Teams and pairings confirmed for 2023 World Cup of Darts
The team pairings for the 2023 World Cup of Darts have been confirmed, with a record 40 nations set to battle it out in Frankfurt.
The World Cup of Darts will continue to see two-player teams representing their country, with this year’s event to be staged at the Eissporthalle from June 15-18.
In a notable change to previous years, the tournament will be expanded from 32 to 40 teams – which sees Iceland, Ukraine, Guyana and Bahrain making their debuts.
The top four ranked nations, based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players, will be seeded and will enter at the Second Round stage.
The remaining 36 teams will be split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round – including 12 seeded nations – from which each group winner will progress.
Another change to previous years will see the event feature solely Doubles matches for the first time – as opposed to the combination of Singles and Doubles ties used in previous years.
Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock secured an historic first title for Australia last year, and World Cup ever-present Whitlock and world number 15 Heta will once again don the famous green and gold colours.
Rob Cross’ maiden European Tour title in Sindelfingen last month saw him seal a return to the event following a two-year absence, and he will partner world number one Michael Smith for four-time winners England.
The Netherlands, who have also won the title on four occasions, will be represented by newly-crowned six-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen and world number eight Danny Noppert, who reached the quarter-finals together in 2020.
Gary Anderson will make his first appearance in a Scotland shirt in four years, re-forming his 2019 World Cup winning partnership with world number two Peter Wright.
2020 champions Wales will be represented by world number four Gerwyn Price and five-time TV title winner Jonny Clayton for a sixth consecutive year.
Brendan Dolan, William O’Connor and Mensur Suljovic will maintain their ever-present records for Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Austria alongside Daryl Gurney, debutant Keane Barry and Rowby-John Rodriguez respectively.
2013 runners-up Belgium will be represented by Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts for a sixth straight year, while Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler will once again team up for host nation Germany.
Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell, who contested the North American Championship final last weekend, will pair up to represent Canada, while Tour Card holder Jules van Dongen and World Seniors Champion of Champions Leonard Gates will represent the USA.
Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk form a strong Poland side, while the legendary Paul Lim once again links up with Harith Lim for Singapore.
Croatia will compete for the first time since 2013, France for the first time since 2014, India for the first time since 2015, Thailand for the first time since 2018, and China return having missed last year’s tournament.
The draw and schedule of play is expected to be confirmed in the coming days.
2023 World Cup of Darts teams
Australia – Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock
Austria – Mensur Suljovic, Rowby-John Rodriguez
Bahrain – Basem Mahmood, Abdulnasser Yusuf
Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts
Canada – Matt Campbell, Jeff Smith
China – Xiaochen Zong, Lihao Wen
Croatia – Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grbavac
Czech Republic – Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek
Denmark – Vladimir Andersen, Benjamin Drue Reus
England – Michael Smith, Rob Cross
Finland – Marko Kantele, Paavo Myller
France – Thibault Tricole, Jacques Labre
Germany – Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler
Gibraltar – Craig Galliano, Justin Hewitt
Guyana – Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald
Hong Kong – Man Lok Leung, Lok Yin Lee
Hungary – Patrik Kovács, Levente Sárai
Iceland – Vitor Charrua and Hallgrímur Egilsson
India – Prakash Jiwa, Amit Gilitwala
Italy – Michele Turetta, Massimo Dante
Japan – Jun Matsuda, Tomoya Goto
Latvia – Madars Razma, Dmitriy Zhukov
Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas
Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert
New Zealand – Ben Robb, Warren Parry
Northern Ireland – Brendan Dolan, Daryl Gurney
Philippines – Christian Perez, Lourence Ilagan
Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski, Krzysztof Kciuk
Portugal – Jose de Sousa, Luis Ameixa
Republic of Ireland – William O’Connor, Keane Barry
Scotland – Peter Wright, Gary Anderson
Singapore – Paul Lim, Harith Lim
South Africa – Devon Petersen, Vernon Bouwers
Spain – Jose Justicia, Tony Martinez
Sweden – Dennis Nilsson, Oskar Lukasiak
Switzerland – Stefan Bellmont, Marcel Walpen
Thailand – Attapol Eupakaree, Yong Gaweenuntavong
Ukraine – Vladyslav Omelchenko, Illia Pekaruk
USA – Jules van Dongen, Leonard Gates
Wales – Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton
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