Meet the 12 players making their World Cup of Darts debut in 2025

The 15th edition of the World Cup of Darts kicks off on Thursday evening in Frankfurt, with 24 nations taking to the oche as the group stage gets underway. The opening night will feature the first round of matches from the tournament’s group phase — and for twelve players, it will be a particularly special occasion as they make their debut on the World Cup stage.

A total of 40 nations are competing in this year’s tournament. The format sees 36 countries divided into twelve groups of three, with only the top-seeded teams — England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland — receiving automatic passage to the knockout rounds.
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The twelve group winners will join those four seeded teams in the round of 16.

On Thursday evening, the twelve highest-ranked group stage nations will each play their first match. The losing teams from those encounters will face the third country in their group on Friday afternoon, with the final group matches taking place on Friday evening to decide who advances.

For twelve players, Thursday night will mark their first-ever appearance representing their country at the World Cup of Darts. Among the most notable debutants are Gian van Veen and Mike De Decker, who are making their first appearances for the Netherlands and Belgium, respectively.

Also celebrating their World Cup debuts:

Petr Křivka (Czech Republic)

Pero Ljubić (Croatia)

Ricardo Pietreczko (Germany)

Bruno Nascimento (Portugal)

Rusty-Jake Rodriguez (Austria)

Mark Cleaver (New Zealand)

In addition, Malaysia and Spain are each fielding two debutants:

Malaysia: Tengku Shah & Jenn Ming Tan

Spain: Daniel Zapata & Ricardo Fernandez Carballo