ahead of World Grand Prix
Damon Heta, Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright have all slipped further down the pecking order.
And there is more misery for 2023 world champion Michael Smith – who didn’t even qualify for the World Grand Prix – as he has dropped two places to 27th.
4
Josh Rock is up to eighth in the worldCredit: Getty
World champion Luke Littler clinically defeated world number one Luke Humphries 6-1 to win his first World Grand Prix title.
Littler, 18, was knocked out in the first round of the ‘double-in and double-out’ tournament on debut last year, but was more impressive throughout this campaign.
His average was lower than Humphries’ in the final, but he was ruthless throughout, winning five of his six sets in final-leg deciders to claim the £120,000 prize money.
It gives Littler his seventh PDC major televised title – the joint seventh-highest in history.
He has closed the gap between himself and leader Humphries to just over £70,000 at the top of the PDC’s order of merit as the two battle to arrive at December’s World Championships as world number one.
Cool Hand has lost just five sets on his way to tonight’s final.
Luke Humphries 2-0 Nathan Aspinall (first round)
Luke Humphries 3-1 Krzysztof Ratajski (second round)
Luke Humphries 3-1 Cameron Menzies (quarter-final)
Luke Humphries 5-3 Danny Noppert (semi-final)
Elite company
Luke Humphries has joined an exclusive club by making tonight’s final.
The world No1 has reached the final of the World Grand Prix three times in a row!
Only Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have done that before.
Humphries beat Gerwyn Price two years ago and lost to Mike De Decker 12 months ago.
Head-to-head record
Luke Littler edges this match-up after 24 meetings.
‘I get too relaxed’
Luke Humphries came through a tense battle with Danny Noppert in the semi-final last night.
Cool Hand raced into the lead before the Dutchman staged a comeback.
Humphries held him off and has explained how he managed to re-find his range after a mid-match blip.
He said: “I just splashed my face with a bit of water and said, I’ve got to fire myself up.
“Sometimes the body gets a little bit too relaxed and I’m kind of just pushing the darts. I said to myself, ‘Now or never — you really have to show Danny you still want to win this.’
“Because if I come out 4–3 down thinking, ‘I’ve still got two sets, I can afford to lose this one,’ that’s the wrong mindset.
“I didn’t want to lose that set.
“I came out a bit more aggressive — come on, get my head on, get the energy level up and it seemed to work.”
Out for revenge
The last time Luke Littler played Luke Humphries, the teenage star won the New Zealand Masters final 8-4 in August.
But that was not enough to count as revenge for Littler as he brought up the 11-8 Premier League final defeat he suffered to Humphries in May.
He said: “That’s the last big one we met in, apart from New Zealand.
“But on the major stage, I owe him one tomorrow night.
“When it’s Luke Humphries in the opposite corner in a final, it feels even bigger.
“We’ve both beaten each other in major finals.
“But this one’s very different — double start.
“Whoever gets off first tomorrow probably wins.”
‘Biggest clash in darts’
We are nearly ready for the latest chapter of the two Luke rivalry.
And Littler knows it is the final everyone hoped for at the beginning of the week, saying: “I think me and Luke is the biggest game in darts.
“Whether it’s a final, a first round, or a semi-final, we bring the best out of each other.
“Another Luke vs Luke final doesn’t get boring.”
The Nuke’s comment comes after he labelled his match with last year’s champ Mike De Decker as “boring” due to the Belgian not playing his best.
Darts is heading to Saudi Arabia for the first time on January 19 and 20 next year.
When the snooker headed to the kingdom, entertainment chief Turki Alalshikh added a golden ball to the table to open up the possibility of a 167 super-maximum and a £1milion reward for players that achieve it.
Littler is hoping a new lucrative concept is added to darts like rewarding a nine-darter with a massive cheque.
Littler a ‘different animal’
Luke Littler’s semi-final opponent Jonny Clayton knows how big his task is tonight.
The Welshman said: “An honest answer is you have to be scared of him.
“The two Lukes, they’re both pushing the bar and the rest of us are following.
“Gezzy’s been putting in some awesome performances, and we’re all trying to keep up.
“But Luke [Littler] is the hottest player on the planet right now.
“He’s class, the world can see it. He’s a different animal.
