MICHAEL VAN GERWEN has fired a brutal warning shot at Luke Littler, claiming the ace has an easy life because “he lives with his mum.”
The darts rivals are preparing for this week’s at Ally Pally.
Michael van Gerwen has warned Luke Littler that his life and darts career won’t continue being easyCredit: Alamy
The Dutchman hopes to bounce back from a difficult year at the World Darts ChampionshipCredit: Rex
starts the defence of his title, which he won against MvG, tomorrow against Darius Labanauskas.
As for three-time winner , he takes on Mitsuhiko Tatsunami.
But the Dutchman’s poor form this year means he will have to dig deep to progress.
The ace has revealed , with Van Gerwen divorcing wife Daphne while seeing his dad Henri battle cancer.
He feels the two major events have played a huge role in his downward performances on the oche.
And Van Gerwen took aim at Littler by insisting the youngster will find darts a lot harder when he starts taking on more responsibilities in life.
He told the Guardian : “(Changed as a person due to traumas?) A lot. Maybe it’s better to say it has not changed me as a person — but it has changed my way of thinking.
“It has made me understand what’s most important in life. It has to be family. Of course I love darts but I love my kids much more.
“Before, when I didn’t have kids, it was easier. Darts was always my number one.
“Then, when I had kids, darts was not my number one any more. You have to try to balance things a little better.
World Darts Championship 2025/26 - all the info
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Several superstars will be determined to slay defending champion at the Ally Pally spectacle.
And the world No1 is set to have his work cut out with an expanded 128-player field competing for a share of the huge prize fund.
But after recently Littler is a nailed-on favourite to retain his title.
Here’s everything you need to know for this iconic competition…
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“(Littler) lives with his mum and everything is easy for him. He doesn’t have a family, he has no responsibilities, everything’s fine.
“But when you start to face real life then things are changing. You have to deal with new things in life then. It’s not going to be smooth for the rest of his life.
“I want to see when he has kids, how he’s going to deal with that.
“Darts is in a really good place at the moment. Social media is bigger than ever. The television coverage is good.
“So (Littler) does really well for himself and can play himself into financial independence in the next few years. He also did well for darts so far.”
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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