It’s the time of year every darts fan and player looks forward to the most. Between now and the first week of January, the Grand Prix, Grand Slam, European Championship, Players Championship Finals and, of course, the World Championship, will all be played out.
Expect to see the sport’s two big hitters, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, at the heart of the action, as they both look to capitalise on what’s already been a stellar 2025 so far. Littler heads into the winter swing as the world and Matchplay champion, while Humphries picked up his first-ever Premier League title earlier in the year.
Seeing the pair of them going head-to-head on the oche has become commonplace since Littler burst onto the scene two years ago, and Humphries has admitted he wants that to be the case for the next 10 years at least.
Speaking to BoyleSports, Cool Hand said: “It’s going to be tough, Luke has got such a high level and I’ve got to keep to that. I know I have the level to match him as well. It’s going to be exciting. One of the good things about sport, it’s nice to see two people fighting it out for World No1s and titles.
“If you’ve just got one player that shoots off and no one can get near them or no one can catch them, it’s not fun. I feel like hopefully me and Luke have a good battle trying to be World No1 and maybe go on for five or ten years, we chop and change. That would be an exciting thing to be part of.”
It comes after suggestions that Littler could opt to walk away from the sport prematurely, with ex-pro Matt Edgar telling the Mission Darts podcast: “I don’t think Luke will be around that long. I think it will be very short-lived.
“I think he will win a lot of things quickly and he is not someone who is going to retire dropping down the rankings. The chances are he is going to be somebody who retires as the world number one in his mid-20s. He will transcend the sport. The sport right now is not big enough to hold him. He will become too big of a name where there will come lots of opportunities outside of the sport that the sport can’t afford.”