“But we can all play darts. My first game on stage against Luke, I beat him. So you never know.”
Van Gerwen the inspiration
Danny Noppert is trying to emulate his compatriot Michael van Gerwen.
Ahead of his semi-final against Luke Humphries tonight, the world No13 revealed his admiration for MVG.
He said: “I try to be as good as Michael. But of course he’s the best player there’s ever been. I try to be like him, but not yet.”
Van Gerwen suffered a shock defeat to Dirk van Duijvenbode is round one.
De Decker responds to ‘boring’ claim
Luke Littler was not challenged in his round two victory over Mike De Decker and claimed the clash was “boring”.
The world champion said: “Mike didn’t play his best there and I just had to play along.
“It was a bit boring at times, obviously I expected something from the reigning champion, but he just couldn’t get those doubles to get him going on the scoring most of the time.
De Decker has now responded, saying: “That he found the match ‘boring’? Well, if that’s what he thinks… Good for him. That’s his opinion.”
Littler ‘definitely beatable’
Defending champion Mike De Decker was knocked out in the second round 3-0 by Luke Littler.
The Belgian struggled to land doubles at the start and it allowed The Nuke to cruise to a routine win.
Reflecting on his performance, De Decker said: “I was incredibly disappointed. Look at my average. After the second set, I saw on the screen that I’d thrown 8 out of 42 doubles or something.
“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing against. That way, you’ll have problems against anyone.
“It was just a bad match for me. He wasn’t great either, but it just didn’t fly.
“Those doubles just wouldn’t work. When you do that with this format it becomes difficult.
De Decker went on to add: “So Littler was definitely beatable. Everyone’s always beatable, sometimes it’s just harder than others.”
Rollercoaster of emotions
Luke Littler felt every emotion during last night’s quarter-final clash with Gerwyn Price.
World number one Luke Humphries moved into the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix in Leicester with a comfortable 3-1 win over Krzysztof Ratajski.
Humphries, 30, was champion in 2023 and runner-up last year, and reached the last eight after a half-time adjustment – hitting six 180s and averaging 95.58 at the ‘double in, double out’ tournament.
He said: “I went off at the break and said to myself ‘you must be doing something different because you don’t play like this usually’.
“So I slowed my throw down and I started hitting the trebles. On the practice board I am hitting everything and then I am going out there and not, so I needed to change something.”
Fourth seed Stephen Bunting was dumped out by 2021 semi-finalist Danny Noppert, while two-time world champion Gary Anderson breezed past Joe Cullen.
Cullen only averaged 68.05 and won just one leg.
Anderson told Sky Sports: “Joe was miles off tonight, his starting off is what cost him.
“My scoring came on at the end. It’s been a while since I went far in this tournament, it’s getting harder and harder for me.
“Darts is a joy but I still want to win.”
Reigning champion Mike de Decker is in action on Thursday against Luke Littler.
Luke Humphries turned on the style to beat Nathan Aspinall 2-0 and reach the second round of the World Grand Prix in Leicester.
Premier League champion Humphries edged a close first set 3-2, despite Aspinall recovering from a slow start to win the second leg with a ‘big fish’ finish of two treble 20s followed by a bullseye.
Aspinall struggled to start with doubles – a requirement of the double-in double-out format – as fellow Englishman Humphries took advantage and launched into the second set with a brutal 156 finish.
Humphries recovered from a wobble to see out the second set 3-0 and set up a second-round meeting with Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski, who beat Germany’s Martin Schindler 2-0.
“It was a big game. Nathan is a fantastic player,” Humphries told Sky Sports.
“He struggled to get in a few times and he let me in with that 156, which was a big shot there to take the game towards myself.
“My scoring was a bit strange, they just didn’t want to drop in.
“Hopefully on Wednesday I can come back and be better.”
England’s Stephen Bunting – who recently won the Swiss Darts Trophy for his sixth title of the season – beat Germany’s Niko Springer 2-0, and fifth seed James Wade fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat to Joe Cullen in an all-English contest.
The first round continues on Tuesday as Peter Wright takes on 2024 Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker, Luke Littler faces Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen plays Dirk van Duijvenbode.
THE world’s best will step up to the oche once again for this year’s Swiss Darts Trophy – and the action is underway!
Martin Schindler pulled off an incredible comeback against Ryan Searle to win the 2024 crown.
