If 2024 detonated like a firework in the midnight sky, then 2025 arrived wearing a black cloak, cracked its knuckles, and calmly informed the darting world to stand back and observe history in motion. Perhaps it’s way of politely saying “hold my coat”. This was not escalation. This was eruption.
The echo of Big Ben’s chimes had barely finished vibrating through the capital when, in the colder, sterner north of London, the sport witnessed a coronation for the ages. The youngest World Champion the PDC has ever known was crowned beneath the Alexandra Palace lights. Luke Littler, teenage prodigy, tungsten savant, newly anointed monarch of the Palace. Still too young to legally celebrate his triumph with a glass of champagne, yet old enough to seize the Sid Waddell Trophy and bend the sport to his will.
It was not, in truth, a thunderbolt from a clear blue sky. Twelve months earlier, were it not for the defiant brilliance of Luke Humphries, this ascension would have already been inscribed in the history books. Even then, Littler had been busy hoovering up silverware with the unapologetic hunger of a young emperor in waiting – Grand Slam and Premier League titles already gleaming on the mantelpiece.
Any lingering doubts about longevity, stamina, or the capacity to dominate were obliterated with breath-taking brutality. UK Open. World Matchplay. World Grand Prix. Grand Slam. Players Championship Finals. This was not a good year. This was a manifesto. A declaration of intent carved into tungsten and treble wire. Now, with history beckoning once more, Littler stands on the precipice of something almost unthinkable – retaining his world crown and pocketing a record-shattering £1 million prize. The sport, breath held, watches.
Yet even in an age of Littler supremacy, the kingdom was not ruled unchallenged. Luke Humphries, ever the dignified adversary, opened the year by lifting the Winmau Masters before later reclaiming the Premier League crown from his teenage namesake. And then, as the calendar tilted toward its final act, a new star burst through the firmament.
Gian van Veen had long been spoken of in reverent tones. A World Youth Champion with the look of destiny about him, expectation clung to his shoulders like a tailored suit. But few anticipated quite such haste. The European Championship was his, and with it he shattered the duopoly of the two Lukes, carving his own name into the 2025 major honours list with ruthless composure.
Elsewhere, the World Cup delivered its own stirring narrative. Draped in the emerald green of Northern Ireland, Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney rose as a new and formidable partnership. Sublime, fearless, unrelenting, they captured their nation’s maiden crown by overcoming the formidable Welsh duo of Clayton and Price in a final that crackled with tension and drama.
And this, crucially, was not a year monopolised by the PDC juggernaut alone. Beyond the bright, blinding lights of Alexandra Palace, another force was gathering momentum. The ADC – still youthful, still hungry, but maturing at a startling rate – continued its meteoric ascent through the darting stratosphere. Bigger tournaments followed. Then bigger prize funds. Then, inevitably, bigger spotlights.
While Ally Pally revels in its annual coronation and crowns a king before a global audience, down in Portsmouth a different kind of theatre unfolds. Inside the MODUS Live Lounge, the 2026 ADC Global Champion will be unveiled. The reward? A thoroughly respectable £60,000 and something perhaps even more valuable – validation. Proof that this is no sideshow, no supporting act, but the unmistakable rise of a parallel empire, forging its own champions, its own narratives, and its own thoroughly deserving place in the modern darting world.
With the BDO hangover finally shaken from the system, the WDF continues to surge forward with renewed confidence. Its calendar sprawled across continents, and when the time came for the ultimate reckoning at Lakeside, Dutchman, Jimmy van Schie claimed the World Championship crown. His final opponent, however, may yet prove the greater story. Fifteen-year-old Scottish phenomenon Mitchell Lawrie, affectionately dubbed Wee Sox, announced himself to the world. Or at least the last lingering few that weren’t already aware of his extraordinary tungsten talents. If he does not dominate future annual reviews, something has gone seriously awry.
Romance was alive and flourishing in Frimley Green too. After decades of excellence, near-misses, and unwavering grace, Caribbean Queen, Deta Hedman finally lifted a World title. A career that had everything except the one prize that mattered most was at last complete. Fate, it seemed, dealt the perfect hand. Deta Hedman MBE. World Champion. Exactly as it should be.
The MODUS Live Lounge itself was a crucible of constant action. Day after day, tungsten flew with relentless intensity as the Super Series delivered drama, champions, and chaos in equal measure. International showcases, influencers, women, youth, seniors – a kaleidoscope of competition ensuring Portsmouth scarcely had a quiet moment all year.
Globally, the game’s expansion continued unabated. Down Under, alongside the familiar PDC World Series pilgrimage, the inaugural ANZ Premier League was launched. Its champion was a name written deep into darting folklore – Simon Whitlock. Apt. Poetic. Entirely fitting.
Asia, too, surged forward. Talent blossomed across the continent, and the World Cup offered a tantalising glimpse of what lies ahead. That momentum carried through to Alexandra Palace, where India’s Nitin Kumar made history by becoming the first from his nation to win a match on the sport’s grandest stage.
And then there was Paul Lim. Seventy-one years young. Evergreen. Timeless. Once again defying the calendar, qualifying for the World Championship and breaking his own record as the oldest player to register a win, before Luke Humphries eventually brought the fairy tale to a respectful close.
Africa found a new hero in David Munyua (above). The first Kenyan to grace the Ally Pally stage, he did not arrive merely to participate. From two sets down, he mounted a scarcely believable comeback to topple former World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker. In that moment, a star was born.
North America continued its own vibrant journey, the CDC Tour thriving with incentives dangling tantalisingly from the PDC – Ally Pally berths, World Series invitations, Grand Slam dreams all very much alive.
We, sadly, said goodbye to many from across the spectrum of those involved in our game with Jamie Harvey aka ‘Bravedart’ perhaps the best known. See DW’s recent ‘In Memoriam’ summary here.
And so, inevitably, the story circles back to the World Championship itself. A tournament of unprecedented scale. One hundred and twenty-eight players. Five women. A record-smashing £5 million prize pot £1 million of that for` the winner. Drama, controversy, brilliance and chaos woven tightly together.
Who could have imagined that this humble pub pastime, once defined by smoke-filled rooms and alternating rhythms of throwing and drinking, would one day offer a seven-figure reward for supremacy? History didn’t just knock in 2025. It kicked the door clean off its hinges. Over to you 2026.
——ENDS—–
Images: PDC (Unless stated)
