Luke Littler vs Gian van Veen: New rivalry takes centre stage at World Darts Championship final at Alexandra Palace
Luke Littler takes on Gian van Veen in the first of potentially many World Championship finals between the pair; watch Saturday's World Darts Championship final from 7.30pm with walk-ons at approximately 8.15pm, live on Sky Sports Darts and Sky Sports Main Event
Saturday 3 January 2026 09:57, UK
Just over two years ago, Luke Littler and Gian van Veen went head-to-head in the World Youth Championship final in a match that perhaps marked the start of a long, thrilling rivalry.
While much has been said about the incredible Littler who has changed the perception of darts in the UK and become one of the country's biggest stars, over in the Netherlands Van Veen has slowly crept up the rankings and is now the Dutch No 1, ending Michael van Gerwen's reign of nearly 14 years.
Last year's World Championship final saw somewhat of a handing of the baton from Van Gerwen to Littler. This year's decider sees two players who could tear it up for decades to come and take the sport to new heights.
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Sky Sports Darts' Wayne Mardle said: "They are young stars. They are the now. We are saying this could be the future for year after and year after but you still have Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson in there.
"What this proves for me is when you are on the up, you are capable of anything. It happened with Luke Humphries, with Luke Littler.
"You are on the up then get this momentum of, 'I'm playing well, I'm the best'. Van Veen is in that rich vein of form of, 'this is the best darts I have played in my life'."
Littler and Van Veen locked in head-to-head
Most darts players have a losing head-to-head against Littler but Van Veen, 23, is actually level with the reigning world champion at 3-3.
They first met on the PDC Circuit in November 2023 at the World Youth Championship where a 16-year-old Littler defeated Van Veen 6-4, then went on an extraordinary run at the World Championship a month later, losing the final to Humphries.
Van Veen said of the youth final: "I played okay, I played well but I think after that game I said to myself, 'okay, now the whole wide world knows what Luke Littler is about'.
"Going into that match, I was favoured by to the bookmakers, which is only a little more than two years ago. It sounds really crazy to be favoured against Luke Littler, but that was the case at that time.
"After that match, I knew what Luke was capable of and he showed it on that stage. I said to myself, 'okay, you can give him a good game'. I missed one dart to go 5-0, but then afterwards, we had so many great battles."
Littler immediately became a force in darts, becoming Premier League champion and won two other major titles before becoming world champion at the start of 2025.
Meanwhile, Van Veen was still slowly building his career with a run to the Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals being the only highlight in 2024 - although he did become world youth champion.
The 2025 season saw the Dutchman kick on though. He lost to Littler 10-4 in the UK Open quarter-finals in March but got the better of him 7-6 in the behind-closed-doors Players Championship 5.
More impressive wins over Littler came on the European Tour though in front of a crowd with 7-4 and 6-4 victories. Granted, these did not happen at majors but it surely gave Van Veen the confidence that he could beat the best player in the world.
Littler got the better of him in an epic first-round match at October's World Grand Prix. The scoreline does not tell the story as Littler won 2-0 in sets but Van Veen produced the highest average in the tournament's history with 106.47. Littler had checkouts of 151 and 144 on his way to 105.58 average (a remarkable number given you must start each leg on a double in that event).
If we get anything like that latest contest between the duo in Saturday's World Championship final, we should be in for quite something. The head-to-head suggests if one person can crack Littler, it will be Van Veen, who has been flying since winning his first senior major title in late October - the European Championship.
Will lack of challenge for Littler hurt him?
Littler's path to the World Championship final opened up on paper with several seeds in his half exiting earlier than expected including Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey.
The teenager did not drop a set in his opening three matches and has only lost three in the whole tournament - two to Rob Cross in the fourth round and one to Ryan Searle in the semi-finals.
"The biggest test was against Rob. Obviously I had that 3-1 lead, then he started to pick it up again and I just had to get him out of the way, get the job done, which I did," said Littler.
"There was a tough test against David Davies. He missed loads of doubles. If he hit them doubles, it's a totally different game. A win's a win though."
If there is one small weakness, if any, in Littler's game - he can be a slow starter. He could have lost the first set to Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas and Wales' Davis Davies in his opening matches but showed his ability to almost lock in and produce incredible darts under pressure - a trait Van Veen will need to watch out for.
Littler lost the first set in the semi-finals to Ryan Searle but 'Heavy Metal' did not have the firepower to stand on the gas pedal and respond to his opponent raising his game. That's where Van Veen should be able to at least make Littler work harder and punish the English player for any mistakes.
"Everyone's seen what Luke's capable of in the last couple of years," Van Veen, who had not won a match at the World Championship until this tournament, told Sky Sports Darts.
"He's played fantastic in this tournament but so have I. I'm really looking forward to that game. Hopefully it will be a great game."
And Van Veen has been impressive, particularly in crucial stages of matches as he demonstrated in a 5-1 win over Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals, winning three deciding legs from six sets.
The 23-year-old was strong again when Gary Anderson mounted a comeback in the semi-finals and the crowd jeered Van Veen to try and put him off.
"When the crowd got involved, I got a bit frustrated but I am relieved I got the job done in the end, even with the crowd against me," he said.
Early stages of a new era?
Over the last decade, several players have been at the forefront of darts including Peter Wright, Price, Cross, Michael Smith, Anderson, Van Gerwen and Humphries.
But, Littler and Van Veen have age on their side and will surely only get better. Their scoring power is already ferocious and both players will be aware they may need to win the majority of their legs within four visits in Saturday's final just to hold throw.
"He [Littler] is going to put you under pressure from set one. It could be 13 sets," said Van Veen.
"Hopefully I'm going to take my chances, keep up with him scoring-wise, because he's probably the better scorer than I am. I just need to keep up, take my chances and then I've got a chance."
Littler's record over long matches is incredible. He has lost just one of his 25 matches in contests that have lasted 20 legs and longer, and that was the 2024 World Championship final against Humphries.
The world No 1 is aiming to become the first player to defend their title since Anderson a decade ago but Van Veen could be the thorn in his side for years to come as the pair push each other to unprecedented levels.
Sky Sports Darts' Mardle said: "Whoever wins or loses, it doesn't change whether it's the best spell in their life or not. It's just a case of cracking on and doing it again.
"We said Littler and Humphries would participate in all these finals for years to come. We didn't see this happening.
"But since October, when Van Veen won the European Championship, he's the one to challenge Luke Littler. It's an exciting time for darts."
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