For those that love watching darts, there is universal agreement that one of the most impressive things that can occur in a match is the delivery of a nine-darter.

A nine-darter occurs when a player completes a perfect leg or single game within a darts contest, racking up exactly the 501 points required through a minimum of nine darts thrown.

Tuesday night’s World Matchplay 2026 second round action saw Luke Littler strike a nine-darter against Nathan Aspinall. The double 15 finish in the opening leg helped the defending champion race towards an 11-8 victory and secure a spot in the last eight of the tournament at Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Littler came close to landing another nine-dart finish in the fourth leg, but he was unable to land a double 15 a second time.

The reigning World Matchplay champion is no stranger to throwing a nine-darter at big events, and he is already part of a list compiling all the darts stars to have ever hit multiple televised nine-darters.

Here is a list of the top 12 darts players to land multiple televised nine-dart finishes in the sport’s history.

3 Televised Nine-Darters

Gary Anderson, Michael Smith, Conor Heneghan, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Luke Humphries

Among the stars to throw three televised nine-darters is Scotland’s Gary Anderson, who secured his first at the 2011 UK Open against Davey Dodds, before landing his remaining two against Jelle Klaasen at the 2016 PDC World Championship and Joe Cullen at the 2018 World Matchplay, respectively.

Michael Smith struck his first live nine-darter against Daryl Gurney during the 2020 Premier League Darts campaign, before one against Mensur Suljovic at the 2022 UK Open. The Englishman hit his most recent televised perfect leg against Michael van Gerwen at the 2023 PDC World Championship.

Conor Heneghan saw all three of his televised nine-darters occur within an eight-month period between July 2022 and March 2023. The Irishman’s first came against Thibault Tricole at the Online Darts Live League. He secured his following two against Adam Smith-Neale and Alan Norris, both occurring in the MODUS Super Series.

Dimitri Van den Bergh threw his first nine-darter at the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts against Stephen Bunting, before following up with a second when facing Martin Schindler at the 2024 World Matchplay. The Belgian’s third to date came when he battled Michael van Gerwen at last year’s PDC World Masters.

Luke Humphries only threw his first nine-dart finish last year when facing Rob Cross during the Premier League season. The English star struck his second last November against Michael Smith at the Grand Slam of Darts. Humphries’ most recent nine-darter came earlier this year against Luke Woodhouse at the PDC World Masters.

4 Televised Nine-Darters

James Wade

England’s James Wade landed his first televised nine-darter way back in 2008 against Anderson at the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts. He then had to wait six years for his next one, which came at the 2014 Grand Prix against another Scotsman in Robert Thornton.

Another six-year wait occurred for Wade to get his third, which he got when playing Bunting at the 2021 PDC World Championship. Thankfully for Wade, the wait for the fourth was not as long as it occurred at the 2022 UK Open against Boris Krcmar.

5 Televised Nine-Darters

Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis

Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld threw his first televised nine-darter during the 2006 Premier League Darts campaign against Peter Manley, before securing his next two at successive PDC World Championships in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The 2010 Premier League season saw Van Barneveld get his fourth when he played Terry Jenkins. His most recent televised nine-darter came 16 years ago against Denis Ovens at the World Matchplay.

Adrian Lewis’ five televised nine-darters are among some of the most memorable due to the quality of the opposition he has thrown them against. The Englishman threw his first against Anderson at the 2011 PDC World Championship, before securing one when facing Van Barneveld just months later at the European Championship.

Lewis got his third nine-dart finish on live television against Van Barneveld again at the 2015 PDC World Championship, then landed one against Wade during the 2016 Premier League season. Lewis’ fifth nine-darter came against Van Barneveld once more in the following Premier League campaign.

6 Televised Nine-Darters

Luke Littler

IIn just a few years as a professional, Littler has impressively thrown the fourth-most nine-darters at televised darts events. The young Englishman’s first came during the first half of 2024, as he secured the perfect legs in matches against Aspinall, Rob Cross, and Humphries.

