Luke Littler v Gian van Veen live stream | World Darts Championship 2025/26 Final Preview
Luke Littler and Gian van Veen collide in a record-breaking World Darts Championship final at Alexandra Palace on Saturday.
A final for the ages sees two of the sport’s biggest box office young talents compete for the sport’s first-ever £1m top prize and the iconic Sid Waddell Trophy.
With a combined age of 41, Littler, 18, and 23-year-old Van Veen will do battle in what is the youngest-ever PDC World Championship final.
Littler is bidding to join Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis as only the fourth player to retain the PDC world title and cap off an extraordinary 12-month spell of dominance which has seen him add a further five major ranking titles including the UK Open, World Matchplay and Players Championship Finals.
The teenage phenomenon joins Phil Taylor, Dennis Priestley and Gary Anderson as the fourth player in PDC World Championship history to appear in three consecutive finals and has also become the first player to surpass the £2m barrier on the PDC Order of Merit.
Littler put down an immediate marker when he overcame Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas in straight sets on opening night, before returning to the Ally Pally stage ten days later to brush aside Welsh debutant David Davies in three sets and going on to whitewash Mensur Suljovic 4-0 with a 107 average.
His first real test came against 2018 World Champion Rob Cross in the Last 16, but ‘The Nike’ averted the need for a last-set decider by sealing a 4-2 victory with a 106.5 average, before emphatically whitewashing Krzysztof Ratajski 5-0 on New Year’s Day.
After dropping the opening set to Ryan Searle, Littler then clinically reeled off six sets on the spin to complete a semi-final annihilation with a 105.3 average and take his unbeaten run to 18 matches in major ranking competition.
Van Veen has enjoyed an unforgettable campaign over the past fortnight, having failed to win a match on the sport’s greatest stage in his two previous appearances.
The back-to-back World Youth Champion is through to his second major final in the space of three months and is provisionally ranked world number three and the new Dutch number one as a result.
Set for a debut appearance in this year’s Premier League, Van Veen is vying to join Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen as the third PDC World Champion from the Netherlands.
The 23-year-old registered the highest average of the tournament so far (108.28) in a 3-1 win over Alan Soutar to back up a 98.3 average in his opening round win over Spain’s Cristo Reyes by the same scoreline.
He went on to record commanding 4-1 wins over Madars Razma and Charlie Manby with successive 98 averages, before hammering 2024 World Champion Luke Humphries 5-1 in the quarter-finals with a 105.4 average.
Van Veen then prevailed in one of the greatest semi-finals ever seen on the Ally Pally stage, overcoming his darting idol Gary Anderson 6-3 in a match which saw both players average 103 and the youngster land his third 170 checkout of the tournament.
The head-to-head record between Littler and Van Veen stands at four wins apiece from their eight previous meetings, with Littler prevailing in this year’s UK Open and World Grand Prix en route to claiming both titles.
The World Championship final gets under way from 8pm GMT and will be contested over the best of 13 sets, with a tie break in operation if the score reaches 2-2 in the final set.
How to watch Luke Littler v Gian van Veen live stream
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