World Cup of Darts: Holders Wales to take on Finns

By Editorial Staff 06/09/2021

Wales will begin their defence of the Cazoo World Cup of Darts title against Finland, while England will take on Brazil and Netherlands drew Denmark for this week's tournament.

The annual 32-nation event will see two-player teams competing from September 9-12 at the Sparkassen Arena in Jena, Germany - featuring both Singles and Doubles matches during the four days.

Reigning champion Wales, who will feature World Champion Gerwyn Price and Premier League winner Jonny Clayton, meet Finland's Marko Kantele and Veijo Viinikka in Thursday's opening first round games.

Third seeds Netherlands, represented this year by Michael van Gerwen and debutant Dirk van Duijvenbode, begin their bid to win a fifth World Cup title against Denmark's Andreas Toft Jørgensen and Niels Heinsøe.

Scotland will see Peter Wright and John Henderson team up this year, and the 2019 champions will play Chinese debutants Jianfeng Lu and Wenqing Liu.


Former finalists Australia drew Italy, while Thursday's opening night will also see Singapore - including veteran star Paul Lim - meet Gibraltar, the Czech Republic play Poland, Hungary's tie with Lithuania and Sweden's clash with America, for whom Chuck Puleo partners Danny Lauby in the absence of Danny Baggish.

The first round will conclude on Friday, with top seeds England being represented by the new pairing of James Wade and Dave Chisnall as they take on Brazil's Diogo Portela and Artur Valle.

UK Open champion Wade will be making his first appearance since the inaugural World Cup in 2010, while Chisnall previously competed in 2017 and 2018.

Fourth seeds Belgium, for whom Dimitri Van den Bergh partners Kim Huybrechts, drew Croatia's Boris Krcmar and Pero Ljubic.

2019 runners-up Ireland will take on Portugal as Grand Slam of Darts champion Jose de Sousa makes his second World Cup appearance, while Northern Ireland take on Hong Kong.

Host nation Germany, for whom Gabriel Clemens and Max Hopp reached the 2020 semi-finals, drew Canada in a tasty tie as Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell renew a partnership which reached the quarter-finals last year.

Austria will play the Philippines, South Africa will face the new Spanish pairing of Jesus Noguera and Jose Justicia and Russia's Boris Koltsov and Evgenii Izotov take on Japan's Matsuda Jun and Yoshihisa Baba.

2019 quarter-finalists New Zealand will not be represented at the World Cup for the first time due to the ongoing difficulties with international travel which means Ben Robb and Warren Parry will be unable to compete in Jena.

Following the first round on Thursday and Friday, the second round will be split across two sessions on Saturday September 11.

Sunday's afternoon session will feature the quarter-finals, ahead of the semi-finals and final in the decisive evening session.

Tickets for the Cazoo World Cup of Darts can be purchased via PDC Europe.

The Cazoo World Cup of Darts will be broadcast through Sky Sports, RTL7, DAZN and worldwide broadcast partners, as well as through PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers (outside UK & Ireland) and matchroom.live.