ALL eyes will remain firmly fixed on Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler in 2025.

While the past 12 months have all been about the sensational darts player’s meteoric rise, the new year will sharply bring into focus whether he can back up the astounding success of his debut campaign on the professional circuit.

He has already made inroads into proving that is the case.

Last January, still aged 16 and fresh out of school, the Warringtonian captured the sporting world’s imagination with his fairytale run to the PDC World Darts Championship final.

After a year under intense spotlight, scrutiny and pressure while winning 10 titles along with the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award, he has again reached the final stages in the sport’s biggest competition of all at Alexandra Palace.

He defeated his good friend Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals last night and will meet St Helens rival Stephen Bunting in the semi-finals tonight.

Now the world number four, Littler is going into every event with the weight of expectancy on his young shoulders and so far, for the majority of the time, he is finding the answers no matter how difficult the questions.

Littler will need to keep this up, because he is no longer the new kid on the block – he now has a target on his back.

When his latest Ally Pally adventure ends, he will have only a two-week break before all the attention, drama and razzmatazz associated with life as a leading modern-day darts professional comes thick and fast once more.

His defence of the Bahrain Darts Masters (January 16-17) is just around the corner.

The second event of the World Series will follow a week later with the Dutch Darts Masters, followed by the World Masters in Milton Keynes (January 30-February 2).

And then he will set out to retain his Premier League crown when the weekly rounds of the 2025 darting roadshow start on February 6 in Belfast.

All the signs are that Littler will be showing the world again that he is the man to beat at the oche.

Diary of PDC events potentially featuring Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler in 2025:

JANUARY

1st-3rd: World Darts Championship, Alexandra Palace

16th-17th: World Series (WS), Bahrain Darts Masters

24th-25th: WS, Dutch Darts Masters, Den Bosch

30th-Feb 2: World Masters, Milton Keynes

FEBRUARY

6th: Premier League (PL) 1, Belfast

10th: Players Championship (PC) 1, Wigan

11th: PC2, Wigan

13th: PL2, Glasgow

17th: PC3, Rosmalen

18th: PC4, Rosmalen

20th: PL3, Dublin

27th: PL4, Exeter

28th-March 2: UK Open, Minehead

MARCH

6th: PL5, Brighton

7th-9th: European Tour (ET) 1, Wieze

11th: PC5, Leicester

12th: PC6, Leicester

13th: PL6, Nottingham

17th: PC7, Hildesheim, Germany

18th: PC8, Hildesheim

20th: PL7, Cardiff

21st-23rd: ET2, Göttingen

27th: PL8, Newcastle

31st: PC9, Leicester

APRIL

1st: PC10, Leicester

3rd: PL9, Berlin

4th-6th: ET3, Riesa

8th: PC11, Leicester

9th: PC12, Leicester

10th: PL10, Manchester

14th: PC13, Rosmalen

15th: PC14, Rosmalen

17th: PL11, Rotterdam

19th-21st: ET4, Munich

24th: PL12, Liverpool

25th-27th: ET5, Graz

MAY

1st: PL13, Birmingham

2nd-4th: ET6, Sindelfingen

8th: PL14, Leeds

12th: PC15, Hildesheim

13th: PC16, Hildesheim

15th: PL15, Aberdeen

22nd: PL16, Sheffield

23rd-25th: ET7, Rosmalen

29th: PL Play-Offs, London

30th-June 1st: ET8, Leverkusen

JUNE

6th-7th: WS, Nordic Darts Masters, Denmark

12th-15th: World Cup of Darts, Frankfurt

17th: PC17, Leicester

18th: PC18, Leicester

19th: PC19, Leicester

27th-28th: WS, US Darts Masters, New York

JULY

4th-5th: WS, Poland Darts Masters, Gliwice

11th-13th: ET9, Kiel

19th-27th: World Matchplay, Blackpool

29th: PC20, Hildesheim

30th: PC21, Hildesheim

AUGUST

8th-9th: WS, Australia Darts Masters, Wollongong

15th-16th: WS, New Zealand Darts Masters, Auckland

25th: PC22, Milton Keynes

26th: PC23, Milton Keynes

27th: PC24, Milton Keynes

29th-31st: ET10, Antwerp

SEPTEMBER

5th-7th: ET11, Prague

9th: PC25, Hildesheim

10th: PC26, Hildesheim

12th-14th: WS of Darts Finals, Amsterdam

19th-21st: ET12, Budapest

26th-28th: ET13, Basel

30th: PC27, Leicester

OCTOBER

1st: PC28, Leicester

2nd: PC29, Leicester

6th-12th: World Grand Prix, Leicester

14th: PC30, Wigan

15th: PC31, Wigan

17th-19th: ET14, Hildesheim

23rd-26th: European Championship, Dortmund

28th: PC32, Wigan

29th: PC33, Wigan

30th: PC34, Wigan

NOVEMBER

8th-16th: Grand Slam of Darts, Wolverhampton

21st-23rd: PC Finals, Minehead

DECEMBER

TBC: World Darts Championship, London