PREVIEW World Cup of Darts – Netherlands: Van Gerwen and Van Veen finally team up but will Frankfurt turn into Orange dream?

The Dutch team has long been among the powerhouses at the World Cup of Darts. Only England has won the nation’s event more often than the Netherlands. Yet the last Dutch title already dates back eight years, so the Netherlands heads to Frankfurt this week with an intriguing but somewhat unpredictable duo. For the first time, Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen will team up for the Netherlands at the World Cup of Darts. This article offers a preview of the Netherlands’ chances at the prestigious team tournament in Germany.

Both players have previous experience at the event, but as a pairing they are entirely new. The Netherlands is also seeded second, which means it skips the group stage and enters directly at the last 16. That translates to fewer matches, but also less room to play into form.

Historically, the Netherlands undoubtedly ranks among the most successful nations at the World Cup of Darts. The title was won in 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2018. Only England has done better with five titles. Strikingly, the last Dutch triumph also came from the period when Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld formed a long-standing tandem. From 2013 through 2018, the Netherlands played six straight years with the same duo, something that has scarcely happened since.

After Van Barneveld’s departure from the national team, there was a lot of chopping and changing. Only Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode played together for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. Continuity has been lacking since, which is precisely why the partnership between Van Gerwen and Van Veen is being watched with great interest.

It has been a remarkable year for Gian van Veen. The thrower from Poederoijen seemed to be making a definitive breakthrough to the absolute world elite at the end of 2025. First, he captured the European title in stunning fashion by edging Luke Humphries 11-10 in a sensational final. Van Veen then surged to the World Championship final, helped by convincing wins over Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson.

Those results earned him not only third place in the world rankings, but also a coveted invitation to the Premier League Darts. The opening months of 2026 also went excellently. Van Veen reached the final of the Bahrain Darts Masters, made the semi-finals of the World Masters, and started his debut Premier League season strongly with three finals in the first four league nights.

From March, however, the season flipped completely. Kidney stones threw a spanner in the works. Van Veen had to withdraw from a Premier League night and multiple other tournaments, after which surgery proved necessary. Since then, the Dutchman has hardly resembled the player he was late last year and early this year.

His early exits stand out in particular. Since April, outside the Premier League, Van Veen has played fourteen PDC tournaments, in which he suffered first-match defeats no fewer than eight times. Across those fourteen events, he produced only one match average above a hundred. His win percentage also shows the scale of the drop-off. While Van Veen won 72 percent of his matches in 2025, he currently sits at just 55 percent for 2026.

Still, that doesn’t have to be bad news for the Netherlands. Van Veen already proved last year that he can perform excellently at the World Cup of Darts. In 2025 he made his debut for Oranje after Michael van Gerwen chose to skip the tournament due to vacation plans. Together with Danny Noppert, Van Veen immediately enjoyed a strong tournament.

Back then, the Netherlands started in the group stage and swept aside Italy and Hungary without dropping a leg. That was followed by an impressive 8-0 win over Scotland, with the Dutch duo averaging 100.20. The Czechs were then convincingly beaten as well, before Wales proved too strong in the semifinals with an 8-5 victory.

That experience could now be of great value. Van Veen knows what it’s like to play under the pressure of a national team event. He has also become familiar with the unique dynamic of pairs matches, where players have to wait much longer for their turn because four players are on stage at the same time.

It’s an important tournament for Michael van Gerwen as well. The Vlijmen native faces a crucial period in his career. In the autumn he must defend a large amount of prize money to avoid a major drop in the world rankings. On the post-World Championship virtual ranking, Van Gerwen currently sits only twentieth, an unprecedentedly low position for him. That would even make him just the fifth Dutchman in the world.

That raises the legitimate question of whether this might be one of his last appearances at the World Cup of Darts. His season has been erratic. At times Van Gerwen shows flashes of his former top level, but too often strong displays are followed by unexpected defeats in which his doubling in particular lets him down.

There are, however, clear positive signs. In 2026, Van Gerwen has already won more titles than in all of 2025. He claimed the Bahrain Darts Masters and, just last weekend, the Nordic Darts Masters. He also secured his first floor title since October 2024 at Players Championship 15.

The stats also show improvement. Whereas Van Gerwen won only 55 percent of his matches last year, he is at 65 percent this year. His three-month average stands at 96.71, a level bettered by only eight players on the PDC Tour. The absolute highlight was his sensational display against Martin Schindler at Players Championship 15, when he averaged 122.34.

At the same time, inconsistency remains a concern. Too often there are matches in which Van Gerwen dips below a 90 average. If he can weed out those poorer performances, he can again become a dangerous contender at the big TV tournaments.

In terms of experience, no one in the field surpasses Van Gerwen. He made his debut in 2013 alongside Raymond van Barneveld, although that first outing surprisingly ended in defeat to Finland. A year later, however, he took immediate revenge with the world title. The Netherlands also won the tournament in 2017 and 2018 with Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld.

After Van Barneveld’s departure, Van Gerwen teamed up with Jermaine Wattimena, Danny Noppert, and Dirk van Duijvenbode. That yielded a semifinal and two quarterfinals. In 2022 and 2023, Van Gerwen made himself unavailable for Oranje. He returned in 2024 but lost with Danny Noppert straight away in the knockout phase to Belgium. Notably, Van Gerwen has little experience in the current World Cup of Darts format, which features pairs only and no singles at all. Due to his absence last year, he has played just one match under those conditions.

That’s precisely why their mutual chemistry becomes crucial. The World Cup of Darts has often shown that two top players do not automatically make a successful duo. The partnership has to click.

On paper, that shouldn’t be an issue for Van Gerwen and Van Veen. Although Van Veen is now higher in the world rankings, Van Gerwen hardly seems the type to take a back seat. That could potentially clash, but Van Veen is known as a calm player. He has also spoken modestly about his teammate. “He may be behind me in the rankings right now, but I still see Michael as the Dutch number one,” Van Veen has stated on multiple occasions.

The Netherlands will not start the tournament as the top favorite. That status undoubtedly belongs to England, which fields world numbers one and two Luke Littler and Luke Humphries. The advantage for the Netherlands, though, is that the two countries can only meet in a potential final.

Many other top nations have question marks as well. Scotland lines up with Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies, while Anderson is far from his best this year. Wales must do without Gerwyn Price and will play with Jonny Clayton and Nick Kenny. Defending champions Northern Ireland again have Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney, but both are clearly in less form than last season.

Germany and Belgium have their issues too. Martin Schindler isn’t hitting the level of the past two seasons, and Ricardo Pietreczko is struggling with dartitis. Belgium travels with Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh, but they are also short of form.

That leaves the path to a final certainty open for the Netherlands. For Van Gerwen, that would be especially important, as a place in the final grants direct qualification for the Grand Slam of Darts. And if the Netherlands do reach the decider, anything is possible.

No matter how strong England looks on paper, the World Cup of Darts has often shown that individual class is not decisive. Last year, for example, England were knocked out in the last 16 by Germany.

At this tournament, the strongest team on paper doesn’t win by default. Ultimately, it’s about which duo works best together on stage. And that’s exactly where the Netherlands could be more dangerous than many rivals would like.