1
Martin Schindler won the Swiss Darts Trophy in 2024
However, the German returns to Basel as a 16th seed, meaning he could face a potential banana skin in his opening encounter.
World No1 Luke Humphries is also competing in Basel and will be determined to bounce back from his shock quarter-final defeat in last weekend’s Hungarian Darts Trophy.
But teen sensation Luke Littler will not be participating in the 13th stop on the PDC European Tour.
When is the Swiss Darts Trophy 2025?
The Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 got underway on Friday, September 26.
It then concludes two days later – Sunday, September 28.
Afternoon sessions take place from 12pm BST while the evening sessions start at 6pm BST.
St.Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland is the chosen venue for the penultimate PDC European Tour event.
What TV channel is the Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 on and can I live stream it?
Swiss Darts Trophy 2025 schedule and results
Friday, September 26 First round Afternoon sessions from 12pm
Connor Scutt 1-6 Callan Rydz
Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Dalibor Smolik
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Owen Bates
Andrew Gilding 3-6 Cor Dekker
Ryan Joyce 6-0 Rocco Fulciniti
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Lukas Wenig
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Oskar Lukasiak
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Evening sessions from 6pm
Chris Landman 6-3 Denis Schnetzer
Wessel Nijman 5-6 Ritchie Edhouse
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Ansh Sood
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Niko Springer
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Stefan Bellmont
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Jitse van der Wal
Daryl Gurney 1-6 William O’Connor
Nathan Aspinall 6-0 Andreas Toft Jorgensen
Saturday, September 27 Second round Afternoon sessions from 12pm
World number one Luke Humphries defended his Czech Open title as he beat Josh Rock 8-5 in the final.
Rock, who had beaten Michael van Gerwen en route to the final, got an early break of throw to go 2-0 up but England’s Humphries broke back and then reeled off a 12-dart leg to level at 3-3.
The pair then traded legs to reach 5-5 before Humphries won the next three legs on the spin against the Northern Irishman.
Humphries sealed victory with a clinical final leg at the PVA Expo in Prague to retain the title he won a year ago and claim the £30,000 top prize.
The 30-year-old’s three-dart average of 93.89 was marginally less than Rock’s 94.1 but his checkout percentage (34.8% versus 26.3%) was superior.
Humphries has now won the tournament three times in four years following his victories in 2022 and 2024 as he earned the eighth PDC European Tour title of his career.
“If it were up to me, I’d have all 14 European Tours held here. You don’t win three times in the same place by accident and it’s clearly special to me,” Humphries said.
“Since winning the Premier League, the past three months have been tough. I’ve struggled at times, and I felt like I dragged Josh down at the start of the game. But I never give in – I always try to find a way.”
World champion Luke Littler was earlier knocked out in the third round, suffering a surprise 6-4 defeat by Dutchman Gian van Veen.
Teenager Luke Littler beat defending champion Luke Humphries 8-4 to win the New Zealand Masters in Auckland and complete a World Series double after his victory in Australia last week.
The world champion saw off Mike de Decker 6-2 and Gerwyn Price 7-2 in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively on Saturday before setting up yet another showdown with Humphries.
Littler threatened to make light work of the world number one, cruising into a 3-0 lead before being pegged back to 3-2.
The 18-year-old again rattled off three legs in a row to move 6-3 in the lead before eventually wrapping up an impressive 8-4 victory.
“I felt untouchable tonight,” Littler said.
“It couldn’t have gone any better – the scoring, the doubles and then in the final I just felt untouchable.”
The Englishman recorded an average of 115.02 on his way to victory – the highest average ever in a World Series event final.
It was the fourth consecutive success for Littler against Humphries and edges him ahead in their career head-to-head with eight wins to seven.
“I was really good tonight and he [Humphries] couldn’t do much,” Littler added. I was disappointed going in 4-2 because it could have been 5-1 or 6-0.
“I just want to win everything that comes my way – the next one is Antwerp for the European tour so hopefully I can make it four titles in a row.”
World number one and defending champion Luke Humphries suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the World Matchplay in Blackpool.
Humphries lost 10-8 to world youth champion Gian van Veen at the Winter Gardens with the 23-year-old Dutchman describing it as “the biggest win of my career”.
