England’s Luke Littler and Luke Humphries bagged their first win as a pair at the 2026 BetVictor World Cup of Darts, as the four top seeded nations entered the frey on Saturday.
Day Three of the global darting festival included a colossal day of last 16 action at the Eissporthalle, as the knockout stage got underway and the four top seeded teams entered the fray.
Top seed England began their title bid with a hard-fought 8-5 victory over Spain, defying a stellar performance from Spanish pair Cristo Reyes and Jose Justicia, with the former producing the best individual average in the match of 102.48.
Despite Littler and Humphries racing into a 3-0 lead, Spain retaliated with a three-leg burst of their own to threaten a stunning upset. Nevertheless, the world number one and two pulled together to burst into a 7-4 lead, and although five match darts were spurned in the 12th leg, Littler sealed victory with an 89 outshot on double five.
“We knew we weren’t going to average what we did in the Premier League,” assessed Humphries, with the England duo averaging just over 94, while Spain averaged 96.13.
“I’m proud of the way we fought back. It wasn’t the worst performance in the world, but it wasn’t our best.”
“Just get through that first game, and then tomorrow it feels like we can relax a little bit and play how we know we can.”
The English duo – who notably faced a shock 8-4 defeat to Germany in last year’s round two tie – secured their first victory on the World Cup stage despite a patchy display on the doubles.
The Premier League finalists missed 20 darts at double across the contest, but scoring averages of 110.30 and 109.20 from Littler and Humphries respectively got them over the line.
“We just wanted to win that game, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” added Littler.“We know we can win on this stage together now, so tomorrow afternoon we can just throw our darts and do what we do.”
England will face last year’s finalists Wales in the quarter-finals.
Following Saturday’s action, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will take place during a bumper double session on Sunday, as the remaining eight nations go head-to-head for World Cup glory.
The 2026 BetVictor World Cup of Darts is being 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.
2026 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Round Two Saturday June 13
Afternoon Session
Republic of Ireland 8-5 Poland
Latvia 8-7 France(4)
Scotland 8-0 Norway
Wales 8-5 USAEvening Session
(3) Northern Ireland 8-7 Belgium
Germany 8-6 Czechia
(1) England 8-5 Spain
(2) Netherlands 8-6 Sweden
Images: Sebastian Doppstadt/PDC” and “Jenny Segers/PDC”