Littler’s fourth came against Van Gerwen during the 2025 Premier League season, while his fifth came in last year’s World Matchplay against Josh Rock. Throwing his sixth televised nine-darter on Tuesday night against Aspinall shows the young superstar has what it takes to entertain at the biggest darts events, and he could easily climb up the list in the coming years.

7 Televised Nine-Darters

Gerwyn Price

Just ahead of Littler with seven televised nine-dart finishes is Welsh star Gerwyn Price, whose first four were thrown in 2022.

He got his fifth two years later against Smith in a Premier League clash, before securing consecutive nine-darters against Littler and Bunting in the 2025 Premier League season.

10 Televised Nine-Darters

Michael van Gerwen

Second on the list of most thrown nine-darters on live television ever is another Dutch star in Michael van Gerwen. His first was thrown in an outing against his compatriot Van Barneveld in 2007 at the Masters of Darts, when he was just 17 years old.

The Dutchman had to wait five years for a second televised nine-darter, with it coming at the 2012 World Matchplay against Steve Beaton. He would go on to hit his next few against top opposition in Wade, Van Barneveld again, and Lewis, before throwing his 10th and most recent live nine-darter against Humphries at the 2023 Players Championship Finals.

11 Televised Nine-Darters

Phil Taylor

Top of the list for most nine-darters on live television is the greatest to ever play darts, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor. The English legend edges out Van Gerwen by one to top the list.

Taylor’s first live nine-darter against Chris Mason at the 2002 World Matchplay was just the fourth to ever be witnessed on live television. Wade was the only player to be on the receiving end of a televised nine-darter from Taylor on more than one occasion, suffering the feat twice in one game during a 2010 Premier League meeting.

The 11th and final televised nine-darter Taylor threw came in 2015 against Peter Wright at the Sydney Darts Masters.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s claim that Portugal’s Euro 2016 success carries the same weight as lifting the World Cup has reignited one of football’s longest-running debates.

Fresh from confirming that the 2026 tournament will be his last World Cup, the Portugal captain insisted that his country’s historic European Championship triumph means just as much to him as the sport’s biggest prize, arguing that ending Portugal’s long wait for major silverware was every bit as significant.

After his nation’s 1-0 defeat to Spain, Ronaldo spoke to the media to emphasize just how much the Euro 2016 trophy meant to him, saying: “I gave my all. I won three titles with Portugal. Before Cristiano, Portugal had never won a big trophy.”

For many supporters, however, the comparison feels like a stretch. The FIFA World Cup has long been viewed as football’s ultimate achievement, bringing together the best nations from every continent in a tournament watched by billions. The European Championship may boast an exceptional standard, but can a competition limited to UEFA’s members really rival the prestige of a truly global event?

World Cup vs European Championship At a Glance

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Anne-Marie Sorvin

With the inaugural tournament in 1930, the first-ever World Cup saw 13 teams from across the globe travel to Uruguay to participate in what would become football’s greatest accolade. After a varying number of participants for the initial tournaments, from 1954 until 1978, the format was standardized, with four groups of four teams, leading to a total of 16 contributing nations.

For the 1982 tournament, 24 teams made it to the tournament, before the format was expanded to allow an extra eight teams to compete, before the structure was altered again in 1998, taking the total number of teams to 32.

The most recent complete competition, the 2026 World Cup in Qatar, featured 48 teams and saw Spain defeat Argentina to lift their second world title.

The European Championship, on the other hand, has always been contested by a smaller number of nations. The first campaign in 1960 saw just four teams compete in the finals, out of the 17 that entered the competition. Whilst the number of entrants increased over the years, the final’s tournament still only featured four nations until 1980, when the competition was expanded to eight.

1996 saw the number of participants double to 16, before Euro 2016 saw it double again to 24. The most recent tournament saw Lamine Yamal get his first taste of international success after his Spain side beat England 2-1 in the final of the 2024 tournament.

