"Similarities between Luke Littler and Wayne Rooney" - Data analysts compare rise of the 'The Nuke' to that of Man Utd legend

Sunday night at the iconic Alexandra Palace, the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship gets underway. After his breakthrough performance last year, all eyes are on teenage sensation Luke Littler, as almost everyone wonders if the English darting prodigy can go one step further and grab the world title.

Earlier this year, as a relatively unknown 16-year-old, Littler lost in the World Darts Championship final 7-4 against Luke Humphries. Littler's performances at such a tender age made a special impact on the public though. For example, almost 400,000 people attempted to get a ticket to the Alexandra Palace. No World Darts Championship ever had more interest. The previous most in-demand World Darts Championship came back in 2015, where Gary Anderson defeated Phil Taylor in the final to take the title.

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"Sometimes an event in a sport sparks tremendous attention. In football, for example, it is because of a new stadium, a new coach or a star player. For darts, Luke Littler in 2024 was undoubtedly such a boost moment," says Chris Newbold of Vision4Sport about the research his data analysts delivered in darts.

Luke Littler in action last month at the Players Championship Finals

Professor Rob Wilson tries to explain the remarkable figures. "I can already see similarities between Littler and Wayne Rooney (one of the best English footballers ever, ed.)," he compares. "The way Littler has taken the sport by storm and is already the face of darts is similar to the rise of Rooney during his time at Everton and Manchester United."

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"Littler is easily worth more than 100 million euros (for the sport ed.). And he is only going up. He has opened the door for another generation of fans and the sport will benefit from that for years to come. You can already see that the rivalry between him and Luke Humphries will be decisive in the next five to 10 years. You can already see how important that is and how lucrative that is for the sport," the analysts conclude.

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