2023 World Cup Of Darts
Preview and Selections by Shane McArdle.
The 2023 World Cup Of Darts takes place from Thursday June 15th to Sunday June 18th from Eissporthalle, Frankfurt, Germany, with 40 Nations taking part. Some new look teams will be taking part in this year’s tournament, as Keane Barry replaces Steve Lennon as William O’Connor’s Republic Of Ireland partner, whilst Rob Cross and Michael Smith again make up England’s team.
Wales have to be well fancied as they have Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton representing them and Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta will be feared as the Australian pairing and defending champions. Gary Anderson and Peter Wright make up a strong Scottish team.
Other notable pairings are – Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan (Northern Ireland), Kim Huybrechts & Dimitri van den Bergh (Belgium), Mensur Suljovic & Rowby-John Rodriguez (Austria), Gabriel Clemens & Martin Schindler (Germany), Jules van Dongen & Leonard Gates (USA), Paul Lim & Harith Lim (Singapore) and Jose Justicia & Tony Martinez (Spain)
The tournament features an exciting new-look pairs format with no singles play involved this time around.
The prize fund is £450,000, with a winner’s share of £80,000
Runners-up – £50,000
Semi-final Losers – £30,000
Last 16 Losers – £9,000
Second in group – £5,000
Third in Group – £4,000
England, Netherlands, Wales and Scotland are the top four ranked nations (based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order Of Merit ranking of the two competing players – and will therefore not enter the tournament until the last 16 stage.
The remaining 36 teams are split into 12 groups of three for the first round-robin round of matches, which includes a further 12 seeded nations, from which each group winner will progress.
Thursday June 15th (6pm)
Group Stages – First Round Matches (x12)
Switzerland v Italy – Prediction: Switzerland
Poland v Portugal – Prediction: Poland
Czech Rep v Singapore – Prediction: Czech Rep
Spain v South Africa – Prediction: Spain
Rep Of Ireland v Thailand – Prediction: Rep Of Ireland
Northern Ireland v France – Prediction: Northern Ireland
Belgium v Finland – Prediction: Belgium
Canada v India – Prediction: Canada
Austria v Denmark – Prediction: Austria
Germany v Hong Kong – Prediction: Germany
Australia v Guyana – Prediction: Australia
Latvia v New Zealand – Prediction: Latvia
Place your bets on the World Cup of Darts here – Latest odds.