Germany stuns the Netherlands to reach maiden semi-final at World Cup of Darts
PDCSunday, 08 November 2020 at 17:39
Germany has reached the last four at the World Cup of Darts for the very first time after beating four-time winner Netherlands in the Quarter-Finals.
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The Netherlands had a difficult preparation for the match with the Germans Gabriel Clemens and Max Hopp. Michael van Gerwen woke up with a back injury and it was unclear for a long time whether the match could be played at all.
The Dutchman was treated in hospital for a trapped nerve and was back in the Salzburgarena in time for the encounter with Germany. He was fit enough to start the game, but the preparation was quite disrupted.
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The result was that Danny Noppert had to play the first singles match. He was unable to give the Netherlands the lead as he lost 4-3 to Gabriel Clemens. Van Gerwen then won the second single against Max Hopp 4-1.
A pairs match had to decide which nation would progress to the semi-finals. The Netherlands started hopeful, as Noppert landed tops twice to take a 2-0 lead. The Germans then came on the scoreboard with a 13-dart leg, before pinning double 8 to level the match.
Thanks to two good scores from Clemens, the fifth leg also went to Germany, as they needed one more leg to win. The Netherlands, however, forced a decisive leg, after Van Gerwen hit the double 5 with his third dart.
The last leg seemed to go easily to the Germans, but Hopp made it exciting after missing three match-darts. Van Gerwen got the chance to take the victory from 80, but missed tops. Clemens then hit the double 10 with the sixth match-dart to bring Germany into the semi-finals.
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The Germans play on Sunday evening in the semi-final against Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton from Wales. The other semi-final is between England (Rob Cross & Michael Smith) and Belgium (Kim Huybrechts & Dimitri van den Bergh).
World Cup of Darts 2020 Schedule
Quarter-Finals
Canada 1-2 Belgium
Singles 1: Jeff Smith (97.57) 1-4 (108.32) Kim Huybrechts
Singles 2: Matt Campbell (97.56) 4-1 (94.42) Dimitri van den Bergh
Pairs: Smith/Campbell v Huybrechts/Van den Bergh
England 2-1 Austria
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Singles 1: Michael Smith (101.54) 3-4 (109.52) Mensur Suljovic
Singles 2: Rob Cross (89.36) 4-3 (83.54) Rowby-John Rodriguez
Pairs: Smith/Cross (82.28) 4-3 (79.88) Suljovic/Rodriguez
Wales 2-1 Australia
Singles 1: Gerwyn Price (98.04) 4-3 (104.13) Simon Whitlock
Singles 2: Jonny Clayton (99.87) 2-4 (102.25) Damon Heta
Pairs: Price/Clayton (98.8) 4-2 (89.38) Whitlock/Heta
Netherlands 1-2 Germany
Singles 1: Danny Noppert (84.91) 3-4 (88.58) Gabriel Clemens
Singles 2: Michael van Gerwen (87.00) 4-1 (77.24) Max Hopp
Pairs: Noppert/Van Gerwen (82.42) 3-4 (93.57) Clemens/Hopp
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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- I loved Jan and loved his walk on music "Explode" by Jordan & Baker. I think if he stuck around the BDO he definitely would have been World Champion, should have won in 2014, he never really showed any of his talent in the PDC. I remembered he worked in a bank or in finance and maybe that was his priority, he was also a fan and interested in magic. Definitely should have achieved much more in darts than he did. Wherever you are nowadays Jan, hope all is well and I was always a fan.richieburnettrocks11-09-2026
- Not much of a tournament really,is it? Now they've all pulled out,it's open for everyone. I'm sure if you bought tickets,you'd be disappointed. Doesn't that seem to bother the withdrawals? Not at all!!rick6710-09-2026
- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
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