Humphries, who lifted the title 12 months ago after beating Michael van Gerwen, had been aiming to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back titles.
But Van Veen, who had six match darts before being beaten in a sudden-death leg on his debut last year by Rob Cross, started strongly, winning the opening two legs of the best-of-19-leg encounter.
And although Humphries took the next three, the 30-year-old struggled with his doubles throughout.
Van Veen edged 5-3 ahead only for Humphries to hit back again and go 7-6 up but a tense 15th leg won by Van Veen saw him take a key 8-7 advantage and, despite seeing a couple of match darts come and go in leg 17 to bring back memories of 12 months ago, he sealed the win in the next leg.
“To beat such a phenomenal player like Luke, I am over the moon,” Van Veen told Sky Sports. “He is a great champion and a great guy.
“At 6-6 and 7-7, I felt the pressure but I was happy I could keep up. Luke missed some chances but I took mine and it means so much.”
Van Veen’s reward is a meeting with compatriot Danny Noppert, who had a comfortable 10-2 win over Scottish debutant Cameron Menzies.
Earlier, former champion James Wade came through 10-3 against Joe Cullen.
World number one Luke Humphries got the better of fellow Englishman Nathan Aspinall to claim a superb victory in the final of the US Darts Masters.
Humphries, 30, followed up his World Masters and Premier League titles with an 8-6 win in the World Series of Darts event at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Aspinall defeated world champion Luke Littler 6-4 in the quarter-finals earlier on Saturday.
“This is the most iconic venue that we play in and it’s really special to win this event,” said Humphries.
“It’s one of the top venues in the world and it’s one I’ve always dreamed of winning. When I finally won, it was an amazing relief.”
ENGLAND will be represented by a double dose of Luke this week as Littler and Humphries pair up at the World Cup of Darts 2025 – and the action is unfolding RIGHT NOW!
The men’s England football team failed to bring it home during the Euro 2024, but Luke Humphries and Michael Smith made the nation proud in last year’s World Cup of Darts.
2
Michael Smith (L) and Luke Humphries (R) fired England to an iconic World Cup of Darts winCredit: PDC
2
Humphries and Littler represented England this yearCredit: PA
A combination of composure and superb throwing saw Cool Hand and Bully Boy beat their Austrian opponents 10-6 in an epic final.
And it was a result that wrote England’s name in the history books as they now hold the record for the most amount of wins in the iconic competition with five.
Sadly for Smith, his world ranking positioning meant he missed out on the chance to retain back-to-back titles.
And England could have done with him after Luke Littler and Humphries got dumped out by Germany in their opening match.
Read more World Cup of Darts
Welsh stars Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price are now firm favourites to lift the title.
When is the World Cup of Darts 2025?
The World Cup of Darts 2025 got underway on Thursday, June 12.
It will run over four days, concluding on Sunday, June 15.
Eissporthalle am Ratsweg in Frankfurt, Germany is the chosen venue for this iconic tournament.
Group stage matches begin at 6pm BST and then the latter stage fixtures are split in afternoon sessions (11am/12pm) and evening sessions (6pm).
The quarter-finals, semi-final and final will ALL be held on Sunday, June 15.
What TV channel is the World Cup of Darts 2025 on and can it be live streamed?
The World Cup of Darts 2025 will be broadcast LIVE on Sky Sports.
Subscription members can stream the entire four-day event on NOW TV.
Alternatively, SunSport will be running a live blog providing leg-by-leg coverage of the World Cup of Darts 2025.
What is the World Cup of Darts 2025 format?
There will be 40 different nations taking part at this year’s World Cup of Darts.
The top four seeded nations go straight into the second round, while the remaining 36 nations are split into 12 groups of three.
Each group winner will progress through to the second round, and then the tournament will be knockout from then on.
And each group stage game sees teams compete in a best-of-seven legs match, before the second round, quarter-finals and semi-finals are all best of 15 legs.
The World Cup final will then be best of 19 legs.
All matches are played in the doubles format, with teammates taking turns at the oche.
