Phil Taylor will retire from competitive darts in 2024 - with 'The Power' set to embark on a farewell tour across the United Kingdom over the next 12 months.
Taylor, 63, is widely regarded as the greatest darts player of all time after winning the World Championship a record 16 times, including eight consecutive triumphs between 1995 and 2002. No other player in the history of the sport has won more than five world titles.
Taylor currently competes on the World Seniors Darts Tour (WSDT) and will continue to do so until he puts down the arrows for good next year. His final tournament will be the World Seniors Darts Masters next November - giving fans one last year of his brilliance.
The ex-champion's decision to call it a day comes after his failure to crack the seniors' tour. Taylor crashed out of the World Seniors Darts Championship at the quarter-final stage in 2022 and 2023. He'll have one last go at trying to win the tournament in February.
Taylor initially retired from darts in 2018, when his professional career came to an end. He was tempted out of retirement in 2022 for the inaugural World Seniors Darts Championship. He will continue to be part of the WSDT as a global ambassador.
"It's not been an easy decision, but I feel after one more year it will be time for me to walk away from playing darts," said Taylor. "I have always hated the feeling of letting fans down, but as I get older, I just can't do what I used to as frequently on a dart board.
"I've had some great moments in the Seniors, and I hope to have a few more in 2024 to end on a real positive note. I'd also like to say a huge thank you to WSDT for giving us old guys a chance, and to all the fans that have supported us."
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Taylor started his professional career with the now-defunct British Darts Organisation (BDO) in 1987. He won the World Championship in 1990 and 1992 before being among a group of top players to break from the BDO in 1993 to start to their own organisation, which would eventually be known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
Taylor soon started to dominate the sport. He won another 14 world titles, as well as the World Matchplay a record 16 times, the World Grand Prix a record 11 times, the UK Open a record five times and the Grand Slam a record six times, among other honours.
Taylor's final professional tournament was the 2018 World Championship. He was denied a fairy-tale finish by debutant Rob Cross, who defeated him 7-2 in the final.
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Billy Lovell of the WSDT added: "Phil is one of the greatest sports people the UK has ever produced, and we would like to place on record how grateful we are that he decided to come out of retirement at the beginning of our project. We have absolutely loved having him around, and we're sure his final year on tour with us will be great fun!
"Obviously we are gutted to see The Power hang up his darts, but we urge fans to make that extra effort to come out and see him in action next year before the chance is gone."
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