Sport

The stats behind World Darts Champion Luke Littler’s brilliant year (and a bit) are quite staggering

It's fair to say you'll being hearing Luke Littler and world titles in the same sentence for a long time.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 4th January 2025

Yes, he’s done it: the still-teenaged Luke Littler is officially a World Darts Champion and although we all saw it coming, the stats behind his meteoric rise are, frankly, ridiculous.

As if becoming the youngest-ever player to ever win the 2025 PDC World Darts Championships at just 17 wasn’t impressive enough, his pathway, previous victories and numerous accolades leading up to this point really put things into perspective.

Oddly enough, he almost seemed destined to get his hands on the trophy the moment he fell just short in last year’s final against current world number one Luke Humphries.

Here are the numbers to prove it:

As put together by Sporting Life journalist Chris Hammer, when the already long list of achievements in just his first year and a bit as a professional on the senior circuit is laid out in front of you like that, it really does feel like it was always going to happen, doesn’t it?

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But this doesn’t even quite tell the full story.

Even before he won his first PDC title on the pro tour at the Bahrain Masters back in January, the Warrington-born teen had already won the senior Irish Open back in 2021 when he was just 14. Let us repeat that: 14 years old.

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Going back even further, he’s been dominating the youth circuit for some time too – most notably becoming the first player in JDC (Junior Darts Corporation) history to win back-to-back World Championship titles in 2022 and ’23.

The trend of consecutive successes has only increased as time has gone on and now the youngster has won a trio of darts majors with a Grand Slam, World Series and Premier League title, not to mention two Masters tournaments and a pair of PDC Opens, winning the rest feels like a mere certainty.

The consistency behind his stats and level of averages alone are rather frightening and as the cherry on top of the Sid Waddell Trophy, Luke Littler also won the win the Ballon D’Art trophy after hitting 79 maximums – though Michael Smith does still hold the record for most 180s in a tournament (83).

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Not to play on anyone’s inferiority complex here or force them to look back at what they were up to at his age either but, as detailed above, Littler‘s first-place prize of £500,000 has just seen him rack up more than £1.5 million in total earnings over the past 13 months since his pro debut.

But it doesn’t stop there…

As per The Telegraph, top players in the sport typically earn around £350,000 a year in shirt sales and other merchandising opportunities; he also stands to earn even more away from the board than he already does from personal dart sets once he turns 18 and betting sponsors inevitably come knocking.

With no exaggeration whatsoever, Littler’s stats haven’t just seen him win a lot of titles and money in a relatively short space of time but he’s helped kick off a whole new generation-spanning darting renaissance and love for the arrows.

You can watch the highlights from Luke Littler’s World Darts Championship win over veteran and fellow serial winner, Michael van Gerwen, down below.

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Here’s how he did it.

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Featured Images — Sky Sports (screenshot via YouTube)

Sport

Scott Carson reveals important behind-the-scenes role at Manchester City

Danny Jones Danny Jones Scott Carson backroom role at Man City

Recently retired goalkeeper Scott Carson has revealed the unsung but important role he had behind the scenes during his time at Manchester City.

The 40-year-old ex-pro called time on his playing career after more than two decades and six years in sky blue, having made just two appearances for the club during a period in which they won 11 trophies.

Carson officially hung up his gloves on 23 October 2025, following his contract expiration, and since then has found himself carrying out a number of interviews, including one with Fozcast, hosted by another fellow shotstopper who spent time in Manchester, Ben Foster.

While lots of people have joked that he did very little to earn the flurry of medals so late in his career, or at the very least theorised as to what he actually did behind the scenes, he’s now been more open than ever about the largely sidelined spell.

Sitting down with Sky Sports, the Cumbrian keeper confirmed that initially it was, indeed, just a case of serving as not even as a rotation option but a back-up third choice.

Nevertheless, he’s an experienced veteran with 11 different teams on his CV, including Leeds United, Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday – though only a handful of games for each – as well as half a century of appearances at Wigan Athletic before his longest stints at the likes of West Brom and Derby County.

While this job usually involves purely training, helping keep other players sharp, he says that after settling into the Etihad Campus a little more, he found himself performing a much more influential, albeit largely unsung, role in the background.

Getting validation from manager Pep Guardiola that the side “needed more of that”, he essentially ended up providing valuable seniority and motivation amongst the group, despite only playing a couple of times.

Bidding farewell to the Whitehaven-born cult hero, the club wrote: “During his time at City, Carson has been praised by goalkeeping coach Xabi Mancisidor and peers Ederson and Stefan Ortega Moreno for his work ethic and the effect of his positive attitude amongst the group.”

Speaking about Guardiola specifically, he hailed the Catalan coach for having overhauled modern football in this country, as well as giving him the secondary task of supporting his teammates, be it via boosting morale and ‘picking up’ those left frustrated by matchday selection.

As well as noting his widely publicised detail-oriented nature, he also made a point of recognising that Pep himself was “evolving each season”, whether or not everyone else saw it.

In short, he said he has helped improve the quality of the Premier League and, more specifically, that he helped redefine what a goalkeeper can be in the division.

You can watch the rest of the interview in full down below.

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Featured Images — Sky Sports (screenshot via YouTube)/Steffen Prößdorf (Wikimedia Commons)

Sport

Manchester set to host five UEFA EURO 2028 matches – including England’s opening game

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Man City reveal new North Stand seating plan for Etihad Stadium expansion

Manchester has been confirmed to be the host of five matches at the upcoming UEFA EURO tournament in 2028.

This also, crucially, would include England‘s opening match, should they qualify directly.

The joint announcement by Manchester City and Manchester City Council today comes as UEFA has now released key details about the UK & Ireland 2028 competition – which, as it stands, is less than 1,000 days away.

It has been confirmed that the Etihad Stadium – which is known as The City of Manchester Stadium when not relating to Manchester City football club – will host four Group Stage matches across four different groups, offering both local and international football fans the chance to see a range of different national teams in action.

On top of this, Manchester will also be the host a Round of 16 knockout match as the tournament progresses.

UEFA EURO 2028 will kick off at the National Stadium of Wales in Cardiff on Friday 9 June 2028, culminating in the Final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 9 July 2028.

Across the UK and Ireland, nine stadiums will host matches during the upcoming tournament – with other northern stadiums including Everton Stadium in Liverpool, and St James’ Park over in Newcastle.

More than three million tickets – as sold by UEFA – are set to be available for the tournament, and more information on this will be issued in due course.

Following an independent assessment, UEFA EURO 2028 is expected to generate up to £3.6 billion in socio-economic benefits for the UK and Ireland between 2028 and 2031, with benefits including job creation, regional growth, and direct spending from international visitors.

All this extra revenue generated will build on the Club and Council’s ongoing investment in East Manchester.

“Manchester is known the world over as a great footballing city,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council.

“We could not be more excited to be welcoming such a prestigious tournament, which is enjoyed by millions of fans around the world, to our city.

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“We’re a city where football runs deep in our DNA, and we’re counting down the days to UEFA Euro 2028.”

Featured Image – The Manc Group

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