GERMAN duo Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens will begin their bid for 2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts glory against New Zealand’s Haupai Puha and Ben Robb on the opening night in Frankfurt, with Thursday’s schedule of play confirmed.
Day One of the £450,000 event will see 12 group stage matches take place at the Eissporthalle, with 2022 champions Australia also in action alongside former finalists Belgium, Republic of Ireland and Austria.
The revamped format which was successfully introduced last year returns in 2024, as 40 teams compete in group and knockout stages featuring Doubles matches across four days of action from June 27-30.
The top four ranked nations – based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players – are seeded and will enter at the second round stage.
Reigning champions Wales will begin their title defence in the last 16, alongside four-time champions England and Netherlands and two-time winners Scotland.
The remaining 36 nations have been split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin phase – including 12 seeded nations – from which each group winner will progress.
Schindler and Clemens led Germany to the semi-finals in Frankfurt 12 months ago, and they will renew their partnership on home soil against the capable pairing of Puha and Robb.
Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock inspired Australia to a maiden World Cup victory in 2022, and they will also kick off their campaign on Thursday evening when they play Japan’s Tomoya Goto and Ryusei Azemoto.
UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh and 2013 World Cup runner-up Kim Huybrechts will represent fifth seeds Belgium, who open their challenge against Singapore’s Paul Lim and Harith Lim in Group A.
Josh Rock will make his Northern Ireland debut alongside World Cup ever-present Brendan Dolan, and the sixth seeds will meet South Africa’s Johan Geldenhuys and Cameron Carolissen in their Group B opener.
Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic again team up for 2021 runners-up Austria, who round off Thursday’s marathon session against China.
William O’Connor and Keane Barry will fly the flag for 2019 finalists Republic of Ireland, and they will begin their Group E campaign against Lithuania, as Darius Labanauskas makes his big stage return.
Krzysztof Ratajski will team up with World Cup debutant Radek Szaganski for Poland, who take on Norway in Group G, while USA meet a Portugal pairing headlined by former Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa.
Sweden and Spain will lock horns in the opening match of the tournament in Group K, before Czechia and Bahrain go head-to-head.
Croatia and Malaysia battle it out for the early advantage in Group I, before 2023 quarter-finalists France – led by Thibault Tricole and Jacques Labre – play a Latvian side which includes Madars Razma.
The losing nations from Thursday’s opening matches will then play the third team from each group in Friday’s afternoon session, before the decisive group games are played on Friday evening.
Following the conclusion of the group stage, the draw for the last 16 will take place on Friday evening, as England, Wales, Netherlands and Scotland enter the fray in Saturday’s second round.
The second round will take place across two sessions on Saturday, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on a bumper Finals Day in Frankfurt on Sunday.
The BetVictor World Cup of Darts will be broadcast on Sky Sports for viewers in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC’s international broadcast partners, including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers.
2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Eissporthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Thursday June 27 (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Group Stage – First Matches x12
Sweden v Spain (K)
Czechia v Bahrain (H)
France v Latvia (J)
Croatia v Malaysia (I)
Republic of Ireland v Lithuania (E)
Poland v Norway (G)
USA v Portugal (L)
Belgium v Singapore (A)
Northern Ireland v South Africa (B)
Germany v New Zealand (C)
Australia v Japan (D)
Austria v China (F)
Friday June 28
Afternoon Session (1200 local time, 1100 BST)
Group Stage – Second Matches x12
Loser First Match v Team 3
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Group Stage – Final Matches x12
Winner First Match v Team 3
Saturday June 29
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Second Round x4
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Second Round x4
Sunday June 30
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Semi-Finals
Final
Format
Group Stage – Best of seven legs
Second Round – Best of 15 legs
Quarter-Finals – Best of 15 legs
Semi-Finals – Best of 15 legs
Final – Best of 19 legs
All games will be played in a Doubles format.
Competing Nations & Pairings
Australia – Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock
Austria – Rowby-John Rodriguez, Mensur Suljovic
Bahrain – Basem Mahmood, Duda Durra
Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts
Canada – Matt Campbell, David Cameron
China – Xiaochen Zong, Chengan Liu
Croatia – Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grbavac
Czechia – Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek
Denmark – Benjamin Reus, Claus Bendix Nielsen
England – Luke Humphries, Michael Smith
Finland – Teemu Harju, Marko Kantele
France – Thibault Tricole, Jacques Labre
Germany – Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens
Gibraltar – Justin Hewitt, Craig Galliano
Guyana – Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald
Hong Kong – Lok Yin Lee, Man Lok Leung
Hungary – Gabor Jagicza, Nandor Major
Iceland – Arngrimur Olafsson, Petur Rudrik Gudmundsson
Ireland – William O’Connor, Keane Barry
Italy – Michele Turetta, Massimo Dalla Rosa
Japan – Tomoya Goto, Ryusei Azemoto
Latvia – Madars Razma, Valters Melderis
Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas
Malaysia – Siik Hwang Wong, Mohd Nasir Bin Jantan
Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert
New Zealand – Haupai Puha, Ben Robb
Northern Ireland – Josh Rock, Brendan Dolan
Norway – Cor Dekker, Håkon Bjørge Helling
Philippines – Christian Perez, Alexis Toylo
Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski, Radek Szaganski
Portugal – Jose de Sousa, David Gomes
Scotland – Peter Wright, Gary Anderson
Singapore – Paul Lim, Harith Lim
South Africa – Johan Geldenhuys, Cameron Carolissen
Spain – Jose Justicia, Jesus Noguera
Sweden – Jeffrey de Graaf, Oskar Lukasiak
Switzerland – Stefan Bellmont, Bruno Stöckli
Chinese Taipei – Teng-Lieh Pupo, An-Sheng Lu
USA – Danny Lauby, Jules van Dongen
Wales – Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton
Prize Fund (Per Team)
Winners – £80,000
Runners-Up – £50,000
Semi-Final Losers – £30,000
Quarter-Final Losers – £20,000
Last 16 Losers – £9,000
Second in Group – £5,000
Third in Group – £4,000
Total – £450,000
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC
