World Darts Championship 2026: Luke Littler to face Gian van Veen in final after Dutchman holds off Gary Anderson in epic semi-final

Luke Littler will take on Gian van Veen in the World Darts Championship final after the Dutchman came through a tough semi-final battle with Gary Anderson to win 6-3 at Alexandra Palace.

Littler is into his third world final in as many years, with 'The Nuke' having lost only one match on this stage - the 2024 final against Luke Humphries in his debut year.

He becomes only the fourth player to make it to three consecutive world finals, joining Dennis Priestley, Phil Taylor and Anderson in having completed the feat after a strong 6-1 victory over Ryan Searle.

• World Darts Championship: Schedule, fixtures and results?
• Join our live blog for all the latest from Ally Pally ✍
• Got Sky? Watch on the Sky Sports app ?
• Not got Sky? Get instant access with NOW ?

Meanwhile, Van Veen is into his first final following his epic contest with Anderson in his third World Darts Championship appearance. The match took nine sets to produce a winner - the most in a semi-final at this event in four years.

Van Veen and Anderson put on one of the most electric shows we have seen and their fifth set is one that will go down in darting folklore.

Coined by Sky Sports Darts' Wayne Mardle as a "set of darts from God", it proved to be the pivotal set of the match, as it included two 170 finishes, a 10-darter an 11-darter and two 12-darters, with Van Veen prevailing to move into a 4-1 lead, although Anderson continued to fight his corner and claimed the next two sets before the Dutchman stood firm to wrap up the win.

In 2025, Van Veen had the advantage over Littler statistically, having beaten him on three of the five occasions they met.

However, Littler did defeat Van Veen in the World Youth final back in 2023 when 'The Nuke' came away with a 6-4 victory.

Now, they will do battle on the biggest stage of them all as arguably the two most exciting darting talents enter their biggest face-off yet.

Littler puts on clinic against Searle to reach third world final

Littler booked his spot in the big dance for a third year in a row with his comprehensive 6-1 victory over Searle.

Searle got off to a lovely start with the darts in his favour in the opening set and held his throw well, a 75 per cent success rate on the outer ring helping him clinch D8 for the early lead.

However, Littler hit back with two breaks of throw to level the match at 1-1 as his average tipped over 103, landing the first maximum in the process. Then he took things up a notch.

The reigning champion reached new heights in set four as his average skyrocketed above 108 and he made it five legs in a row with his scoring giving Searle no room for manoeuvre, quickly making it 4-1 as narrow chances came and went for 'Heavy Metal'.

Searle has a moment of brilliance in the sixth set when he reeled in the Big Fish as Littler fell short on the eighth dart for a nine-darter, but normal service then resumed, Littler's scoring ramping up once again to seal the victory on tops.

"This is crazy. A few boos, a few cheers but it's been a good crowd. Big shout out to Paddy Power for blurring the signs after what Ryan said because he's partially blind in one eye," Littler told Sky Sports.

"I went 1-0 down and was not the happiest. I thought I didn't play that well. Everyone knows I just want to go 1-0 up, get into that lead.

"I said to myself 'you will find it' and it went 1-1, 2-1, 3-1 and so on. Big shout out to Ryan. He's done amazing this tournament. He can be proud."

Van Veen and Anderson produce Ally Pally classic

It was expected to be an epic semi-final between Anderson and Van Veen and they delivered just that with 25 180s, 67 140s, and an average over 102 each.

It was the Scotsman who took the early advantage with 15-, 11-, and 18-dart legs, including a break of throw helping him wrestle a 1-0 lead.

However, Van Veen's scoring went to a new level in set two as he opened his account with a 10-darter and reached a monster 113 average which helped him break back to level things up, before making it two sets in a row as he held his throw under real pressure.

It then started to look like trouble for Anderson as Van Veen picked things up to a 109 average and, with it, found the first break of throw since the second set with an 11-darter at the perfect moment to clinch the deciding leg and move 3-1 ahead.

The atmosphere then went up a notch in what was one of the most incredible sets of darts ever seen. After Anderson started with a 10-dart leg and broke Van Veen's throw by reeling in the Big Fish, the Dutchman only went and claimed an 11-darter and then took it to a decider with a brilliant 170 checkout of his own.

Anderson simply could not believe his luck as the Dutchman matched him and then came through clutch on D4 for a solid 4-1 advantage, 'The Giant' tapping his head to show he knew just what the moment meant.

'The Flying Scotsman' did not let that get him down and used his big-game experience to break throw and bring the score to 4-2 and, despite his doubles starting to elude him, he came through the pressure once again to nudge the score back to 4-3.

However, with nervy darts taking over, Van Veen came through on tops to put himself one set away and then landed D16 to book his spot in the final.

"To win this kind of game, Gary threw everything at me. His finishing and scoring was great," Van Veen told Sky Sports.

"I withstood it. Of course, the crowd was a bit against me but it's fair play because Gary is such a fantastic human being, such a fantastic darts player. I'm so happy!

"Even now winning this game, five years ago I was struggling playing darts. Three or four years ago, I was in Barnsley, struggling with darts and crying at the table.

"Now look at me four years later. It's all been worth it. All the people that work so hard for me - even my parents when I was 12, 13 years old, they were driving me to all my tournaments everywhere in the Netherlands and here we are, unbelievable."

What's next?

The World Darts Championship comes to its conclusion on Saturday January 3, where Littler and Van Veen will battle it out to be crowned champion.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch the final exclusively live on January 3 on Sky Sports' dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407). Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.

(c) Sky Sports 2026: World Darts Championship 2026: Luke Littler to face Gian van Veen in final after Dutchman holds off Gary Anderson in epic semi-final