Michael van Gerwen: Luke Littler is lying if he says he doesn’t want to avoid me

After a horrific 2025 on and off the oche, MvG returns to the World Darts Championship with something to prove, writes Luke Baker, but is adamant the sport’s biggest star is running scared of him

Michael van Gerwen was runner-up at January’s World Darts Championship (Getty Images)

When Michael van Gerwen looks back on 2025, he is unlikely to do so fondly.

A year that began with a resounding 7-3 defeat to an inevitable Luke Littler in the World Darts Championship final soon got worse – as much off the oche as on it.

In May, he announced his divorce from wife Daphne after more than 10 years of marriage and subsequently pulled out of a number of darts tournaments over the summer as he tried to come to terms with his changed circumstances, which he later described as a “mess”, and establish a new normal for their two children.

His dad, Henri, is also battling cancer, and so it was no surprise that the 36-year-old missed out on qualifying for the Players Championship Finals in Minehead last month, instead opting to go on holiday with his children.

There were chinks of darting light amid the darkness, most notably ending a two-year major title drought by winning the World Series Finals in September, which has helped him return to Alexandra Palace this week as the third seed, behind only the seemingly unstoppable Littler and his closest rival, Luke Humphries.

Van Gerwen is refreshingly candid about his situation, treating questions with a matter-of-fact frankness but happily allowing his vulnerability to emerge.

Luke Littler beat Michael van Gerwen in the last World Championship final (Getty Images)

Van Gerwen remains hugely popular with fans (Getty Images)

“I’m OK,” he says, before checking himself slightly. “I’ve had a tough year. Everyone knows I have had a really tough year, on and off the oche. But you have to adjust yourself, you have to adapt yourself.

“You need to try to find a new balance in your life. That’s not that easy, but you can’t look back over your shoulder. It doesn’t help anymore. You have to look forwards.

“I hope [the worst of] it’s behind me. I’ll try to go to the Worlds with it all behind me. It’s not that easy, but you need to try to do as good as possible for yourself.

“It’s 100 per cent a new chapter. A chapter I’ve never faced in my life as well. That’s why I’m saying you need to find that new balance in life. When I am home now, and the kids are there, I have to look after them. It’s not like I have a wife who helps you. That’s all new for me. That will fall in place. That takes time, but I know I’m capable of doing that.”

As one of the biggest sport stars in the Netherlands, Van Gerwen faced intrusion into his private life from the Dutch press – something he would prefer not to have but which he accepts.

The Dutchman has recently swapped his iconic green shirt for a black one (PA)

“I still read it, every day of the week in the papers, on the news channels, they try to find something, of course,” he adds. “As long as I don’t have a relation, they try to find stories or whatever.

“But that’s the way it is, darts is more popular now. High trees take a lot of wind, you know. That’s the way it is.”

What has never wavered is Van Gerwen’s confidence in his ability on the oche. Why should it, given he is a three-time world champion who has had spells as the most dominant force in darts.

As he prepares to begin his 2026 World Championship campaign, which begins on Thursday evening against unfancied Mitsuhiko Tatsunami of Japan, he is currently trading as sixth favourite to win the title with the bookies. Even if he can find his form, a potential path back to the final – and a possible rematch with Littler – is littered with hurdles.

After a possible second-round clash with Irishman William O'Connor, “Mighty Mike” could face former world champions Peter Wright and Gary Anderson in rounds three and four before a quarter-final against fellow Dutchman, world No 6 Danny Noppert or young talent Josh Rock.

Van Gerwen won the most recent of his three world titles in 2019 (Getty Images)

After that, the two Lukes could be waiting in the semi-final and final. A fourth world title will have to be won the hard way, but Van Gerwen is typically bullish in maintaining that he is the man everyone still wants to avoid in the draw, given his pedigree.

“Yes, of course,” he insists. “Ask Luke Littler who he doesn’t want to play. He will definitely say my name. A hundred per cent. And if he doesn’t, he’s lied. That’s the way it is.

“The bookmakers have been wrong over the past so many times, so let me do it again. I don’t have to remind anyone. Everyone knows what I’m capable of.

“The worlds is a different animal. The worlds here, a different kind of pressure, atmosphere, attention, everything, so we’re going to see what’s going to happen there. It’s a tough tournament to win, everyone knows that.”

As the Littler-inspired boom continues to propel darts ever further into the sporting mainstream, the prize money continues to rise. When Van Gerwen last won the world title in 2019, he banked £500,000. This year, the champion will take home £1m.

With such a financial reward on offer, could the pressure to hit that last double in the final force him to crack?

Van Gerwen begins his 2026 World Championship campaign against Mitsuhiko Tatsunami of Japan on Thursday (Getty Images)

“I’ve been in situations like that before,” he says. “Of course, money is nice. Money is dirty, but money doesn’t drive me. It’s nice to have, but for me, the joy for the sport drives me and not the money. Money is handy to have, but yeah, it’s about legacy, 100 per cent.”

Having competed at the top of the darting world for the best part of 15 years now, Van Gerwen is well placed to opine on the state of the sport compared to the past.

The Littler shine currently engulfing the sport has many declaring a golden age of darts, but in typically frank fashion, the Dutchman points to a different era as the peak.

“I still believe the Premier League I was in with Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, James Wade, Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright was the strongest,” he explains.

“But don’t get it wrong, guys like Humphries now and Littler and [Nathan] Aspinall on his day, or [Gerwyn] Price, it’s still great to see. But I think we had more characters at that time. I don’t know, it’s for other people to judge if it was better or worse.”

Van Gerwen maintains that a previous era was the pinnacle of darts (Getty Images)

A fourth PDC world title would take MvG at least two clear of every darts player in history not named Phil Taylor and, even with his 40th birthday coming into view, he is still striving to improve while avoiding being crippled by regret.

“I have a lot of self-reflection,” says Van Gerwen. “When you don’t do too well, when you make a mistake, you have to look yourself in the mirror and also blame yourself. I’m the first one who’s telling myself off.

“But what can you do afterwards? Looking back doesn’t bring you anything but you always learn. The day you’re not learning anymore is the day you have to stop.”

Van Gerwen certainly won’t be stopping any time soon, and brushing off his annus horribilis by lifting the trophy on the Ally Pally stage once more would be a fitting springboard into 2026.