Luke Littler returns to Germany: Could hostile crowds “make his life hell” and deny him European glory?

Luke Littler returns to Germany for the European Championship this week with the chance to complete his collection of major ranking titles. Having avoided German European Tour events following previous hostile receptions, the world number one has already singled out Dortmund as a test of whether his relationship with the crowds has changed.

“Littler versus the German crowd will be a big one this weekend,” said DartsNews chief content officer Samuel Gill on the latest DartsNews Podcast. “It will be very interesting for me whether or not they will get on his back and just make his life hell, given that he has openly said that he doesn’t want to play in Germany.”

September’s World Series of Darts Finals brought similar problems in Amsterdam, where referee Charlie Corstorphine intervened during Littler’s victory over Nathan Aspinall.

Afterwards, Littler raised the possibility of avoiding Dutch European Tour tournaments too. On Germany, he told Online Darts: “We’ll have to see in Dortmund if it changes, if it stays the same.”

Aspinall could await him again in Saturday’s second round, provided both win their openers. “It could play into the hands of Nathan Aspinall, who is a massive crowd favourite, and he’ll no doubt get the love and adoration of the crowd in Dortmund in comparison to Littler,” Gill said. “That for me is another big one with Littler and why potentially you wouldn’t pick him as a title winner, because he might want to do it to prove a point or he might get flustered and lose quite early.”

The Amsterdam disruption frustrated both players, however. Littler explained that Aspinall had approached the referee because the whistling directed at his opponent was affecting him too.

Price endured years of hostile receptions following his contentious 2018 Grand Slam final against Gary Anderson, before his relationship with crowds eventually improved.

“Since that game against Gary Anderson at the Grand Slam, like eight or nine years ago, he has received dog’s abuse constantly,” Gill said. “It’s kind of the done thing to do, I guess, is just to boo. You might get fans like what you spoke to in Munich, Nic, who go to darts events and love the sport, but you probably get people in Dortmund as well who will see Luke Littler and immediately boo, thinking, ‘Well, you know, it’s the thing to do, isn’t it?’”

Munich was where Littler’s decision to avoid German European Tour events began in 2025. When Nicolas Gayer, a regular on-site interviewer on the European Tour, spoke to spectators there this season, Littler’s continued absence was part of the discussion.

“I’m very convinced that at some point that topic of Littler in Germany will be closed, because you can just see in all the local leagues, in the pubs, also in the arenas, there are so many Littler fans here in Germany,” Gayer said.

“A lot of them said, and I think the majority of fans said, that they wish that Luke returns,” he said of those Munich conversations. “They don’t really understand the crowd reactions and they don’t think it’s fair how the German crowd is dealing with him. So I think that will shift at some point. Maybe it’s this year, maybe it will take another few years.”

Littler has already experienced a more favourable reception during a successful German appearance this season. He won March’s Berlin Premier League night, beating Stephen Bunting, Price and Michael van Gerwen, and acknowledged afterwards that sections of the crowd had supported him.

Littler’s recent setbacks have come in three different formats: a quarter-final exit in Amsterdam, a first-round defeat at the double-start World Grand Prix and a World Youth Championship semi-final loss. The European Championship now offers the opportunity to win a title he has never held.

“What happened in Amsterdam, in Leicester, also at the World Youth Championship was pretty much the worst thing that could have happened to all the other guys with title ambitions,” Gayer said.

He expects Littler to return with “the ambition to fire back and win the title in Dortmund”, adding: “What better way than to do it with a title that he hasn’t won yet? So I think he will be the man in Dortmund this weekend.”

Gill’s own title pick was Ross Smith, the top seed in the opposite half of the draw. His reservations about backing Littler in Germany nevertheless came alongside a comparison with Van Gerwen’s response to defeats during his dominant years.

“I always go back to Michael van Gerwen in 2017 onwards, where when he would lose, and it was very rare that he would lose, he would come back the next event and win it,” he said. “And win it quite comfortably and send out a statement.”

Gill sees Littler producing that kind of response, “whether or not it’s this weekend, whether or not it’s the Grand Slam”.

“He will come back and he’ll end up winning one of these tournaments and do it in style,” he said. “I would not be massively shocked if he wins this weekend. But I will be very intrigued to see what the crowd are like.”

For Gill, the longer-term question is “whether or not he receives long-term treatment like Price did, or whether or not the winning will do the talking and he will soon have people lauding him again”.

“But that depends on the crowds, I guess, in the next few months,” he continued, “and who’s going to the darts for the right reasons and who’s going just for a night out and to boo players as a result.”

Littler begins against William O’Connor on Friday evening, with Aspinall facing Cristo Reyes earlier in the session. Both must survive best-of-11 opening matches before a possible Saturday reunion. Beyond that, Littler would need three victories on Sunday to leave Dortmund with the trophy still missing from his collection.