Luke Littler was jokingly called out by Michael Smith for opening FIFA packs before securing a one-sided victory over home favourite Dirk van Duijvenbode at the Dutch Masters. Littler, who celebrated his 17th birthday last week, was in action for the first time since winning his first PDC senior title in Bahrain and breezed into the next round despite not being at his best.
Littler was booed by the Dutch crowd but successfully held his nerve to earn a 6-2 win over Van Duijvenbode, wrapping up proceedings with a sublime 150 finish. He will face Luke Humphries, who beat him in the World Championship final earlier this month, in the next round on Saturday.
As Littler prepared to go up against Van Duijvenbode, he was snapped by Premier League rival Michael Smith opening Ultimate Team packs on the EAFC web app. Smith went on to upload the picture to Instagram alongside the caption: “Trying play darts and this little [s*** emoji] playing fifa.”
Littler has made no secret of his love for the popular video game following his incredible run to the World Championship final at Alexandra Palace. Quizzed by the BBC on how he was planning to spend his £200,000 prize money, he said: “The first thing that comes to my head is probably FIFA points.”
It has certainly been a whirlwind few weeks for Littler, who emerged from relative obscurity to become a household name overnight after making his World Championship debut. He managed to beat the likes of Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross on his way to a final showdown with Humphries, in which he fell to a 7-4 defeat.
Littler has been firmly in the media spotlight ever since, while he has also been enjoying the perks of his newly-found fame. He recently flew out to the Bahrain Masters on a private jet, taking to Instagram to show off his fancy plane seat with a huge onboard TV screen in front of him.
The teenager was also invited to be a guest of honour by Manchester United for their match against Tottenham at Old Trafford. Earlier this week, he faced Harry Maguire and Christian Eriksen in a nine-dart challenge before meeting the rest of the United squad at their Carrington training base.
“I met Sir Alex Ferguson and got him to sign my top for me,” Littler told MUTV as he reflected on his matchday experience. “I had a chat with him and I was with [boxer] Tommy Fury as well. It was good to get me in a quite good seat and I actually wore some decent clothes for once, instead of just trackies!”
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