Darts star and Luke Littler rival who burst into tears after losing final teams with Man Utd legend Wayne Rooney’s agent

JURJEN VAN DER VELDE has teamed up with hero Raymond van Barneveld and Wayne Rooney’s agent in a bid to take his darts career to the next level. The Dutchman has joined Invictus, the management company spearheaded by Paul Stretford and Steve Mottershead, who previously worked with Phil Taylor. Jurjen van der Velde is the latest burgeoning darts superstar Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK The Dutchman have teamed up with Wayne Rooney’s agent, Paul Stretford Credit: REX Van der Velde, 23, believes the experienced unit can help him develop both on and off the oche, with five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld now also part of the set-up. He told Oche180: “Especially with Raymond [Van Barneveld] of course, he’s a legend of the game and with Steve’s [Mottershead] experience in darts all over the years with Phil [Taylor]. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! “They can help me a lot with giving me tips and everything that helps me to make me a better darts player. It’s a very good team. “Maybe for the future he [Van Barneveld] is going to coach and help some other youth players in the team Invictus.” But Van der Velde, who nearly two years ago broke down in tears after losing the World Youth Championship final to countryman Gian van Veen. is still balancing his darts ambitions with his life as a full-time farmer. The former World Youth Championship finalist continues to milk cows with his family and even had to fit his interview around his daily duties. Van der Velde is keeping a close eye on the extreme heatwave sweeping across Europe, with temperatures soaring beyond 36C in parts of the continent. The scorching conditions have left the landscape extremely dry, reduced food supplies for cattle and made life tougher for those working the land. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS List of all-time Darts World Champions BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year. The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions. That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included. 1994 – Dennis Priestley 1995 – Phil Taylor 1996 – Phil Taylor (2) 1997 – Phil Taylor (3) 1998 – Phil Taylor (4) 1999 – Phil Taylor (5) 2000 – Phil Taylor (6) 2001 – Phil Taylor (7) 2002 – Phil Taylor (8) 2003 – John Part 2004 – Phil Taylor (9) 2005 – Phil Taylor (10) 2006 – Phil Taylor (11) 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld 2008 – John Part (2) 2009 – Phil Taylor (12) 2010 – Phil Taylor (13) 2011 – Adrian Lewis 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2) 2013 – Phil Taylor (14) 2014 – Michael van Gerwen 2015 – Gary Anderson 2016 – Gary Anderson (2) 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2) 2018 – Rob Cross 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3) 2020 – Peter Wright 2021 – Gerwyn Price 2022 – Peter Wright (2) 2023 – Michael Smith 2024 – Luke Humphries 2025 – Luke Littler 2026 – Luke Littler (2) Most World Titles 14 – Phil Taylor 3 – Michael van Gerwen 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Luke Littler 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries He added: “At this time of year there is a lot of work to do. “My dad gives me a lot of time and says if I can stay home to practise if I need to. “He gives me all the time to play darts. “It’s very dry on the landscape and you see it all over the world and on the news. “There is a lot of fire. I am happy it is not yet on our farm. “But it is very dry and we need to feed the cows extra. “It’s not directly a big problem because we have a lot of extra [grass] to feed the cows. Jurjen van der Velde came agonisingly close to winning the 2024 World Youth Championship Credit: REX He broke down in tears and had to be consoled by countryman Gian van Veen Credit: REX “But if it is happening every year then it could be a problem.” Van der Velde enjoyed an impressive 2025 campaign, reaching the fifth round of the UK Open and the second round of the Grand Slam. The Zevenhuizen thrower could have found his darts nickname after fans at Minehead spotted his resemblance to the Milky Bar Kid. Van der Velde has the same blonde hair and glasses as the famous character but admits it has not officially stuck just yet. He continued: “Especially at the UK Open, where I have played a few times. “There were some supporters and they made a darts shirt for me with Van der Velde and the Milky Bar Kid with the picture on the shirt! “I am now looking at that shirt. It is brilliant, but it is still not my official nickname.” Comment now