Preview and Selections by Shane McArdle
The 2024 World Cup Of Darts takes place from Thursday June 27th to Sunday June 30th from Eissporthalle, Frankfurt, Germany, with 40 Nations taking part.
Some new look teams will be taking part in this year’s tournament, as Teng-Lieh Pupo and An-Sheng Lu will make history as the first Chinese Taipei team to compete in the tournament.
Siik Hwang Wong and Mohamad Nasir will be representing Malaysia, who qualify for the first time since 2014, while Norway will be involved for the first time since 2016.
Singapore will once again be represented by the hugely experienced duo of Paul and Harith Lim (no relations), who will play together for the tenth time for their country.
Keane Barry again partners William O’Connor for Rep Of Ireland, whilst Luke Humphries and Michael Smith make up a new-look England team.
Defending champions Wales have been dealt a blow with Gerwyn Price ruled out through injury. Jim Williams replaces the “Iceman” and pairs up with Jonny Clayton. Former champions Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta will be feared as the Australian pairing. Gary Anderson and Peter Wright once again make up a strong Scottish team.
Other notable pairings are – Josh Rock & 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 & Danny Lauby (USA), Michael van Gerwen & Danny Noppert (Netherlands) and Krzysztof Ratajski & Radek Szaganski (Poland)
The tournament once again carries an exciting Pairs format with no singles play involved.
Wales are the defending champions.
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
Format:
Group Stage – Best Of 7 Legs (First to 4)
Second Round/Quarter & Semi-Finals – Best of 15 Legs (First to 8)
Final – Best of 19 Legs (First to 10)
England (1), Wales(2), Netherlands (3) and Scotland (4) 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.
Group A – Belgium (5) – Singapore – Phillipines
Group B – Northern Ireland (6) – South Africa – Switzerland
Group C – Germany (7) – New Zealand – Finland
Group D – Australia (8) – Japan – Hong Kong
Group E – Rep Of Ireland (9) – Lithuania – Chinese Taipei
Group F – Austria (10) – China – Guyana
Group G – Poland (11) – Norway – Hungary
Group H – Czech Rep (12) – Bahrain – Iceland
Group I – Croatia (13) – Malaysia – Canada
Group J – France (14) – Latvia – Denmark
Group K – Sweden (15) – Spain – Gibraltar
Group L – USA (16) – Portugal – Italy
Thursday June 27th (6pm)
Group Stages – First Round Matches (x12)
Belgium v Singapore – Prediction: Belgium
Northern Ireland v South Africa – Prediction: N.Ireland
Germany v New Zealand – Prediction: Germany
Australia v Japan – Prediction: Australia
Rep Of Ireland v Lithuania – Prediction: Rep Of Ireland
Austria v China – Prediction: Austria
Poland v Norway – Prediction: Poland
Czech Rep v Bahrain – Prediction: Czech Rep
Croatia v Malaysia – Prediction: Croatia
France v Latvia – Prediction: Latvia
Sweden v Spain – Prediction: Sweden
USA v Portugal – Prediction: USA