The 2023
World Cup of Darts will last from 15 to 18 June and will be played in the German city of Frankfurt. The PDC tournament, in which several countries compete against each other for the title, has a new format in which the participating countries only play each other in pair matches.
Which countries have the best papers to take the title in Frankfurt and which outsiders should be taken into account?
England
The number 1 seed has as its leader the number 1 in the world rankings:
Michael Smith. The reigning world champion forms a team together with
Rob Cross (world number 5). Cross secured his spot for this tournament in the final of the European Darts Grand Prix, in an outright shoot-out for a World Cup position with world No 6 Luke Humphries.
In 2020, Smith and Cross also formed the World Cup team for England and managed to reach the final then, in which they lost 3-0 to Wales. As multiple major winners, Smith and Cross certainly have it in them to improve on that performance and win the title again for England for the first time since 2016.
Netherlands
The Netherlands will be represented by
Dirk van Duijvenbode and
Danny Noppert, the current world number 8, for the second year in a row after the late withdrawal of Michael van Gerwen
Twelve months ago, the pair reached the semi-finals, where they were beaten 3-0 by Wales. The absence of Michael van Gerwen after his recent Premier League victory is undoubtedly a blow but with Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode both enjoying strong rises in the world rankings, the Netherlands is definitely a title contender.
Wales
The 2020 World Cup winners are also sure to be among this year's title favourites again.
Gerwyn Price (number 4 in the world rankings) and
Jonny Clayton (number 7 in the world rankings) have been the team for Wales since 2018.
Both players managed to reach the play-offs of the Premier League and both were already successful on the Euro Tour this year. It can therefore be concluded that both Welshmen travel to Frankfurt in good shape.
Scotland
Although the 2018 World Cup winners are seeded fourth, they will not travel to Frankfurt with their best form.
Peter Wright (No 2 in the world rankings) has had a mediocre Premier League and
Gary Anderson, meanwhile, has dropped to No 22 in the world rankings.
However, both players are also at times showing their top level again this year. Wright won the Euro tournament in the Czech Republic and Anderson has already won a Players Championship title. So the two experienced Scots are certainly not to be underestimated.
Australia
Outside the four top seeds, defending champion Australia also deserves to be named as title contenders.
Damon Heta and
Simon Whitlock fairly surprisingly made it to the final last year and then managed to beat Wales 3-1 in the final.
Heta then won his first Euro-tour title and moved up to number 14 in the world rankings. Whitlock has actually dropped down the world rankings in recent years and is now in spot 40, but he showed with last year's performance.
Other contenders and outsiders
Outside the title contenders, there are still some countries that can certainly go far. The teams of Belgium (Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts), Germany (Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler) and Northern Ireland (Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney) consist of experienced players who are all in the top 32 of the world rankings.
Major outsiders are countries such as Ireland, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic, all of which have at least one competitor in the top 50 of the world rankings.
