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.
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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
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
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Danny Noppert £189.250
Jermaine Wattimena £186.250
Jeffrey de Zwaan 180.750
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.
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I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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