All eyes are on Frankfurt, as the PDC stars head to the Eissporthalle for the 14th edition of the World Cup of Darts. One of the more interesting Major tournaments on the PDC calendar, the World Cup format will remain the same as last year after a successful tournament introducing it, removing singles matches in its entirety and introducing an opening round group stage format, leading to a traditional straight knockout stage thereafter. All games will again feature pairs matches throughout the four days of action, which I personally much prefer.
With 40 teams taking part, the top four teams will be seeded straight into the second round (England, Wales, Netherlands, Scotland) while the other 36 countries battle it out in 12 groups of three, with one team qualifying from each group.
England are the bookmakers' favourites at 5/6, and that personally doesn't surprise me. The 2023 and 2024 World Champions will team up to form the formidable duo of Luke Humphries and Michael Smith, and they’ll certainly be heading to Frankfurt with their eyes firmly on the trophy. However, England haven't won the World Cup since 2016 with Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, so I think we can certainly find better value in the market.
Defending champions Wales, consisting of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, head to Germany looking to win their third World Cup crown after winning two out of the last four years together. They Have also made three finals in the last four years, losing out to Australia in 2022.
Their win in last year's event made them the first Country to win in the newly revamped format. They impressively came through the field to beat Scotland 10-2 in the final.
Gerwyn Price has been in and out of form this season, highlighted by his very average Premier League season, finishing a lowly 7th. It was well documented however that he didn't enjoy the travelling or the format so I do think a pairs event like this and the fact he's representing his country will no doubt have him fired up.
He is however sat 3rd in overall averages (98.01) and 4th in first 9 average (107.27) in the last 12 months, which is clearly still very solid, so if he walks on stage with that mindset and finds the spark, he needs to turn his fortunes around then he could easily lead Wales to another World Cup title.
Jonny Clayton is starting to find his form again this season and he's beginning to find some results. He's coming into this tournament on the back of a final in May at the Dutch Darts Championship on the European Tour, losing out to Josh Rock 8-4.
He knows how to win here, and the fact that Price and Clayton are great friends away from the oche will no doubt help in their quest for World Cup glory once again.
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James is a former professional dart player who enjoys writing about darts, golf and football. In 2012, he was crowned the PDC World Youth Champion and these days, he puts his expertise to use with betting tips for BettingLounge readers.