PREVIEW World Cup of Darts – Germany: Between searching for form, dartitis and question marks – Schindler and Pietreczko battling doubts

Not even a year has passed since Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko produced one of the biggest shocks in recent World Cup history. “Pikachu” took out 62, landing the first match dart on double 16, beer cups flew across Frankfurt’s Eissporthalle, and people hugged each other in sheer joy. An atmosphere you rarely encounter even in darts.

It was the next milestone for a sporting giant that has been striving for years to live up to its role in darts as well. Barely twelve months later, little remains of that euphoria – even though Team Germany returns to the scene of one of its greatest triumphs with an unchanged lineup. In this preview, we examine why last year’s semi-finalists are currently surrounded by more question marks and doubts than momentum and optimism.

With the same personnel, Team Germany returns to the heart of Europe this year. Last year, Schindler and Pietreczko cruised through the group phase with commanding 4-2 and 4-0 wins over Portugal and Singapore. In the knockouts, as mentioned at the outset, they sensationally beat the title favourites from England 8-4, before the German duo also edged Australia in a nerve-jangling decider to punch their semi-final ticket.

With that, Schindler and Pietreczko matched Germany’s best World Cup result. Team Germany first reached the semi-finals in 2020, when Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens surprisingly ended the long-running Netherlands hoodoo and advanced to the last four for the first time with a 2-1 win over their neighbours. Gabriel Clemens repeated the feat in 2023 alongside Martin Schindler, when the duo beat England 8-3 in the quarterfinals.

Although recent headlines have focused mainly on Ricardo Pietreczko’s slide in form, that tells only part of the story. Germany’s number one, Martin Schindler, who travels to Frankfurt as team captain for the third time this year, has also too rarely hit his top level in 2026.

After the first five months of the PDC season, “The Wall” holds a 49 percent win rate. A look at the past four years underlines that it is not only Pietreczko battling his game right now: in 2025 Schindler’s win rate was 64 percent, in 2024 it was 60 percent, in 2023 it was 56 percent, and in 2022 it was a strong 63 percent. Of course, Germany’s number one still has almost seven months to correct course. Even so, the numbers paint the picture of a disappointing season so far.

A major part of this story lies in the start of the season. In sport, you often hear how crucial a strong start to a match, an event, or a season can be – and in Schindler’s case, looking back, it must be called a false start. In his first Players Championship match of the year, Schindler made the wrong kind of headlines: with a 65 average, the three-time European Tour champion lost 6-0 to Maik Kuivenhoven.

In an interview with DartsNews a few weeks later at the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich, Schindler addressed the much-discussed display: “At the first Players Championship I realised I wasn’t myself at all. I could twist and turn it however I wanted – I just wasn’t in control. I think only the body was functioning, and my head felt like it was two meters to the side.”

What at first glance looked like an unusual lapse, which in a sport of fine margins is rare but not unheard of, actually turned into a dip in form over the following weeks and months. Schindler’s best result of the season so far remains a strong semi-final run at Players Championship 15. The fact that “The Wall” sits only 53rd in this year’s Players Championship Order of Merit after 20 events underlines the lack of consistency in his game.

Even on his personal playground of recent years, the European Tour, Schindler has yet to match the levels of previous seasons. In 2024 and 2025, “The Wall” crowned himself a three-time champion on the very tour where he worked as a steward at the age of 17. He also finished the 2024 European Tour season ranked first on the associated Order of Merit and traveled to the European Championship in Dortmund as the top seed.

This year, after eight events, the ledger shows two quarter-final appearances. Schindler has also exited in the first round three times already. For comparison: across the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons combined, he was knocked out at the start of a European Tour event only four times.

So is it pure doom and gloom ahead of the 2026 World Cup of Darts? Of course not. When Martin Schindler opened his floor season with a 65 average, fans and pundits were already debating a far-reaching crisis, possible injury issues, or even existential dartitis concerns. Schindler has managed to disperse those dark clouds in recent months.

Even if the world number 19 is unlikely to be satisfied with his season so far, he has repeatedly flashed world-class with quarter- and semi-final runs and averages of 113.79, 108.78, and 105.90. And who knows: perhaps the special intensity of Frankfurt’s Eissporthalle will give him exactly the wings he needs for a strong second half of the year.