World Cup vs Euros TV Viewership

Worldwide figures for the 2026 World Cup have not yet been released, but the tournament is expected to smash viewership records.

According to FIFA’s website, 2.87 billion viewers watched at least one minute of the 2022 FIFA World Cup coverage on linear TV, with a total media engagement of 5 billion, with significant numbers drawn through digital/streaming and social media. The 2022 final, contested between France and eventual winners Argentina, became the most-watched in World Cup history, with a total of 1.5bn viewers.

Contrasted with the 2024 European Championships, UEFA’s competition drew a similar-sized crowd, with a global cumulative audience of over 5 billion viewers. And whilst no official global viewership numbers have been published, according to the BBC, a peak audience of 24.2 million viewers watched the 2024 final across the BBC and ITV, compared to just 20 million Britons who followed the 2022 World Cup final, according to The Guardian.

World Cup vs Euros Prize Money and Prestige

It’s no surprise that, for winning the biggest tournament in football, the victorious team is awarded an eye-watering sum. After beating France on penalties in the final, the Argentinian national team were awarded $42 million, from a staggering total prize pool of $440 million. Even those who got knocked out in the group stage still received $9 million for their efforts. That figure increased for the 2026 tournament, with the winners receiving $50 million.

And whilst the winners of the Euros may not get as much of a payday, their compensation is still far from pocket change, with Spain banking €28.25 million ($32.26 million) from their success in the 2024 tournament. Teams are, however, guaranteed a greater sum for qualifying for the tournament, compared to at the World Cup, receiving €9.25m ($10.5m), according to UEFA’s website. In total, the 2024 European Championship boasted a €331m ($378m) prize pool.

Is the European Championship as Tough as the World Cup?

Well, it depends on how you define ‘tough’, because, if you’re talking about the concentration of high-quality teams, Ronaldo could have a valid point.

Since its inception in 1930, 13 of the 23 World Cup tournaments have been won by a European side, with the other 10 winning sides all hailing from South America. Therefore, it could be argued that, on a match-by-match basis, the Euros are a harder competition, given that the average quality of any given team is higher than that of the World Cup.

But, ultimately, given that Brazil and Argentina have won eight world titles between them, it would be difficult to claim that winning a competition in which they are not included is an equal sporting achievement to, or carries as much prestige, as being crowned champions of the world.

Many UFC fans on the internet were left stunned when they discovered a new social media post by a former world champion looking unrecognisable compared to her usual fighting self in the Octagon.

Former strawweight champion Zhang Weili uploaded a video on her official social media pages of her being given a complete makeover and displaying a more glamorous side to herself than UFC viewers are accustomed to.

The Instagram video, which shows Weili in full make-up and in a dressing room having her hair sorted by someone, captioned the post: “There was a professional make-up artist who taught me to apply make-up.”

The video, which has received nearly 35,000 likes and 1,500 comments on Instagram since being uploaded on Tuesday, immediately went viral in the MMA community as fans could not believe the transformation in the look of the UFC fighter.

UFC Fans Stunned By Zhang Weili’s Transformation

Mark J. Rebilas via Imagn Images

This post was such a shock that some people even questioned if that was really Weili, with one Instagram user commenting: “No, I can’t accept that,” and another writing: “No f****** way.”

Others even suggested the video was AI-generated, while some were complimentary of the strawweight competitor’s major transformation and showing admiration for the new look.

Zhang Weili’s Fighting Career

The Chinese fighter was last seen in the Octagon last November at UFC 322, where she failed in her jump up to flyweight, losing in a fight against Valentina Shevchenko by unanimous decision for the world title at 125-pounds.

This came after she vacated her strawweight title, which was captured by Makenzie Dern at UFC 321 last October after she defeated Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision.

Weili, who is hoping to return to action later this year and return to winning ways, was recently called out by strawweight fighter Fatime Kline for a potential showdown in the Octagon. The American took care of business this past weekend in Oklahoma when she defeated Tabatha Ricci on points.

As of today, Weili has a professional fighting record of 26 wins and just four defeats.