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Luke Littler's qualification quandary: The Nuke's season slam attempt is in jeopardy
Luke Littler's qualification quandary: The Nuke's season slam attempt is in jeopardy originally appeared on The Sporting News .
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In 2026, Luke Littler has the chance to do something not done since Phil Taylor in 2000! At the time, there were only three PDC darts majors, with the Power winning all of them, the only time in history that this has happened, when he won the 2000 World Matchplay and World Grand Prix, followed by the 2001 World Championship at the end of the season.
Phil Taylor himself almost managed to better this in 2002, when he won the Matchplay, Grand Prix and the inaugural Las Vegas Desert Classic, before losing in the Final of the 2003 World Championships. He won 5/6 of the 2005 majors, losing in the Quarter-Finals of the Matchplay, and 7/9 of the 2009 majors, losing in the Semi-Finals of the Premier League, and the Final of the Championship League.
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Michael van Gerwen has perhaps the most astonishing season to date, when he won 10/12 of the majors in 2016. He claimed the Masters, UK Open, and Premier League, before losing in the World Cup Final to England, and then went on to win the Matchplay before losing in the Champions League Final to Phil Taylor. He then wrapped the season up with titles at the Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam, World Series Finals, Players Championship Finals, and the World Championship.
Ten years later, this record has never really been threatened, with Luke Littler coming closest last year with six major titles. 2026, however, could be a different story.
The Nuke kicked off 2026 with a first World Masters Title, winning last set deciders to Gerwyn Price in the Semi-Finals and Luke Humphries in the Final. He backed this up with a defence of the UK Open and reclaiming the Premier League, beating Humphries again in a deciding leg in the Final.
He then had to content with the pairs format of the World Cup, where he partnered World #2 Humphries to claim one of the only two majors he had yet to win, producing a brilliant 104.77 average to down Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen in the Final.
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July came, and so did Blackpool, where Littler set new records. He claimed the Title with an incredible tournament average of 111.04, not allowing a single opponent to reach 10 legs! This meant the perfect year was well and truly on.
Next up for Littler is the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, but this isn’t where the worries lie for the 19-year-old. After 26 of the 34 Players Championships in 2026, Luke Littler is yet to attend any, leaving himself in a precarious position in terms of qualifying for the Players Championship Finals in November.
As it stands, the cut-off if £25,500, which leaves the projected cut-off at exactly £31,500.
Luke’s Darts Qualification Minefield
In order to reach this number, Littler will have to win two titles (£15,000 each), plus another match. Without titles, it looks a lot bleaker, with a minimum of 3 finals needed, or two with multiple other deep runs.
Eight events left, two in Leicester, two in Den Bosch. Littler has already confirmed he will be in Leicester at the end of the month and will attend the first block of two in Den Bosch should he win the World Series of Darts Finals the weekend prior. He will then return to Leicester for the final two events if necessary. This means he has six events to rack up £31,500.
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For anyone else, I’d say this is impossible. For Luke Littler, nothing is impossible. It will certainly be a brilliant race to the line.
For the full stories and more in depth coverage of everything darts, together with the latest issues of their legendary publications, head on over to dartsworld.com
Luke LittlerThe NukePhil TaylorAfterPlayers ChampionshipsPlayers Championship FinalsThe Sporting NewsAdd The Sporting NewsPreferred SourcePDCPowerWorld Matchplay
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