Luke Littler has pulled out of the Hungarian Darts Trophy and some fans are convinced they have worked out why. Littler has shot to fame and fortune since reaching the World Darts Championship final in January, but the youngster has previously spoken about making time for his hobbies.
He has certainly been busy of late, following up his lucrative win at the World Series of Darts by competing in two Players Championship events this week.
Littler was then due to fly out and compete at the Hungarian Darts Trophy alongside the likes of Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries. But he withdrew from the draw today (Thursday), barely 24 hours before the action is due to begin.
Some have pointed out that the tournament in Budapest falls on the same weekend as the ‘early access’ for EA FC 25 – the video game formerly known as FIFA. Twigging the coincidence, @anonymous_darts wrote on X: “Luke Littler withdraws from the Hungarian darts trophy, due to be played the same weekend that FIFA 25 early access starts [crying laughing emojis]. Gotta rate it.”
And they were not the only darts fans to cotton on, as @ReganEveringha1 posted: “Littler withdrawing on the weekend of the new FIFA [crying laughing emoji].” @JoshPearson180 then chimed in: “First weekend of the new fifa and Luke Littler withdraws from the Euro Tour. Fully rate it I can’t lie.”
Littler is keen gamer and he admitted back in April the lengths he goes to, along with the help of sponsors Target Darts, to satisfy his craving while on the road. “[Humphries] says to me, ‘You’re never going to have time for FUT Champs anymore?’ I said: ‘I know.’ But luckily FUT Champs finishes on a Tuesday now,” he explained.
“I will be back tonight, qualifying and playing. When I am abroad, I cannot take my travel case. But when we went to Brighton, I just take my travel Xbox. It’s a suitcase, you flip it up, it has the little screen, two controllers, you have a wireless phone. You put your phone on it and it charges. Target got it for me.”
Littler may feel he has earned himself a rest after pocketing a healthy £80,000 top prize at the World Series. After beating Smith in the final, he said: “I’m just happy to be stood here with the trophy at the end of a long day. I felt relaxed tonight and I played really well across the whole weekend.
“This time last year I was playing on the Development Tour. My name was getting mentioned but after the World Championship everyone knew who I was. I’m going to keep building on this and winning more. It’s a busy schedule coming up and I’m ready for it.”
