Luke Littler and Gian van Veen will clash in the first ever £1m final in darts history at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship, in what bills to be a mouth-watering contest.
Saturday evening will see the world number one Littler and Dutch number one Van Veen do battle in the most significant match of the darting calendar after both players made spectacular runs to the final in toppling the record 128-player field.
Defending champion Littler has made three consecutive finals in his last three years – a feat only done by Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley and Gary Anderson – dropping only three sets in the process.
The 18-year-old whitewashed Darius Labanauskas and David Davies in his opening two fixtures before recording another straight-sets victory against Mensur Suljovic with a rampant 107 average.
Littler faced his greatest test so far in the form of 2017/18 World Champion Rob Cross in round four, but a tournament-record 17 maximums and 106 average helped propel the teenager to a 4-2 win.
The World Champion then continued his remarkable record in televised ranking semi-finals, coming back from a set behind to bulldoze Ryan Searle 6-1 and book his spot in a third World Championship final in just third appearances.
“It feels good to reach the final, I’ve joined another short list of names of players who have had back-to-back-to-back finals,” said Littler, who has only lost one game out of 20 at Alexandra Palace before the final.
“Now, the only goal is to join the list of people who are back-to-back World Champions.
“I’ve got every right to think I can do it, but I never, ever say that I am going to win it. We will just see how the darts go.
“This is my third time here, I know how to win. A 105 average against Ryan is good, but I think we can up it a bit more in the final.”
Van Veen had not won a match on the Alexandra Palace stage before this year’s tournament but has produced a string of mesmerising performances to assert himself on darts’ biggest platform.
The European Champion – one of only three active players to be a reining Premier event champion besides Littler and Luke Humphries – began his campaign by defeating Cristo Reyes 3-1, before demolishing Alan Soutar by the same scoreline with a 108.28 average, the highest of the tournament yet.
Van Veen then saw past Madars Razma and Charlie Manby 4-1 in rounds three and four, setting up a blockbuster quarter-final clash against 2023/24 champion Humphries.
Despite the opponent, Van Veen swept aside the world number two with an average north of 105 to become the new Dutch number one and provisionally move to world number three.
On Friday evening, the 23-year-old accounted for another former World Champion in Anderson during a spectacular semi-final battle which ended 6-3.
“I’ve enjoyed every single second of it, I’m still pinching myself,” admitted Van Veen, who will feature in his second Premier event final.
“My first ever dream was to be in the World Championship, I wasn’t dreaming about getting to a final - it feels amazing.
“Luke Humphries averaged over 100, Gary averaged over 100 too. It’s been a really tough battle the past couple of games, but that shows to myself what I'm capable of, to beat those opponents even when they’re playing well and especially on this stage with all the pressure that comes with it.
“It would be immense to win the title tomorrow, I don’t think anyone would say it was undeserved.
“Everyone knows what Luke Littler is capable of. I need to bring out my A-game tomorrow, or else it’s going to be a very difficult game.”
Fascinatingly, the two have already met in a televised final in 2023, at the World Youth Championship final in Minehead.
Van Veen came into the match as the favourite, but Littler won the best-of-11 legs contest 6-4, a foresight to his remarkable World Championship debut that occurred the following month after defeating Van Veen.
“I know Gian very well from the Development Tour, we have met a few times on the Pro Tour and I got the win over him in Minehead in my first World Youth Championship,” stated Littler.
“He is in absolute freedom, he’s now in the top four of the world - I don’t think he has much to lose.”
Nevertheless, in 2025, the Dutch number one has won three of the five matches played against Littler, including two European Tour victories and a Players Championship event win.
Littler’s two wins both came in Premier events, however, defeating Van Veen in the quarter-finals of the UK Open and in an exceptional round one tie of the World Grand Prix, which saw the Dutchman record the highest average ever at the tournament and still lose in straight-sets.
“Going into the World Youth Championship final, I was favourite,” said Van Veen. “After that match, I knew what Luke was capable of. We’ve had so many great battles since then, of course.
“Especially now with Luke doing what he’s been doing, it’s looking very bright for the young guys in the sport.
“I know what it’s like to beat him, but I don’t know what it’s like to beat him on this stage on the biggest game of my career.
“Luke knows what it’s like to win the World Championship, to lift this trophy and be World Champion for the year. It’s going to be a very different game from what I'm used to.”
Over their five matches in 2025, both players’ averages are almost identical. Adjusting for starting doubles during their World Grand Prix clash, Van Veen has averaged 103.35 to Littler’s 103.32.
Furthermore, across these matches, both players have won legs in 15-darters or better more than 63% of the time, promising for an enticing final.
Across the 2025/26 World Championship, Littler is averaging 103.44 compared to Gian van Veen’s 102.16, and the reigning champion checkout record of 54.79% slightly edges the Dutchman’s 51.23%.
Littler is the 4/11 favourite with the sponsors Paddy Power, with Van Veen 2/1 to claim his maiden Sid Waddell Trophy.
The Paddy Power World Darts Championship is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
Click here for match stats & results.
2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
Saturday January 3 (2000 GMT)
Final
Luke Littler v Gian van Veen
Best of 13 Sets