Schedule Thursday night at World Cup of Darts 2024 including Belgium, Germany and Australia

We will kick off the 2024 World Cup of Darts at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The Eissporthalle in Germany will host the first matches of the group stage on Thursday night.

Of the 40 participating nations, 24 will be in action on the first day of play. Twelve countries will not play their first pool match until Friday afternoon, while England, Wales, the Netherlands and Scotland are automatically admitted to the second round.

The tournament kicks off with a game between Sweden and Spain. At Sweden, Jeffrey de Graaf will make his debut. He plays together with Oskar Lukasiak against Jose Justicia and Jesus Noguera. Furthermore, France, Croatia and Poland, among others, will make their appearance during the first block of the first session. Poland, by the way, is Norway's opponent, where Cor Dekker makes his appearance. He forms a team with Norwegian Håkon Bjørge Helling.

For USA, Jules Van Dongen and Danny Lauby take on Portugal. Dark horse Belgium, with Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts in the ranks, will face iconic Singaporean duo Paul Lim and Harith Lim. The new Northern Irish duo featuring Josh Rock and Brendan Dolan will play against South Africa.

Host nation Germany will take on New Zealand. Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock, who gave Australia its first title at the 2022 World Cup of Darts, face Japan. The final match of the evening is between Austria and China.

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.

All group matches will be played on Thursday, June 27, and Friday, June 28. The group winner of each pool advances to the last sixteen. The second round, with the last remaining sixteen countries, compete on Saturday, June 29, for a spot in the quarterfinals. These will take place on Sunday afternoon, June 30. The semifinals and finals are scheduled for Sunday evening.

The tournament was won in 2023 for the second time by Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, after they proved to be the best duo earlier in 2020 >they were the best duo. However, due to health reasons, Price cannot participate in the upcoming edition of the World Cup of Darts. His place will be taken by Jim Williams. Four-time champion England will be represented by world champion Luke Humphries - making his debut at the World Cup - and world number three Michael Smith. Peter Wright and Gary Anderson make up the Scottish team. On behalf of the Netherlands, Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert will play at the World Cup of Darts.

The tournament will be broadcast in the U.K. on Sky Sports. On Friday afternoon at 12:00 the second series of group matches will already begin. The evening session will then start again at 19:00, when the final matches of the group stage will be played.

The 12 group stage winners will advance to the last sixteen. Then the four top nations also advance into the tournament. The first four duels of the second round will be played from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 29. Consequently, the format has gone up considerably. From best of 7 legs in the group stage to best of 15 legs in the knockout stage.

On Saturday night, June 29, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., the last four matches of the second round will be played. After that, it will be known which eight countries will advance to the final day of the World Cup of Darts. The quarter-finals will take place on Sunday, June 30, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The semifinals and final of the World Cup of Darts are scheduled on Sunday evening from 6 p.m.

A total of 450,000 pounds of prize money will be distributed at the World Cup of Darts. All participants in the pool phase will receive at least 2,000 pounds per person. The players from the top four countries will receive £9,000 per person anyway.

Only after that does it get really lucrative. The quarter-finalists each receive £10,000 credited to their bank accounts. The semi-finalists each receive 15,000 pounds for their performance. The losing finalists both receive £25,000 in prize money, while the winners go home with £40,000 each. The prize money won does not count toward the world rankings, by the way.

Sweden v Spain (K)

Czech Republic v Bahrain (H)

France v Latvia (J)

Croatia v Malaysia (I)

Ireland v Lithuania (E)

Poland v Norway (G)

United States v Portugal (L)

Belgium v Singapore (A)

Northern Ireland v South Africa (B)

Germany v New Zealand (C)

Australia v Japan (D)

Austria v China (F)