Luke Littler Hints at How Long He'll Keep Playing Darts After Second World Title

Luke Littler has hinted at how long he will continue to play darts after winning his second World Championship.

The 18-year-old averaged 106.02 in defeating Gian van Veen 7-1 in Saturday's final.

He becomes only the fourth player in darts history - after Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson - to win back-to-back PDC world titles.

It was another astonishing performance from Littler, who lost the first set and went 2-0 down in set two.

A 7-1 defeat, on the face of it, suggests Van Veen may have struggled to perform in what was his first major final.

But that wasn't the case, as the Dutchman himself averaged 99.94 and scored consistently well throughout the contest.

The 23-year-old, who won the World Youth Championship in November, may look back at his doubling later on in the match as something which could have made the scoreline closer.

But such was Littler's scoring and doubling power, Van Veen was in a position where he effectively needed to take every opportunity - and even that may not have been enough in any case.

Van Veen is now world number three, and has earned automatic qualification for the 2026 Premier League.

Littler, meanwhile, is comfortably clear as world number one, and his advantage is such that he could take the entirety of 2026 out of the sport and still be number one at this time next year.

Given his sensational rise to the top of darts, and the fact that he has already transcended the sport in a way that no other darts player has managed before, there has been talk about Littler's long-term future in darts.

His rival and friend Nathan Aspinall suggested in May that the 18-year-old could retire from the sport in the next five years.

Littler dismissed that suggestion and said he was going to be in darts for a 'long time'.

But he has now seemingly put a minimum time frame on how long he plans to stay in the sport.

In his post-match media conference after winning his second title, Littler was asked about potentially matching Taylor's record of 16 world titles.

'The Nuke' didn't rule out attempting to achieve the feat - meaning that he would have to at least play in every World Championship until at least 2040, when he would be 32.

Of course, even for a talent like Littler, the chances of doing that are still incredibly slim.

Taylor won his titles across 23 years, meaning that, if Littler were to do likewise - and win one more to break the record - he would be 41 years of age.

"Yeah, it's so far away," he said. "What's that, 14 to go? Another 15 or 16 years, I'd say!"

"But if it happens, it happens. I'll be around for a very long time, and I'm here to win.

"It's something that any darts player could do. Obviously, me being so young and already picking up two of these, it's 14 to go.

"But yeah, it's a long way to go. Like I said, who knows if I could reach it? If I could get five or six, I'd be happy."