BetVictor World Cup of Darts 2025 | Day Three Preview and Order of Play
The knockout phase of the 2025 BetVictor World Cup of Darts gets under way in Frankfurt on Saturday as the top four seeds commence their campaigns.
A gripping first two days of the unique pairs event saw 40 nations whittled down to just 16 following the group stage at the Eissporthalle.
Alongside the 12 group winners, the top four nations – based on the lowest cumulative Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players – now progress to the knockout phase.
All eyes will be on reigning champions England as they launch their title defence with a mouth-watering clash against hosts Germany in the evening session.
The world’s top two ranked players will pair up for the first time as Luke Humphries and Luke Littler join forces in a quest to deliver a record-extending sixth BetVictor World Cup title for England.
The decorated duo were awarded MBEs in the King’s Birthday Honours on Friday and will be fired up to put down an immediate marker and silence the partisan German crowd.
Reigning World Champion Littler and newly-crowned Premier League champion Humphries open up against three-time European Tour event winner Martin Schindler and former German Championship winner Ricardo Pietreczko.
The new-look German pair eased to top spot in Group C courtesy of wins over Portugal and Singapore for the combined loss of just two legs.
The evening session also features a showdown between four-time champions Netherlands and two-time champions Scotland.
Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen have proved arguably the most impressive pairing of the tournament so far and are yet to drop a leg en route to the Last 16, having whitewashed Italy and Hungary.
Former UK Open champion Noppert and reigning World Youth champion Van Veen now aim to maintain that ruthless form against two-time World Champions Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.
The veteran Scottish duo secured this title as a pair in 2019, before Wright partnered John Henderson to glory two years later, and Anderson and Wright have also finished runners-up in 2015, 2018 and 2023.
Second seeds Wales start their quest for a third World Cup crown with a tricky tie against the Philippines.
Champions in 2020 and 2023, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton team up once again in a bid to tear up the script and deny odds-on favourites England.
Price withdrew from last year’s World Cup, with Clayton and Jim Williams suffering a shock exit to Croatia at this stage of the competition.
As a pair, Price and Clayton have reached three finals and a semi-final in each of their last four World Cup appearances.
However, they face a tough opening assignment against the giant-killing Filipino pair – who sensationally recovered from 3-0 down to stun Belgium in a deciding leg on Friday.
Asian Tour stars Lourence Ilagan and Paolo Nebrida will now be eyeing another huge upset to break new ground for their country.
2022 champions Australia aim to avert a potential banana skin at the hands of debutants Argentina, as Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock take on Jesús Salate and Víctor Guillín.
The Aussie aces averaged 98.5 and 94.4 in group stage victories over Spain and Austria respectively, dropping just one leg in the process.
Argentina, meanwhile, announced themselves onto the world stage with shock wins over Finland and New Zealand to progress from Group L, surviving match darts in the deciding leg of their win over the Kiwis.
The afternoon session sees fourth seeds Northern Ireland start out against South Africa as Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney face Cameron Carolissen and Devon Petersen.
In-form Rock and Gurney link up for the first time as they look to reach the final for Northern Ireland for the first time since the inception of this event in 2010.
South Africa, meanwhile, crept through the group stage on two points thanks to their dominant 4-1 win over Norway which saw them progress via legs difference.
Republic of Ireland scraped through by the narrowest of margins, with William O’Connor and Keane Barry progressing by virtue of legs won against the throw despite suffering a shock 4-2 defeat to China in their second group fixture.
The Irish duo now take on Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont and Alex Fehlmann – who enjoyed a commanding 4-1 win over Japan to seal top spot in Group K after narrowly losing their opener 4-3 to Croatia.
Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung and Lok Yin Lee aim to continue their impressive form so far this week when they face Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf and Oskar Lukasiak.
Hong Kong swept aside the USA and Bahrain for the loss of just one leg in Group I and now come up against the Tour Card holding duo who edged through Group G on legs difference after victory over Lithuania and a narrow 4-3 defeat to France.
The opening tie of the round sees Czechia face rank outsiders Malaysia as Karel Sedláček and Petr Křivka face Tengku Shah and Tan Jenn Ming.
Czechia overcame Chinese Taipei and India by 4-2 scorelines to safely progress to the Last 16, while Malaysia defied the odds to defeat both Canada and Denmark 4-1 and reach the knockout phase for the first time.
The action gets under way from 12pm BST, with Last 16 ties to be contested over the best of 15 legs.
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BetVictor World Cup of Darts 2025 Day Three Schedule
All times BST (local time +1 hour)
Saturday June 14
Second Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)
Malaysia v Czechia
Hong Kong v Sweden
Switzerland v Republic of Ireland
Northern Ireland v South Africa
Evening Session (6pm-10pm)
Wales v Philippines
Scotland v Netherlands
England v Germany
Argentina v Australia