World Cup of Darts 2025 groups
Group A
Netherlands (Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen)
Italy (Michele Turetta and Massimo Dalla Rosa)
Hungary (Gyorgy Jehirszki and Gergely Lakatos)
Group B
Belgium (Mike de Decker and Dimitri van den Bergh)
Latvia (Madars Razma and Valters Melderis)
Philippines (Lourence Ilagan and Paolo Nebrida)
Group C
Germany (Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko)
Portugal (Jose de Sousa and Bruno Nascimento)
Singapore (Paul Lim and Phuay Wei Tan)
Group D
Republic of Ireland (William O’Connor and Keane Barry)
Gibraltar (Craig Galliano and Justin Hewitt)
China (Xiaochen Zong and Lihao Wen)
Group E
Poland (Krzysztof Ratajski and Radek Szaganski)
South Africa (Cameron Carolissen and Devon Petersen)
Norway (Cor Dekker and Kent Joran Sivertsen)
Group F
Canada (Matt Campbell and Jim Long)
Malaysia (Tengku Shah and Tan Jenn Ming)
Denmark (Denjamin Drue Reus and Andreas Hyllgaardhus)
Group G
Sweden (Jeffrey de Graaf and Oskar Lukasiak)
Lithuania (Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas)
France (Thibault Tricole and Jacques Labre)
Group H
Austria (Mensur Suljovic and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez)
Spain (Daniel Zapata and Ricardo Fernandez)
Australia (Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock)
Group I
United States (Danny Lauby and Jules van Dongen)
Hong Kong (Man Lok Leung and Lok Yin Lee)
Bahrain (Sadeq Mohamed and Hasan Bucheeri)
Group J
Czech Republic (Karel Sedlacek and Petr Krivka)
India (Nitin Kumar and Mohan Goel)
Chinese Taipei (Teng Lieh Pupo and An-Sheng Lu)
Group K
Croatia (Pero Ljubic and Boris Krcmar)
Japan (Ryusei Azemoto and Tomoya Goto)
Switzerland (Stefan Bellmont and Alex Fehlmann)
Group L
Finland (Teemu Harju and Marko Kantele)
New Zealand (Haupai Puha and Mark Cleaver)
Argentina (Jesus Salate and Victor Guillin)
World Cup of Darts 2025 schedule and results
Thursday June 12 From 6pm BST Group Stage – Opening Matches
Sweden 4-1 Lithuania
Czech Republic 4-2 Chinese Taipei
Croatia 3-4 Japan
Ireland 4-2 Gibraltar
Canada 1-4 Malaysia
USA 1-4 Hong Kong
Poland 4-3 South Africa
Belgium 4-1 Latvia
Netherlands 4-0 Italy
Germany 4-2 Portugal
Austria 4-1 Spain
Finland 0-4 New Zealand
Friday June 13 Afternoon Session From 11am BST Group Stage – Second Matches
Lithuania 4-3 France
Chinese Taipei 4-2 India
Croatia 4-3 Switzerland
Gibraltar 4-2 China
Canada 1-4 Denmark
USA 4-1 Bahrain
South Africa 4-1 Norway
Latvia 2-4 Philippines
Italy 4-0 Hungary
Portugal 2-4 Singapore
Spain 0-4 Australia
Finland 1-4 Argentina
Evening Session From 6pm BST Group Stage – Final Matches
Sweden 3-4 France
Czech Republic 4-2 India
Japan 1-4 Switzerland
Ireland 2-4 China
Malaysia 4-1 Denmark
Hong Kong 4-0 Bahrain
Poland 2-4 Norway
Belgium 3-4 Philippines
Netherlands 4-0 Hungary
Germany 4-0 Singapore
Austria 1-4 Australia
New Zealand 3-4 Argentina
Saturday June 14 Afternoon Session From 12pm BST Second Round
The world number one said: “I’m extremely honoured and delighted to be receiving an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to darts.
“To be recognised by the King for what I have achieved, and also for my contribution to playing in and promoting the sport that I love, is something that I never thought possible, but I’m very grateful that it has become a reality.
“I have enjoyed the highest of highs in darts in becoming world number one and winning the biggest tournaments that the game has to offer, but to be awarded the MBE will rank alongside any of those achievements.
“I have to give a massive thanks to my fiancée Kayley, and my family, particularly my mum and dad, who have been a constant source of support over the years and helped make me the person that I am today.
