THE 2025 PDC World Darts Championship came to an end last night with a showpiece final between three-time winner Michael van Gerwen, and the player dubbed the Wonder Boy, Luke Littler.

It’s the second time in as many years Littler has made it this far. He took the sporting world by storm in January 2024 when, aged 16, he made a sensational run to the final where he lost to Luke Humphries.

Littler went into the 2025 tournament having spent a full year in the limelight, not just in darts, but also in the wider media. During the past year, he built on that World Championship performance by winning the Premier League, the World Series and the Grand Slam of Darts.

His successful season along with his smooth adaptation to the increased attention and tougher opposition meant he was the favourite going into last night’s final.

Van Gerwen is no stranger to this stage of tournaments and this was his seventh World Championship final appearance, having won the title on three occasions.

The Dutchman’s career connects the Phil Taylor era to what looks likely to be the Littler era.

Van Gerwen’s first PDC World final in 2013 was Taylor’s last win. Since then, Van Gerwen has gone on to win three finals in 2014, 2017, and 2019.

As the game evolves into a moment when it is entering a new stage of popularity, it benefits from Van Gerwen’s presence at the top of the game.

It had not been the best of seasons by the former champion’s own standards, but he turned on the style at the worlds providing entertainment on the stage and in his media appearances.

In terms of the quality on show from both players, the quarter-final between Van Gerwen and Callan Rydz was one of the best games of the tournament prior to last night’s final.

That quarter-final was almost too clinical to be labelled a classic. It lacked the scrappiness to build up any of the emotion and tension that goes with the most entertaining darts matches, but it was darts of the highest level throughout and was one of the tournament’s best games for that reason alone.

If anything, Rydz was the better player, but Van Gerwen won the legs that mattered to win the most sets and progress to the semi-final.

After that game Van Gerwen commented on the gameplay and experience required to win such matches.

“To perform in a game like this against a player who has been a credit to this tournament and has had a fantastic tournament and to produce in the moments when I had to gives me a lot of energy,” he said.

“In moments when you have to play well, you have to play well in the sets because the sets format is totally different to the legs format.

“Experience is important [in those moments], but a little bit of talent helps as well.”

Between Littler and Van Gerwen, there is more than a little bit of talent.

Both dispatched their respective semi-final opponents, Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey, with ease, with both semis finishing with a 6-1 scoreline.

Littler and Van Gerwen had been playing on another level to the rest of the field bar Rydz and set up a final for the ages. Age 17 versus age 35, to be exact.

After his win against Dobey, Van Gerwen predicted that Littler would defeat Bunting 6-1,

“I’ve been watching a little bit and if Bunting keeps missing doubles as he has been it’s going to be 6-1 as well”

Darts will see a further boost in popularity in 2025 on the back of Littler repeating his heroics of 2024 and Van Gerwen maintaining a high enough level to pose a challenge to the player he regularly refers to as the “wonder boy.”

Attention now turns to the 2025 tour and to the Premier League in particular, as is always the case after the World Championship.

There is more talk than ever around which players will be picked for the eight-player Premier League which suggests there is room for expansion, and maybe even a promotion and relegation system where players reach the group of eight on merit.

The 2024 season and the 2025 World Championship have shown that there is an appetite for live darts, and surely a multi-division Premier League would sell out venues at all levels.

When there is this much quality on show, there should be no reason to limit a Premier League-type tour to just eight players.

Second or even third groups of eight would no doubt fill venues across the country, especially as the tour begins in early February so retains some of that World Championship buzz.

When asked at various points about things like the venue for the World Championship and whether he would prefer to play in the afternoon or evening session, Van Gerwen responded with a similar line: “I don’t care whether they play it on Mars, on Jupiter; I’ll be there.”

Though Mars and Jupiter might be a bit of a stretch, 2025 will be the year darts goes stratospheric.

The Littler effect, the characters throughout the game, the party atmosphere among spectators, and the TV coverage, plus a bit of maths to boot, make it one of the most entertaining and engrossing sports around.