Who will be Michael van Gerwen's teammate at the World Cup of Darts?

Three Dutchmen are involved in an exciting battle as only one of them can team up with Michael van Gerwen at the World Cup of Darts.

The teams usually consist of the two highest ranked players per country on the PDC Order of Merit. As world number one, Van Gerwen is of course in the Dutch selection for the World Cup of Darts. He played with Raymond van Barneveld from 2013 till 2018, which resulted in three titles. Jermaine Wattimena accompanied his fellow Dutchman last year and they were knocked out in the semi-finals by the Irish giant-killers William O'Connor and Steve Lennon.

Wattimena also has a chance to be elected for the Dutch team this year. But then The Machine Gun has to put Danny Noppert and Jeffrey de Zwaan behind him on the world ranking. The Dutch trio occupy the spots 22, 23 and 24 on the PDC Order of Merit and the difference in prize money is small.

Current PDC Order of Merit (21 september)

22. Danny Noppert £205.750
23. Jermaine Wattimena £199.500
24. Jeffrey De Zwaan £192.750

The PDC recently announced that the cut-off is after the World Grand Prix. This means that the prize money earned in this period of 2018 will still be removed from the world rankings. The battle for second Dutch place has become even more exciting, because the difference between the three Dutch players has become even smaller.

Projected PDC Order of Merit after World Grand Prix

Danny Noppert £189.250
Jermaine Wattimena £186.250
Jeffrey de Zwaan 180.750

In the above ranking, the prize money won from Players Championship 19 & 20, the World Grand Prix and European Darts Trophy in 2018 has been removed from the rankings. Noppert, Wattimena and De Zwaan have two more chances to earn prize money ahead of the cut-off, at the German Darts Championship (September 25-27) and World Grand Prix (October 6-12).

The three Dutchmen have all qualified for the European Tour tournament in Hildesheim. While only De Zwaan has not yet been definitively qualified for the World Grand Prix, although the former World Matchplay semi-finalist is provisionally qualified. Noppert is the favourite at the moment for the second Dutch spot, but that could change after the coming weekend.

The World Cup of Darts will be played from November 6-8 in Graz. Last year this tournament was won by Scottish duo Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.