“To say that I’m looking forward to visiting Buckingham Palace is an understatement. To receive the MBE there with my family with me is something that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
“I’ll continue to be a good ambassador for darts, and help pave the way for future generations to be involved and succeed in a sport that has given so much to me.”
Littler reacts to MBE
The 18-year-old said: “This is an amazing and unexpected honour but one which I am very grateful for.
“To receive a recognition like this is something I had never thought would be possible, and it is a proud moment.
“It’s unbelievable what I’ve done for my sport; I’m happy, my family is happy and I can’t wait to receive it.
“Congratulations to Luke Humphries on receiving an MBE too – he’s a fantastic ambassador for darts, and although he’s a rival, I can’t wait to partner him in the World Cup this weekend.”
ICYMI
From Alexandra Palace to the Royal Palaces, what an extraordinary ride it has been for Luke Littler.
Two years ago, he was just a normal, kebab-eating kid from Warrington who dreamt of one day making money from darts.
What has happened since is one of the most sensational stories in British sport.
A shock World Championship final run in 2024, turning pro, taking the oche by storm, global popularity, the 2025 world title at just 17 and more than £2million in prize money and sponsorship.
Littler has even had novelty kebabs named in his honour.
And now he will go, by royal appointment, to collect an MBE as part of the King’s Birthday Honours list.
Draw reaction
Good job England and Scotland were both seeded…
They’ve been handed a couple of huge ties against Germany and Netherlands!
It’s all set up for a sensational day of action tomorrow!
Humphries reacts
On his MBE, Humphries said: “I’m extremely honoured and delighted to be receiving an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to darts.
“To be recognised by the King for what I have achieved, and also for my contribution to playing in and promoting the sport that I love, is something that I never thought possible, but I’m very grateful that it has become a reality.
“I have enjoyed the highest of highs in darts in becoming world number one and winning the biggest tournaments that the game has to offer, but to be awarded the MBE will rank alongside any of those achievements.
“I have to give a massive thanks to my fiancée Kayley, and my family, particularly my mum and dad, who have been a constant source of support over the years and helped make me the person that I am today.
“To say that I’m looking forward to visiting Buckingham Palace is an understatement. To receive the MBE there with my family with me is something that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
“I’ll continue to be a good ambassador for darts, and help pave the way for future generations to be involved and succeed in a sport that has given so much to me.”
The Rams did not draft an offensive lineman, but they have added a veteran just before the end of offseason workouts.
The Rams on Thursday agreed to terms with veteran free-agent offensive tackle D.J. Humphries, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
The person requested anonymity because the contract has not been signed.
Humphries, a 2015 first-round draft pick by the Arizona Cardinals, joins a line that includes starting left tackle Alaric Jackson, right tackle Rob Havenstein and swing tackle Warren McClendon Jr.
Humphries, 31, played eight seasons for the Cardinals before sustaining a major knee injury near the end of the 2023 season.
Last season, he played for the Kansas City Chiefs, but he sustained a hamstring injury in his first game back in Week 14 and played in only two regular-season games.
He won £275,000 for winning the title to add to three nightly wins of £30k in total and picking up gold darts worth £30k for a nine-darter.
Bet UK revealed that this meant the Leeds fan earned a mind-blowing £19,706 per week. That worked out at £1,006 per leg, £9,306 per match and £4,926 per hour.
Teen sensation Littler didn’t do so bad either as runner-up.
He earned an astonishing £12,647 per week on average in the BetMGM Premier League season.
With each night taking around four hours to complete, Littler earned a jaw-dropping £3.1k per hour from the competition.
He played the most matches in the Premier League, racking up 37 matches in 16 weeks, during the regular season, earning £90,000 in the process.
He then played two matches on Finals Night, where he finished second after his 11-8 defeat in the final to Humphries, claiming a further £125,000 as a consolation prize and taking his prize money total to £215,000.
Research by BetUK reveals Littler earned £5,513 per match and £556 per leg this season.
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries play out ‘best darts match ever’ as Wayne Mardle says ‘even they’re finding it funny’
Gerwyn Price also had a really successful season, earning a total of £175,000 in prize money.
That breaks down to £10,294 per week, £665 per leg and £6,250 per match.
Price’s average earnings also work out to be higher than Littler’s, despite earning less prize money, as the Welshman played 11 fewer games and more than 100 fewer legs than the superstar.
