When is Luke Littler playing at World Darts Championship?

‘The Nuke’ begins his quest to dethrone Luke Humphries this week, with a potential rematch of this year’s final in the final four at ‘Ally Pally’

Jack Rathborn
Monday 16 December 2024 17:03 GMT
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Luke Littler called 'Ronaldo of darts' by boyhood coach

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Luke Littler is back and targeting a first PDC World Darts Championship after a breathtaking season.

‘The Nuke’ was upset by Luke Humphries in the final of the 2024 edition, sparking a blossoming rivalry between the pair, which could dominate the sport for years to come.

The 17-year-old is ranked fourth in the world entering the championship and filled with confidence.

Victories in the Grand Slam of Darts, the Premier League and World Series Finals have been some of the highlights from a glittering year as Littler mania has taken the sport by storm.

Here’s everything you need to know about Littler’s first match of this year’s championship and who he might meet along the way to a potential second final:

How can I watch?

You can watch the PDC Paddy Power World Darts Championship 2024/25 on Sky Sports' dedicated darts channel from 15 December, with a live stream on Sky Go and Now TV.

Luke Littler of England celebrates after a nine dart finish against Luke Humphries in the Premier League Darts Play-Offs
Luke Littler of England celebrates after a nine dart finish against Luke Humphries in the Premier League Darts Play-Offs (Getty Images)

When is Littler playing and what’s his route to the 2025 final?

Littler’s first match, in the second round, will be against the winner of Ryan Meikle vs Fallon Sherrock. The match will take place on Saturday, 21 December. The match is third in the order of play for the evening session, which starts at 7pm GMT, so we can expect the match to start at approximately 9pm GMT.

In round three, the highest seed is Ritchie Edhouse, then in round four Danny Noppert could stand in his way.

A quarter-final against Rob Cross is on the cards before defending world champion Luke Humphries in the semi-finals. The final could see Littler face a number of former world champions, including Michael Smith, Michael Van Gerwen and Gary Anderson.

Full schedule for World Darts Championship 2024/25

Luke Humphries defends his title after defeating Luke Littler in last year’s final
Luke Humphries defends his title after defeating Luke Littler in last year’s final (Getty Images)

Evening Session (7pm)

Niels Zonneveld v Robert Owen (R1)

Connor Scutt v Ben Robb (R1)

Cameron Menzies v Leonard Gates (R1)

Gerwyn Price v Keane Barry (R2)

Michael van Gerwen is one of the contenders for this year’s championship
Michael van Gerwen is one of the contenders for this year’s championship (Getty Images)

Tuesday December 17

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

James Hurrell v Jim Long (R1)

Kevin Doets v Noa-Lynn van Leuven (R1)

Ryan Joyce v Darius Labanauskas (R1)

Mike De Decker v Luke Woodhouse (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

Jeffrey de Graaf v Rashad Sweeting (R1)

Ricardo Pietreczko v Xiaochen Zong (R1)

Ryan Meikle v Fallon Sherrock (R1)

Peter Wright v Wesley Plaisier (R2)

Wednesday December 18 (7pm)

Evening Session (7pm)

Jim Williams v Paolo Nebrida (R1)

Madars Razma v Christian Kist (R1)

Ricky Evans v Gordon Mathers (R1)

Nathan Aspinall v Menzies/Gates (R2)

Thursday December 19

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Chris Landman v Lok Yin Lee (R1)

Callan Rydz v Romeo Grbavac (R1)

Martin Lukeman v Nitin Kumar (R1)

Gabriel Clemens v Zonneveld/Owen (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

Nick Kenny v Stowe Buntz (R1)

Mensur Suljovic v Matt Campbell (R1)

Scott Williams v Niko Springer (R1)

Michael Smith v Doets/Van Leuven (R2)

Friday December 20

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Stephen Burton v Alexander Merkx (R1)

Wessel Nijman v Cameron Carolissen (R1)

Ian White v Sandro Eric Sosing (R1)

Stephen Bunting v Kai Gotthardt (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

Mickey Mansell v Tomoya Goto (R1)

Florian Hempel v Jeffrey De Zwaan (R1)

William O’Connor v Dylan Slevin (R1)

Michael van Gerwen v Hurrell/Long (R2)

Saturday December 21

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Karel Sedlacek v Rhys Griffin (R1)

Richard Veenstra v Alexis Toylo (R1)

