The dust is still settling on Luke Littler’s extraordinary performance at the PDC World Darts Championship, but attention is already beginning to turn to just how far the 16-year-old’s unquestionable talent can take him. Fortunately, those who have been captivated by his arrival as a major player do not have long to wait to discover what is next.
Already no stranger to an unprecedented situation, Littler will begin 2024 – his first year as a professional – inside the world’s top 32 thanks to his run to the Alexandra Palace final, which earned him £200,000 in prize money. It is a remarkable achievement for a player who has, to date, played in two PDC majors – his other big-stage appearance in 2023 was in the UK Open in March when he lost in the fourth round to Adam Gawlas, earning £2,500. He will return to Butlin’s in Minehead in two months as a seeded player but there are plenty of arrows to be thrown and plenty of events to be won before then.
Littler will be part of the PDC’s flagship invitational event, the Premier League, when it begins next month. In one of the strongest fields for years, the PDC has unsurprisingly decided to include the 16-year-old in the eight-player selection, meaning his first year on tour immediately becomes a punishingly busy one. Starting in Cardiff on 1 February, Littler will be in Premier League action for 16 consecutive Thursday nights all across Europe in places such as Berlin and Rotterdam, while also juggling his first few months as a professional on the tour.
He may even be in action sooner. The first event of the year is an invitational – the Bahrain Darts Masters between 18-19 January. Eight invited PDC players take on local challengers. Four names have been confirmed but organisers are yet to declare the other four. Littler could be one of them.
Bahrain or not, the nature of his schedule is underlined as early as mid-February. Professional darts’ bread and butter events are the Players Championship tournaments; 128-player competitions played behind closed doors in Wigan, with thousands of pounds at stake every time. They get under way with a double-header on 12 and 13 February. The following day, Littler will take part in a qualifying event for the first two European Tour events of the season in Belgium and Germany. Then, on the next day, he will head to Glasgow for night three of the Premier League. It will be a hectic introduction to life as a professional.
Playing will not be the only thing keeping him occupied. As the one responsible for the boom in ratings – the final drew Sky Sports’ largest viewing figures for a darts event of around 4.8m– Littler will have to juggle a career on the oche with one off it. Increased media exposure is a guarantee; he has already been a guest at Tottenham and his boyhood club, Manchester United, have invited him to attend a game at Old Trafford this month. His biggest love, Super League’s Warrington Wolves – whom Littler follows home and away – have promised a hero’s welcome when their season begins in February.
But back to the darts. As a member of the world’s top 32, his ranking opens far more doors for him in the immediate future. Had he failed to reach the semi-finals at Alexandra Palace he would have still been on the tour in 2024 thanks to his performances on the PDC’s developmental tour, which assured him of two-year professional status. Crucially, though, he would have started the year on zero ranking money. Making the world’s top 64 allows him to keep his Ally Pally earnings on the PDC’s order of merit, meaning he begins life as a professional from a unique place.
As a newly minted top 32 player, Littler will be a seed for the first big ranking major of the year, March’s UK Open at Minehead, meaning he will not enter until round four. He is also assured of a place in November’s Grand Slam of Darts. Given how he will not be defending any prize money while all those around him are – the PDC’s order of merit operates on a rolling two-year basis – it is all but certain he remains in the top 32 this year and thus a seeded player for the next edition of the World Darts Championship. Further success and a potential place in the top 16 means guaranteed spots at big tournaments like the World Matchplay in Blackpool, all of which feels possible for a teenager with seemingly limitless potential.
The one unknown is how a player so young – which is easy to forget given his exploits of the past three weeks – will cope with so much, so soon. But given how he has handled everything thrown at him so far, the smart betting would suggest this is only the beginning of this remarkable story.
