Luke Littler sent millions of darts fans into a panic on Thursday evening when he posted a cryptic video to social media suggesting that he would be retiring from the sport. The reigning world champion has barely been a professional for more than two years, but hinted that he would be stepping away from the oche.
With sombre music playing in the background, he declared: “I’ve had an awesome career, I couldn’t have asked for much better for myself.”
However, ‘The Nuke’ stopped short of confirming that he was actually hanging up his darts – and now we know why.
Luke Littler’s Retirement Claim Explained in New Video
In a follow-up post on Friday afternoon, the Warrington native shared a promotional video for EA Sports FC 26 on XBox, which featured the 18-year-old making his way through a retirement home. After overcoming several obstacles – including a cameo from social media star ‘Angry Ginge’ – Littler finally made it to a sofa in front of a television, where an XBox was set up for himself and residents of the home to play the newly released game.
While Littler is sure to enjoy the latest instalment of the popular franchise over the coming days and weeks, his ‘retirement’ will last only a matter of hours. The teenager will be back in action on Saturday evening as he competes in the second-round of the Hungarian Darts Trophy in Budapest. Fortunately for Littler, he is one of the top seeds at the event and so avoids having to play on Friday. He will no doubt be making full use of his free time by getting a few matches in on the newest version of EA FC.
Littler has been closely tied to gaming ever since making a splash on the darts circuit in late 2023. He was known to spend hours playing on EA FC’s predecessor, FIFA, in between matches early in his career, making the choice to draft him in as an ambassador an easy one for XBox.