Littler and Van Veen set up World Championship final that could define darts’ future

A rivalry that may come to dominate darts will write a huge first chapter at Alexandra Palace on Saturday evening

The future, it seems, is now. The 2026 World Championship final will not only showcase the very best that darts currently offers but also give a tantalising glimpse of a rivalry that could dominate the sport for years to come.

Luke Littler – teenage darting phenom, reigning world champion, transcendent star who has made the sport cool again – and Gian van Veen – coming Dutch force, reigning two-time world youth champion, scourge of Luke Humphries – will do battle on the Alexandra Palace stage for the right to hold aloft the most famous trophy in darts.

Littler knows exactly what that feels like, having made history with his World Championship triumph 12 months ago at the age of 17, while Van Veen is trying to break new ground.

At 23, the Dutchman is essentially ancient compared to his 18-year-old foe, but Littler’s ludicrous rise has skewed things somewhat. Van Veen would still comfortably be the second-youngest world champion in history, should he beat the seemingly invincible world No 1. They will also have the lowest combined age of any world final by some margin.

This could be the first major chapter in a rivalry to match the likes of Taylor vs Van Barneveld, Lowe vs Bristow or Van Gerwen vs Wright.

The two men booked their spots in Saturday’s showpiece in contrasting styles, enduring very different semi-final experiences on a raucous Friday evening at Ally Pally.

Littler downed 38-year-old world No 20 Ryan Searle – one of the feelgood stories of this year’s World Championship after a career-best run to the last four – 6-1 with the minimum of fuss. “The Nuke” was too strong for “Heavy Metal”, barely getting out of third gear to cruise through despite losing the first set.

Luke Littler was too good for Ryan Searle in his semi-final (Adam Davy/PA Wire)

And he will now renew a burgeoning rivalry with Gian van Veen (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Van Veen and two-time world champion Gary Anderson produced an instant Ally Pally classic, with one of the greatest semi-finals in championship history. The final scoreline of 6-3 barely begins to tell the story as Anderson, competing in his eighth world semi-final, hit a 102.91 average but still lost to a man in just his third semi-final of any major tournament and who had never gone beyond the second round of the World Championship before this year.

A game that was already high-quality really caught fire in the deciding leg of the fourth set when Van Veen found himself six darts into a nine-dart leg and, although he failed to reach perfection, he broke Anderson’s throw with an 11-darter to move 3-1 ahead.

What followed was a set that defied belief. Anderson opened up with a 10-dart leg to break the throw of his Dutch foe before taking out the “big fish” 170 finish – the highest possible checkout with three darts – in the next to send Ally Pally wild. Van Veen hit back with a classy 11-darter before raising the Palace roof by reeling in a big fish of his own to break back and set up a deciding leg, which he snatched with double four to seemingly take control of the match.

Gary Anderson and Van Veen served up an Ally Pally classic (Adam Davy/PA Wire)

Anderson refused to lie down, closing the deficit to 4-3 and coming agonisingly close to levelling the match before Van Veen shook off squandering four set darts in the fourth leg of set eight to break the Scot in the decider and move within one of glory.

The Scot had one final chance to extend the match when he took out 121 to break Van Veen’s throw and put himself in position to stay alive in the contest, but the younger man knuckled down and hit back to claim an emotional win.

“Gary threw everything at me. His finishing and scoring was great,” he said after the victory. “But I felt comfortable up here on the stage, the crowd were against me, but that’s fair play because Gary is a fantastic human being and a fantastic darts player. He was my idol growing up.

“I never thought this would happen. I can’t even say it’s a dream come true to reach the world final because I couldn’t have even dreamed of this.”

After demolishing Humphries 5-1 in the quarter-finals, the fifth straight time he has beaten the 2024 world champion, Van Veen – whose run in north London has lifted him to No 3 in the world and seen him usurp Michael van Gerwen as the highest-ranked Dutch player – stated that he was the biggest threat to Littler left in the tournament.

Van Veen has a winning record against Littler in his career (PA Wire)

He’ll need that confidence to overcome the unstoppable teenager in the final, but should take heart from the fact that he’s the only player with a winning record against Littler who has played him more than once, leading their head-to-head 3-2.

“Everyone has seen what Luke is capable of over the last couple of years,” said Van Veen after the semi-final. “He’s played fantastically, but so have I. Hopefully it will be a great game.”

Littler has experienced boos for the first time at a World Championship over the past fortnight and made clear his annoyance at them with some punchy post-match comments following his round four victory over Rob Cross.

His walk-on for the semi-final received a decidedly mixed reaction from the crowd, but the reigning champion soon shook off any lingering resentment to cruise into a third straight final.

Searle, who has opened up this week about the challenge of an eye condition that impedes his vision to the point that he sometimes can’t see where his darts have landed on the board, started well, picking his moments to edge the opening set despite averaging 94.50 to Littler’s 105.0.

Littler has enjoyed a more positive response from the crowd since criticising them after his win over Rob Cross (Adam Davy/PA Wire)

But the teenager soon surged away, taking advantage of every Searle mistake to reel off six straight sets and triumph with a match average of 105.35 – the third time he’s averaged more than 105 this tournament.

The underdog had his moments, most notably when Littler was seven darts into a nine-dart finish before falling just below the treble 20 bed with dart number eight. Searle immediately took out a big fish in response, nailing a 170 checkout to steal the leg and earn a fist bump, accompanied by a wry grin, from his opponent.

Of course, that wry grin will turn into a full-blown smile should the boy wonder make it back-to-back world titles on the Ally Pally stage on Saturday night.

But standing in his way will be the man who may turn into the rival that defines his entire career. Littler vs Van Veen – it’s not to be missed.