Five dark horses to watch at the 2020 World Cup of Darts

If anyone tells you Christmas is miles away, ignore them. Because the World Cup of Darts is here, and it's perfect.

The annual team showdown is back for its 2020 edition. Of course, it'll be a little different because...well, it's 2020. But there are still 32 teams (at time of writing) who are fit and ready (please, God) to compete for the greatest trophy in darts*. The World Cup always has its clear favourites and a chasing pack which could be made up of two PDC regulars, two outsiders taking on the big names, or a mix of both.

The obvious favourites will be the Netherlands, featuring Michael van Gerwen, or Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton's Wales. England and Australia are always in the hunt, while Belgium, Germany, Northern Ireland and last year's finalists the Republic of Ireland are worth a watch. Beyond that, there are some duos who could really spring a surprise.

We've taken a look at five possible dark horses for this year's event in Salzburg.

1. Scotland

OK, to be fair, naming the defending champions as dark horses is a bit weird.

But the biggest twist of the 2020 World Cup is that Scotland are going to have to do it the hard way. It was Peter Wright and Gary Anderson who bagged the trophy over a year ago - neither of them will be available for the defence.

And so it falls to the unlikely pairing of John Henderson and Robert Thornton to mount a defence. Due to their respective rankings, the Scots plummet out of the seeds and open against Japan, with a possible tie against Wales in round two.

But Henderson has performed on some big stages, including the Premier League and World Grand Prix, while Thornton's won the latter. Between them, they have bags of experience. Could it be enough to put together the oddest back-to-back wins in World Cup of Darts history?

2. Spain

NEVER write off the Spanish.

When you think of Spain and the World Cup, you go back all the way to the first one in 2010. The pairing of Antonio Alcinas and Carlos Rodriguez rocked massive favourites England to their very core, and also dumped Scotland out en route to the semi-finals and a 4-0 loss to the Dutch which was closer than it looks on paper.

In recent years, they've seen off Russia, Japan and Norway, and almost shocked England again back in 2016. Alcinas will be motivated by a back end of a season where he has to scrape together enough ranking money to keep his Tour Card. Meanwhile, partner Jesus Noguera looked very good at the recent International Darts Open.

Spain should be good enough to beat Italy, and after that there's a chance they'll take on the Netherlands. Perhaps the historic giant-killers are up for a remake, 2020 style.

3. Philippines

The will-they-won't-they team. We'd seen the Philippines enter, then heard rumours that they'd dropped out, and now it seems we'll see them play in Austria.

On paper, the Filipino team is Asia's great hope, and the sort of team you really don't want to play. Both Lourence Ilagan and Noel Malicdem have shown that they can play top class darts - Peter Wright will be able to attest to how dangerous Malicdem is in particular.

Their first opponents are an England pair in Rob Cross and Michael Smith who are low on confidence. See them off, and the top half of the draw splits wide open for the Philippines.

4. Czech Republic

Another side in that open top half are the Czech Republic, who just about qualify as 'dark horses', rather than 'no hopers', mostly because both players in their lineup are intriguing talents.

First there's Karel Sedlacek, very much the standard-bearer of Czech darts and someone who has put in a few powerful performances on various PDC stages - most notably last year's German Darts Grand Prix.

Adam Gawlas has emerged as one of the world's biggest young talents, and we'll see more of him at the Grand Slam. It's Belgium first for the Czech duo, and it's a bit of a free hit - in the straight shootout of the first round, the chance of a shock often shoots up.

5. South Africa

Devon Petersen has spent years strongly advocating the growth of darts in his native South Africa, and it's led to some strong competition among players hoping to play second fiddle to him.

It does mean that he's had five different partners in five years of World Cup of Darts action, which hasn't led to consistent results. This year, he's partnered by Carl Gabriel, who has absolutely no experience on the big stage.

But Gabriel's competent enough to be a good partner, and Petersen is one of the world's most in-form players right now. It certainly spells trouble for Poland, and the other members of the nasty quarter the South African duo find themselves in.

That being said, a skewed team has not typically fared well, so it might be Gabriel, and not Petersen, who swings this.