Let’s turn to one of the most discussed topics around this year’s World Cup of Darts: Ricardo Pietreczko and his battle with dartitis. After an impressive season finish with a quarter-final run at the European Championship and reaching the third round at the World Darts Championship at Ally Pally, Pietreczko suddenly faced the biggest sporting crisis of his PDC career in early April.

At the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich, Pietreczko initially scraped past Ian White into the second round with a 79 average and, in his duel with Nathan Aspinall, showed clear signs for the first time of an issue with his throw. Aspinall, one of the sport’s most prominent cases of successfully overcoming dartitis, even offered the German his help in the on-stage interview after the match.

And Aspinall would be proved right. What at first looked like a hitch in the throw developed over the following weeks into a sporting emergency. Pietreczko’s throwing technique seemed to collapse like a house of cards—and with it his entire game. At Players Championship 14, “Pikachu” abandoned his first-round match against Jeffrey de Zwaan after only two legs, averaging under 60. At Players Championship 15 and 16, he did not get beyond a 76 and 66 average in two first-round defeats. The dartitis that has already destroyed numerous careers in darts had now caught up with Germany’s number two.

Accordingly, the debate around Pietreczko—especially with a view to his upcoming start for Team Germany at the 2026 World Cup of Darts—gathered pace. Fans and experts asked whether Pietreczko should voluntarily relinquish his spot to increase the German team’s, and Martin Schindler’s, chances of success. The current German number three, Niko Springer, was repeatedly put forward as the logical replacement.

Captain Schindler also spoke on the European Tour in Graz on the DartsNews microphone about a possible withdrawal by his teammate:

“I’ll be honest: that’s in Ricardo’s hands. If he says he feels up to it and trusts himself and his game, then I trust him too. But if he’s equally honest and says he won’t do it, then I respect that—and I genuinely think that would be a very, very good and mature decision.”

But Pietreczko held a firm line throughout. In mid-May, he confirmed in a Twitch chat that he would play the World Cup of Darts unless something “worse” intervened. At the International Darts Open in Riesa, the 31-year-old also made it clear that he would definitely be fit for the start of the World Cup.

The tournament in Riesa in some ways marked Pietreczko’s sporting resurrection. Above all, the speed with which the 31-year-old managed to restore his competitiveness is remarkable. At the International Darts Open, Pietreczko delivered a memorable display: the German unveiled a fundamentally reworked throwing action, with an initial movement reminiscent of the 2010 World Cup champion, Co Stompé.

Pietreczko looked noticeably more assured and liberated on stage and, with wins over Maik Kuivenhoven and Danny Noppert, reached the final day of a European Tour event for the first time this season. He underlined that progress last week by reaching the board final at Players Championship 20.

The fact that Pietreczko radically changed his throwing action within a few weeks and, in the middle of that process, made the final day of a European Tour event shows how deeply he lives for darts—and how well he understands his own game. As external pressure mounted and the days until the World Cup in Frankfurt ticked down inexorably, Pietreczko worked on his sporting comeback.

Keeping a cool head under pressure is among the traits that epitomise Pietreczko’s PDC career to date. The 31-year-old has long been regarded as the country’s best big-game player. And that is precisely why it would fit the narrative if “Pikachu” used the stage in Frankfurt to silence many of his critics.

At first glance, Team Germany does appear to be far removed from the euphoria that swept through Frankfurt’s Eissporthalle twelve months ago heading into the 2026 World Cup of Darts. Martin Schindler is still searching for the consistency of previous years, while Ricardo Pietreczko has battled through the biggest sporting crisis of his career in recent weeks. The doubts surrounding the German team therefore do not come out of nowhere.

And yet it would be negligent to reduce Schindler and Pietreczko solely to their struggles in recent months. The team captain has already flashed his world-class level several times this season, while Pietreczko has impressively demonstrated the extent of his resilience. Above all, the German duo showed last year that they can raise their game on the sport’s biggest team stage.

Perhaps that is exactly where the biggest opportunity lies. Rarely has the expectation around Team Germany before a World Cup of Darts been as restrained as it is this year. In recent weeks, the discussions have revolved less around possible success and more around dips in form, doubts, and personnel alternatives. The pressure to deliver at all costs is therefore likely to be lower than twelve months ago. Schindler and Pietreczko are not traveling to Frankfurt as great standard-bearers, but as a team whose potential many currently find hard to gauge. And that could prove to be an advantage in the coming days.