"What a coincidence" - Luke Littler responds to speculation he withdrew from Hungarian Darts Trophy due to EAFC25 release

Luke Littler was confirmed as having withdrawn from the 2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy earlier this week. According to speculation online, there may have been an easy to spot reason for this withdrawal.

Littler has had some particularly successful weeks of late. Littler won the World Series of Darts Finals last weekend in Amsterdam, and was also successful at the 20th Players Championship of the campaign this week also.

The 17-year-old Englishman was therefore amongst the top favourites for overall victory at the Hungarian Darts Trophy, the 11th tournament of the 2024 European Tour, taking place in Budapest this weekend. That was at least, before he pulled out.

As mentioned, speculation has been flying online that Littler's withdrawal comes for a perhaps very striking reason. After all, this weekend marks the release of the latest version of the famous soccer game EAFC (formely known as FIFA). Millions of gamers have long been eagerly awaiting the launch of this game, and those with early access to the game can play as early as Friday, Sept. 20.

Littler is known as an avid player of the game and in the past has even opened Ultimate Team packs for fans during his walk on. When the popular social media page SPORTbible noted that the Hungarian Darts Trophy also kicks off on Sept. 20, Littler couldn't resist responding to the rumours. "What a coincidence," he said with a wink.

Littler is now expected to be back in action next week at Players Championship 22 and 23, to be played Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, in Leicester.