Flashscore Yearbook 2025 shows dominance of Liverpool and rise of Luke Littler

Flashscore Yearbook 2025 shows dominance of Liverpool and rise of Luke Littler

• User data shows Liverpool was the most popular team in the UK
• Darts champion Luke Littler was the only non-footballer in the top 20 players
• Newcastle United gatecrashed ‘the big six’ ahead of Spurs

New data released by Flashscore – the world’s leading platform for live scores and sports content – reveals Liverpool as the UK’s most popular football club and highlights growing interest in darts among users.

The annual Flashscore Yearbook, based on data from billions of app and website interactions by UK fans, provides insights into the most popular sports, teams, events and players.

Luke Littler and the rise of darts

While football was the most popular sport among Flashscore users with 5.9 billion views throughout the year, the second most popular is now darts – ahead of tennis, golf and basketball.

Darts-related events and players attracted almost 275 million views during the year, with the PDC World Championship leading the way as the most popular tournament, ahead of Premier League Darts. Littler’s PDC World Championship final victory over Michael van Gerwen in January last year was the most-watched darts match of the year, with 952,887 views. By comparison, the most popular tennis match – the French Open final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz – attracted 297,578 views.

The rise in popularity of darts is in no small part due to the emergence of defending world champion Luke Littler and his popularity is evident in Flashscore’s data. The 19-year-old was the third most-viewed UK sportsperson in 2025, behind only football superstars Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford. Indeed, Littler was the only non-footballer in the top 20 most-viewed players.

Liverpool back on their perch

Football unsurprisingly dominated as the top sport among Flashscore users and was the most popular sport in every month of 2025.

When it comes to top clubs, reigning Premier League champions Liverpool were the most viewed team on Flashscore, with more than 5.3 million views, ahead of Manchester United (4.5 million), Arsenal (4.3 million) and Manchester City (3.2 million).

Chelsea were fifth followed by – interestingly – Newcastle United, who recorded more views than traditional ‘big six’ club Tottenham Hotspur.

Burnley: the great entertainers?

When it comes to last year’s most-viewed matches the data throws up a couple of surprises. While Real Madrid’s Champions League tie with Arsenal leads the way with 2.6 million views, the second most-viewed match was Manchester United’s home fixture against newly promoted Burnley in August. Interest in that match was no doubt helped by late drama at Old Trafford, with Bruno Fernandes scoring a stoppage-time winner in a 3-2 victory.

Flashscore UK Country Manager Charlie Ford said: “The Flashscore Yearbook gives us a proper insight into what’s genuinely grabbing the attention of sports fans across the UK. Having analysed billions of interactions, we’re able to look beyond the main headlines and see how interest shifts in real time. The 2025 figures show clearly that while football is still front and centre, fans’ interests are becoming increasingly broad and varied.

“Liverpool’s place at the top of our rankings reflects not only what they’ve achieved on the pitch, but the level of engagement they’ve maintained throughout the season. It’s also telling to see Newcastle United break into the established order ahead of Tottenham Hotspur – it shows just how quickly attention can turn when a club builds real momentum.

“One of the most striking stories is the continued growth of darts. The impact of Luke Littler in particular can’t really be overstated. For a 19-year-old to feature among the most-viewed UK sports stars – and to be the only non-footballer in the top 20 – highlights how a breakout personality can elevate the profile of an entire sport.”

The full Flashscore Yearbook is available at canva.com/design/DAHBMseYWyc/YYOTdS56irp1FBspX2qodQ/viewutm_content=DAHBMseYWyc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h844c3c447c