Luke Humphries & Michael Smith for England, Peter Wright & Gary Anderson for Scotland; These are the 40 nations in the 2024 World Cup of Darts

Thursday, 23 May 2024 at 18:30

The PDC has announced which 40 countries that will compete at the World Cup of Darts from Thursday, June 27 to Sunday, June 30. Of a large number of countries is also already known which two players on behalf of that country will be in action.

Defending champion at this tournament is Wales, which once again enters with the well-matched duo of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton. Representing Scotland are Peter Wright and Gary Anderson. The Netherlands will play with Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert. They previously played together at the country tournament in 2020 and reached the quarterfinals then. England seems to be the big favourite for the final victory with world champion Luke Humphries and former world champion Michael Smith in the ranks. The outsiders include Germany (Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens) and Australia (Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock).

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Belgium and Northern Ireland are also among the outsiders, but the selections of both countries are not yet complete. Dimitri van den Bergh will compete at the World Cup of Darts on behalf of Belgium, but has yet to see if he will have Kim Huybrechts or Mike de Decker next to him. Huybrechts is currently struggling with an injury after breaking his collarbone in two places as a result of a scuffle following a visit to a football match of his favourite club Royal Antwerp. Josh Rock will team with either Brendan Dolan or Daryl Gurney. It will be known after the Dutch Darts Championship (May 24-26) who will join Rock.

There is one debuting country at the upcoming edition of the World Cup of Darts. Taiwan is there for the first time. The Asian country makes its appearance with Teng-Lieh Pupo and An-Sheng Lu. Furthermore, Singapore (with iconic duo Paul Lim and Harith Lim) is also among the eight Asian countries competing in Frankfurt. Norway returns to the World Cup of Darts for the first time since 2016. Bahrain, Guyana and Iceland are competing for the second time after debuting last year.

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Format at World Cup of Darts

The revamped format, which was successfully introduced last year, will return in 2024. The tournament will begin with a group stage before moving into a knockout phase. In addition, all matches will consist of pairings.

The four highest-placed countries, based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two participating players, are directly admitted to the knockout stage. These are England, the Netherlands, Wales and Scotland. The remaining 36 teams are split into 12 groups of three countries each. All group matches will be played on Thursday, June 27, and Friday, June 28. The group winner of each pool will advance to the last sixteen.

The second round, featuring the last remaining 16 countries, will compete for a spot in the quarterfinals on Saturday, June 29. These will take place on Sunday afternoon, June 30. The semifinals and finals are scheduled for Sunday evening.