Final of the Darts World Cup
World Champion vs. “The Giant”: Who will take the title?
Updated on January 3, 2026 – 8:58 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Showdown in the “Ally Pally”: World champion Luke Littler meets Gian van Veen in the final of the Darts World Cup. It is the duel of a new generation. The live ticker.
The Darts World Cup 2026 is heading towards its last and biggest highlight. The final will take place on Saturday evening in London’s Alexandra Palace. Defending champion Luke Littler from England duels with Dutch number one Gian van Veen. The winner of the final receives the Sid Waddell Trophy – and record prize money of one million pounds (around 1.15 million euros). Follow the game live here on the t-online ticker.
8:57 p.m. – It will probably take a little while. The match is now scheduled to start in just over a quarter of an hour, i.e. at 9:15 p.m.
8:50 p.m. – The tension is rising. It’s supposed to start in “Ally Pally” in ten minutes. The fans in the hall can almost certainly expect a spectacle.
8:37 p.m. – Littler has met van Veen several times in the past. In 2023 the two faced each other in the final of the PDC World Youth Championship. Littler had the upper hand at that time with a score of 6:4. The duel has already taken place four times in 2025. The winner here twice was Littler. But at the German Darts Grand Prix in April and at the Czech Darts Open in September, “The Giant” prevailed against the world champion.
8.20 p.m. – Littler is in the final of the Darts World Cup for the third time in a row. In 2024 he lost 4:7 to Luke Humphries. A year later he defeated Michael van Gerwen 7:3.
8:10 p.m. – In the semifinals there was still the best-of-eleven mode. In the endgame, up to 13 sets are now possible. This means: One of the two players has to win seven sets to become world champion here today. It takes three legs to win a set – and to win a leg, you have to be 501 points ahead of your opponent.
7.50 p.m. – It’s the duel of a new generation. There has never been a younger final of a Darts World Cup than this year. Littler is currently 18 years old, van Veen is 23. Both played an outstanding tournament.
7:30 p.m. – An incredible tournament comes to an end this evening. There have been numerous exciting matches in the “Ally Pally” over the past few weeks. The highlight was probably the second semi-final yesterday, in which Gian van Veen beat veteran Gary Anderson 6-3. Both played an average of over 102 points. Luke Littler did even better shortly before, scoring an average of over 105 points in his 6-1 win over Ryan Searle.
7:00 p.m. – Hello and welcome to the final of the 2026 Darts World Cup. The duel between defending champion Luke Littler and challenger Gian van Veen starts around 9 p.m.