Brendan Dolan v Landman/Lee (R2)

Chris Dobey v Burton/Merkx (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

Danny Noppert v Joyce/Labanauskas (R2)

Raymond van Barneveld v Kenny/Buntz (R2)

Luke Littler v Meikle/Sherrock (R2)

Damon Heta v Scutt/Robb (R2)

Sunday December 22

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Ryan Searle v Suljovic/Campbell (R2)

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Razma/Kist (R2)

Joe Cullen v Nijman/Carolissen (R2)

Ritchie Edhouse v White/Sosing (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

Martin Schindler v Rydz/Grbavac (R2)

Ross Smith v J Williams/Nebrida (R2)

Gary Anderson v De Graaf/Sweeting (R2)

Dimitri Van den Bergh v O’Connor/Slevin (R2)

Monday December 23

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Krzysztof Ratajski v Veenstra/Toylo (R2)

Andrew Gilding v Lukeman/Kumar (R2)

Josh Rock v Sedlacek/Griffin (R2)

Jonny Clayton v Mansell/Goto (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

Gian van Veen v Pietreczko/Zong (R2)

Daryl Gurney v Hempel/De Zwaan (R2)

Dave Chisnall v Evans/Mathers (R2)

Rob Cross v S Williams/Springer (R2)

Friday December 27

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (7pm)

3x Third Round

Saturday December 28

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (7pm)

3x Third Round

Sunday December 29

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (7pm)

1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round

Monday December 30

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

3x Fourth Round

Evening Session (7pm)

3x Fourth Round

Wednesday January 1

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

2x Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (7pm)

2x Quarter-Finals

Thursday January 2 (7.30pm)

Semi-Finals

Friday January 3 (8pm)

Final

Results

Sunday December 15 (7pm)

Thibault Tricole 3-1 Joe Comito (R1)

Jermaine Wattimena 3-0 Stefan Bellmont (R1)

Kim Huybrechts 1-3 Keane Barry (R1)

Luke Humphries 3-0 Thibault Tricole (R2)

Monday December 16

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Wesley Plaisier 3-2 Ryusei Azemoto (R1)

Luke Woodhouse 3-0 Lourence Ilagan (R1)

Alan Soutar 1-3 Kai Gotthardt (R1)

James Wade 0-3 Jermaine Wattimena (R2)

World Darts Championship Format

Final: Best of 13 sets

Semi-Final: Best of 11 sets

Quarter-Final: Best of nine sets

Fourth Round: Best of seven sets

Third Round: Best of seven sets

Second Round: Best of five sets

First Round: Best of five sets

Odds

Luke Littler 7/4

Luke Humphries 11/4

Gary Anderson 10/1

Michael van Gerwen 10/1

Mike De Decker 18/1

Gian van Veen 28/1

Michael Smith 28/1

Rob Cross 28/1

Chris Dobey 33/1

Stephen Bunting 33/1

Wessel Nijman 33/1

Gerwyn Price 40/1

Nathan Aspinall 40/1

Peter Wright 40/1

Ross Smith 40/1

Damon Heta 50/1

Dave Chisnall 50/1

Dimitri Van den Bergh 50/1

Josh Rock 50/1

Ryan Searle 50/1

World Darts Championship prize money

Winner: £500,000

Runner-Up: £200,000

Semi-Final: £100,000

Quarter-Final: £50,000

Fourth Round: £35,000

Third Round: £25,000

Second Round: £15,000

First Round: £7,500

Total: £2,500,000

Who are the top seeds?

Luke Humphries (1), Michael Smith (2), Michael van Gerwen (3), Luke Littler (4), Rob Cross (5), Dave Chisnall (6), Jonny Clayton (7), Stephen Bunting (8), Damon Heta (9), Gerwyn Price (10), Dimitri Van den Bergh (11), Nathan Aspinall (12), Danny Noppert (13), Gary Anderson (14), Chris Dobey (15), James Wade (16), Peter Wright (17), Josh Rock (18), Ross Smith (19), Ryan Searle (20), Andrew Gilding (21), Martin Schindler (22), Joe Cullen (23), Mike De Decker (24), Dirk van Duijvenbode 25), Daryl Gurney (26), Gabriel Clemens (27), Gian van Veen (28), Ritchie Edhouse (29), Brendan Dolan (30), Krzysztof Ratajski (31), Raymond van Barneveld (32).

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