Luke Littler has reconciled with the fans. © ANSA / DAVID CLIFF

“Thank you”: Luke Littler reconciles with fans

Luke Littler addressed the fans at Alexandra Palace from the world's biggest darts stage.

04 January 2026

From: cst

"Incredible. Thank you again," said the English world champion after his 7-1 victory in the World Championship final against Dutchman Gian van Veen. Less than a week after his altercation with the crowd in the round of 16 against Rob Cross, everything was back to normal for Littler.

In that final match of 2025, he was booed and whistled at. "It doesn't bother me," Littler claimed in a live interview with Sky Sports, laughing with a red face: "You pay for tickets and you pay my prize money. Thanks for booing me."

From the quarter-finals onwards, the situation between the darts champion and the fans at Ally Pally calmed down again. Even the return of the famous wasp to the stage couldn't unsettle him in the final. It had buzzed around the young Englishman's body for almost a minute.

Littler: Still on the roller coaster

Littler has become the first professional since Scot Gary Anderson ten years ago to successfully defend his world title. When asked if he could ever have imagined such success, the 18-year-old said: "No way. I never thought it would turn out like this."

Luke Littler has defended his world championship title. © ANSA / DAVID CLIFF

Hungry for titles, Littler announced: “We have to keep going, we have to keep winning more titles. We can’t stop here. We’re still on this roller coaster.”

The Englishman only lost four sets in the entire tournament: two against Cross, one in the semi-final against Ryan Searle, and one against European champion van Veen, who had no chance in the final. "I would have liked to give Luke a real duel, but I didn't manage that today," admitted van Veen.