2024/25 PDC World Darts Championship Final Preview: Luke Littler vs Michael van Gerwen

The most lucrative darts match of the year takes place tonight at Alexandra Palace, as Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen face off in the PDC World Darts Championship final. With £500,000 and the prestigious Sid Waddell Trophy up for grabs, it is by far the biggest prize the sport has to offer.

Last year’s World Championship final attracted record viewing figures for a non-football event on Sky Sports, with 4.8 million people tuning in to watch Luke Humphries defeat a then 16-year-old debutant Littler 7-4 in the final. Those figures are expected to be eclipsed when van Gerwen, one of the all-time greats, takes on Littler in the sport’s showpiece final in London tonight.

Ahead of their mouth-watering clash at Ally Pally this evening, Darts Corner sets the scene for one of the most anticipated finals in darts history and why van Gerwen vs Littler could be considered another ‘master vs the apprentice’ world final similar to Bristow/Taylor and Taylor/van Gerwen in the past.

@dartscorner.co.uk 🎯🏆 𝐏𝐃𝐂 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 - The Weekly Dartscast's Alex Moss previews tonight's PDC World Darts Championship final between Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen. Who wins the title? Let us know in the comments! 👇 #WeGetDarts #darts #dartscommunity #dartsfamily #dartsaddict #pdc #lovethedarts #dartsnews #sportsnews #sports #worldchampionshipdarts #fyp #lukelittler #dartsworldchampionship ♬ original sound - Darts Corner

Meet the two finalists: Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler

Tonight, the three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen, widely considered already to be one of the greatest players of all time, goes up against the teenage sensation Luke Littler, who at 17 years old can smash the record for the youngest world champion. Van Gerwen set the record when he won the first of his three world titles at 24 years of age back in 2014, a victory that was part of a dominant period for the Dutchman where he won every major tournament in the professional game on multiple occasions.

Van Gerwen, now aged 35, has finished up on the losing side in his last two appearances in the World Championship final, losing out to Peter Wright in 2020 and to Michael Smith in 2023, and heads into this evening’s mouth-watering clash against Littler on a major-winning drought with his last big triumph back in September 2023.

‘Mighty Mike’ has finished up on the losing side in each of his last three major finals, the 2023 Players Championship Finals, 2024 Masters and 2024 World Matchplay, the first time he has lost three consecutive major deciders in his illustrious career. Yet despite a lack of recent major silverware, van Gerwen still holds a high placing on the PDC Order of Merit as the world number three.

Meanwhile, Littler has been racking up titles left, right and centre during a record-breaking first season on the PDC tour. After reaching the World Championship final on his debut 12 months ago, ‘The Nuke’ has won 10 titles including the Premier League, Grand Slam of Darts and World Series of Darts Finals and catapulted himself up to number four in the world rankings.

Littler’s emergence has brought more eyes on darts than ever before, with the teenager making numerous media appearances during 2024 including on The Jonathan Ross Show and Bullseye, whilst last month he became the first darts player to win the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award. The Warrington-based youngster also finished second behind Olympic gold medallist Keeley Hodgkinson for the main award.

1990 BDO World Championship final: Eric Bristow vs Phil Taylor

Taylor Topples Bristow - 1990 🏆

In what would be the first of many World titles for "The Power" and kickstart an era of dominance - @PhilTaylor defeated the icon of the previous decade, Eric Bristow, to win the title🏆

@LannoMedia @Darts_World @LittleRichard #LakesideRewind pic.twitter.com/tTUuDfq8EM

— Winmau (@Winmau) January 9, 2021

The early weeks of the 1990s would mark the start of a near-25 year period of domination in darts by Phil Taylor. The 1990 BDO World Championship at the Lakeside saw a then unknown Taylor win the first of his record 16 world titles.

At the start of the tournament, Taylor, then aged 29, had been priced as high as 125/1 by the bookmakers to win the title. Eric Bristow had been sponsoring Taylor to play on the BDO circuit and the two would meet in the World Championship final.

The late Bristow, who had already won five world titles during the 1980s, had battled back from dartitis to return to the top of the world rankings. The first two sets were shared before Taylor reeled off five straight sets to triumph 6-1 against his mentor Bristow in the final.

2013 PDC World Championship final: Phil Taylor vs Michael van Gerwen

TAYLOR'S FINAL TITLE!

11-years on and Phil Taylor was still the man at the top!

He secured his 14th and final PDC World Championship, beating Michael van Gerwen 7-4 in an incredible display in the 2013 final to lift the Sid Waddell trophy!

Dominance like no other 👏 pic.twitter.com/7cVvgkNDfS

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 5, 2023

Luke Littler burst onto the scene with his run to the World Championship final last year at 16 years old but he was not the first teenager to make their mark on the world stage in darts at a similar age. In 2007, Michael van Gerwen won the World Masters and Masters of Darts titles and threw a nine-dart leg in the latter event, all at the age of 17.

At the time the Dutchman was the hottest young property in the sport, before a switch from the BDO to the PDC and a dip in form saw him tumble outside of the world’s top 32 in the PDC. Van Gerwen rallied in 2012 with a breakthrough victory at the World Grand Prix, a maiden PDC major title that saw him climb into the top eight in the world rankings and re-announce himself as one of the best players on the planet.

A few months later he would continue his renaissance by making his first world final at the 2013 PDC World Championship. A clash with Phil Taylor had a similar feel to the 1990 Lakeside decider, with the legend Taylor now in Eric Bristow’s position as the master and van Gerwen considered the apprentice competing in a World Championship final for the first time.

The up and coming van Gerwen led Taylor 2-0 and 4-2 in sets, but crucially missed two set darts to extend his advantage to 5-2. ‘The Power’ hit back with five sets on the spin to run out a 7-4 winner and claim a record-extending 16th world title. It would prove to be the last World Championship victory of Taylor’s career, with van Gerwen going on to win his first world title just 12 months later.

Littler or van Gerwen - who wins tonight?

Tonight’s PDC World Championship final could not be more finely poised – with Michael van Gerwen bidding for an elusive fourth world title to add to his legacy and Luke Littler aiming to smash the record books and become the youngest world darts champion in history.

The 17-year-old Littler is the favourite with the bookmakers to make history at Ally Pally this evening, but his opponent van Gerwen will have other ideas. Only Phil Taylor has won more PDC world titles with 14 – a haul that is unlikely to ever be eclipsed – but Raymond van Barneveld’s Dutch record of five World Championships is a target that van Gerwen has a chance to edge closer to this evening.

Who wins tonight’s blockbuster at the Palace? Let us know via Darts Corner’s social media channels on Facebook and X!

Pictures: PDC

Alex Moss is a content creator for Darts Corner and the co-host of the Weekly Dartscast podcast. Alex co-founded the Weekly Dartscast in 2017 and has helped produce 350+ episodes of the podcast, with their list of previous guests on the show a who’s who in the world of darts.

Alex also writes content for the Darts Corner blog, including the weekly darts news round-ups and how-to guides.