Luke Littler has highlighted the historical challenge for darts players in winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), pointing out that even Phil Taylor — the 16-time world champion widely regarded as the greatest ever — never claimed the award.
This comment came in the context of discussions around the **2025 SPOTY award** (for achievements in the 2025 calendar year), where Littler is considered a strong contender following his extraordinary start to the year.
Littler’s 2025 Achievements So Far
– Became the youngest-ever PDC World Darts Championship winner in January 2025 (aged 17, beating Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the final).
– Added further major titles including the UK Open.
– Cemented his status as world No. 1.
Historical Context
No darts player has ever won the main SPOTY award. The closest anyone has come is **Phil Taylor**, who finished **runner-up in 2010 (behind jockey AP McCoy) despite his unprecedented dominance of the sport. Taylor was also nominated in 2006 but didn’t place in the top three.
In the 2024 SPOTY (December 2024, covering 2024 achievements), Littler himself finished **runner-up** (behind Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson) after his breakout year, mirroring Taylor’s near-miss. He did, however, win the Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2024.
Littler’s reference to Taylor underscores a long-standing perception that, despite massive popularity and viewing figures (especially since Littlermania began), darts players face an uphill battle with the public-voted award, which has historically favoured Olympic athletes, footballers, cricketers, and other “traditional” sports stars.
As of November 18, 2025, with the PDC season ongoing (Littler recently retained the Grand Slam of Darts and is world No. 1), he remains one of the frontrunners for SPOTY 2025 — but history suggests even a world-title-winning, record-breaking year may not be enough to finally bring the trophy to the oche.
