The 2025 World Matchplay concluded last night as Luke Littler beat James Wade 18-13 to lift the title and become the youngest ever Matchplay winner, taking that title from the man he beat in James Wade…
The 2025 World Matchplay has arguably been one of the best (if not the best) Matchplay tournaments to date.
Early upsets, tempers flaring, record scoring, rising talent, veteran performances, cult heroes (we’re looking at you Andrew Gilding) all combined for a great week of darts at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
In this article we’re taking a look at the 5 biggest takeaways from one of the biggest major tournaments of the year.
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Luke Littler Isn’t Slowing Down
We have to start with the 2025 World Matchplay winner, Luke Littler.
Despite a first round exit last year, Littler came into the tournament as the bookmakers favourite to win with the world champion already picking up two major titles in 2025.
The 18-year old added to that collection as he lifted the title and secured the darts triple crown, having now won the World Championship, World Matchplay and Premier League of Darts.
It wasn’t an easy route to the title but the run was convincing.
After a first round annihilation of Ryan Searle (10-2), Littler would be pushed in every game afterwards.
He found himself behind on a number of occasions and even 5-0 down against Josh Rock and James Wade in the latter rounds, but every time there was a break, The Nuke composed himself and pulled back the deficits.
He wasn’t blowing away his opponents, even with a tournament average of 105.37 (5th highest of all time) and a new Matchplay record of 64 x 180s.
His opponents all also raised their games against him but it didn’t seem to be enough…
With each major tournament, Littler looks more comfortable living up to his ‘prodigy’ hype and even throwing 2 x 180s against him in a single leg isn’t even enough to win the leg!
His rise is not slowing down and while it’s still impossible to imagine him challenging Phil Taylor’s records, he’s now teasing that he might try.
Luke Littler Talks Future After Lifting World Matchplay and Phil Taylor Records
— Darts Now (@DartsNow_) July 27, 2025
"That's what everyone's probably thinking, what do I do after I've won one of everything?… I won't pack it in just yet.
"In the next 16 years, I might come back every year and just win it." pic.twitter.com/FveWlSJQhh
Age Is Still Just a Number In Darts
Something we loved about how the draw turned out was one half of the semi-final draw had James Wade (42) against Jonny Clayton (50) and the other half had Luke Littler (18) against Josh Rock (24).
Darts is one of the very few sports where you can still be an elite performer in your late 40’s and early 50’s.
Phil Taylor and Peter Wright both became World Champions in their 50’s and darts has always appealed to an older demographic.
The popularity and money in darts has seen new players view it as a lucrative career and this decade had already seen youth development, academies and talent on the rise.
The emergence of Luke Littler in 2023 really accelerated it though!
For the past year, even the elite players like Nathan Aspinall and Gary Anderson have said the talent coming through is frightening and the Littler is just the start, but the Matchplay has shown that darts is still a sport where all ages can thrive!
James Wade has rolled back the years to go to back-to-back major ranking finals while Clayton has been runner-up and back-to-back semi-finalist.
We’re also seeing prospects like Gian van Veen and Josh Rock live up to their potential as former Youth World Champions.
This blend of exciting young talent and veteran players made for some great matches and is a dynamic we hope can keep going even with the new (supposedly better) generation entering the professional ranks.
Darts Fans Want MULTIPLE Players to Root For
Last week Gary Anderson made headlines when he said that young darts players are ‘boring’ and don’t have a laugh on the Tour, leading to him publicly pleading for old friend and rival Adrian Lewis to make a return to darts.
This sent darts fans into meltdown when Lewis responded on social media to say that he’d ‘consider’ it…
See more – Darts fans react as Adrian Lewis ‘considers’ return to darts
Darts is an individual sport so fans tend to have favourite players they follow and those they dislike.
Similar to boxing, we love it when a player has ability AND personality as this just adds to the entertainment.
Littler has brought an army of new fans to darts, but the reaction to a potential Lewis return (someone who used to be a pantomime villain at times) wasn’t the only surprising show of support this week.
Gerwyn Price has really got fans on side in 2025 with some blockbuster performances and crowd engagement but even he was surprised to receive cheers and support at the Winter Gardens this week.
James Wade also gets mixed reception from fans but he too had growing support this week, especially after calling out Sky Sports for a lack of promotion in and around the tournament.
Best of all though was the emergence of a cult hero in Andrew Gilding.
Gilding has a very slow playstyle (not something fans enjoy watching), isn’t a man of many words, and often goes through tournaments rather unnoticed.
Not this week though.
His hilarious interview where he stated he spent two days in his hotel room getting ‘stiff’ made headlines and his casual mannerisms were being clipped and posted on social media alongside calls to get him in the Premier League.
Performances will always come first but if more darts players can show off their personality – be that in interviews, on social media or on stage – then the Matchplay has shown that fans are eager to get behind some different players and not just the top 1-8 in the rankings.
Top Players WANT To Be In The Premier League
The Premier League of Darts sometimes has its critics being labelled a ‘glorified exhibition’ but with darts explosive growth over the last few years, players want to take advantage of the new opportunities, and the Premier League is one of the biggest.
17 weeks of additional (non-ranked) prize money, TV exposure to raise their personal brand and sponsorship/marketing opportunities are now more lucrative than ever and players are admitting they want in on it.
With 4 x places going to the top 4 ranked players and 4 x places being invitational, getting into it is no easy task.
This year even players blasted the PDC for some of the selections and Nathan Aspinall said the criticism he received needed a rule change going forward.
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Jonny Clayton and James Wade both admitted that they want to get back into the Premier League next year. Though Wade would state that the PDC would ‘change the rules to keep him out’ if he made it into the top 4…
Josh Rock also said it’s something he is aiming for.
For so many players to already be talking about the Premier League several months away from it, it’s clearly something that the top players are not only thinking about but actively trying to get into.
Phil Taylor’s UNBELIEVABLE Stats
Phil Taylor is the greatest darts player of all time and a World Matchplay god.
He won the tournament 16 times and has the trophy named after him.
No matter how many years pass by, it will be impossible to forget how dominant he was.
Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the narrative though that his era ‘wasn’t as good’ and that he wouldn’t dominate darts today like he did back then.
That may be true but when you look at his World Matchplay stats, you’ll see that he is unbelievable in any era.
Littler has just become the youngest World Matchplay winner, broke the 180 records and registered the fifth highest tournament average of all time at 105.37.
The four highest tournament averages though are held by Phil Taylor.
105.50, 105.73, 105.81, 106.31.
Taylor also has 7 of the 10 highest one match averages, one of which came in the final (111.23) and was played over 31 legs in an 18-13 win over Adrian Lewis.
He has the most 100+ match averages at 62, Michael van Gerwen is second on the list a long way back on 20 and has registered the most tournament 9-darters having hit the perfect leg twice.
In a year with a record number of 180’s, high scoring averages/games and Littler breaking records, Taylor’s stats are not only holding up, they are still dominant several years after his retirement.
The semi-finals were arguably the highlight of the tournament and definitely worth a watch if you missed them:
After an exciting major tournament, darts move back to the ProTour this week as players head to Hildesheim for the Players Championship on 29th/30th and the ET11-12 qualifiers on the 31st.
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