Phil Taylor: 16-time world champion to retire at the end of 2024

Phil Taylor, winner of a record 16 World Championships, will retire from competitive darts next year.

Taylor, 63, stepped away from the sport after reaching the World Championship final in 2018 but returned in 2022.

Considered the greatest darts player of all time, he has spent the past two years on the Senior Darts Tour and will retire at the end of the 2024 season.

"It's been an unbelievable journey over the past 35 years and I've loved every minute of it," Taylor said.

"I'll always love performing to the best of my ability, but time waits for no man and I know now is the right time to step away from the Tour."

He added: "I'm going to be working just as hard as I always have to make sure I give the fans what they want and go out on top."

Taylor, nicknamed 'The Power', dominated darts for more than two decades after winning his first World Championship in 1990.

He won the event eight times in a row from 1995 to 2002 and reached 14 straight finals.

Taylor won a record 85 major titles, was world number one for 13 years in total and was nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year twice.

He reached the quarter-finals on the Senior Darts Tour, which consists of 11 events, in 2022 and 2023.

The 2024 season ends on 17 November at the Crucible Club in Newbury.

Billy Lovell of World Senior Darts Tour 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."