World Cup of Darts 2025 | Day One Preview and Order of Play
The 2025 BetVictor World Cup of Darts gets under way in Frankfurt on Thursday with the opening set of fixtures from Groups A-L.
The 15th staging of the BetVictor World Cup of Darts will take place at the Eissporthalle from June 12-15 as 40 nations compete for the prestigious title in the unique pairs event.
The top four ranked nations – based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players – are seeded and will enter at the Second Round stage. This includes reigning champions England, two-time champions Wales and Scotland, and two-time semi-finalists Northern Ireland.
The remaining 36 nations have been split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin phase – including 12 seeded nations – from which each group winner will progress.
Thursday’s line-up includes a clash between four-time champions Netherlands and Italy in Group A.
A new-look Dutch pairing sees former UK Open champion Danny Noppert team up with World Youth Champion Gian van Veen as they open up against Tour Card holder Michele Turetta and Massimo Dalla Rosa.
Last year’s runners-up Austria, meanwhile, begin their campaign in Group H as stalwart Mensur Suljovic joins debutant Rusty-Jake Rodriguez to face newcomers Daniel Zapata and Ricardo Fernández of Spain.
Republic of Ireland, beaten finalists in 2019, open up against Gibraltar in Group D as William O’Connor and Keane Barry look to atone for last year’s Group Stage exit when they meet the youthful duo of Craig Galliano and Justin Hewitt.
Hosts Germany aim to hit the ground running in Group C as Martin Schindler and debutant Ricardo Pietreczko take on Portugal’s José de Sousa and Bruno Nascimento.
Former finalists Belgium commence their Group B challenge with a tie against Latvia as World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker and former World Matchplay champion Dimitri van den Bergh face Madars Razma and Valters Melderis.
A tasty opener in Group E sees Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski and Radek Szagański take on Devon Petersen and Cameron Carolissen of South Africa.
Tour Card holder Haupai Puha and DPNZ star Mark Cleaver join forces for New Zealand as they open up against Finland’s Teemu Harju and Marko Kantele in Group L.
In-form Matt Campbell and new Tour Card holder Jim Long make up a strong Canada side as they face rank outsiders Tengku Shah and Tan Jenn Ming of Malaysia in Group F.
Chinese Taipei, who topped the group on debut 12 months ago, return to face Czechia as Teng Lieh Pupo and An-Sheng Lu look to cause an upset against Karel Sedláček and Petr Křivka.
The opening match of the tournament sees Tour Card holders Jeffrey de Graaf and Oskar Lukasiak of Sweden face Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas of Lithuania in Group G.
Croatia, who enjoyed an impressive run to the quarter-finals last year, face a tricky opener against Japan in Group K as Pero Ljubić and Boris Krčmar meet former World Championship qualifiers Ryusei Azemoto and Tomoya Goto.
Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung and Lok Yin Lee, who have also impressed at Ally Pally in recent years, look to get off to a winning start when they face Tour Card holders Danny Lauby and Jules van Dongen of the USA.
The action gets under way from 6pm BST, with Group Matches to be contested over the best of seven legs.
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World Cup of Darts 2025 Day One Schedule
All times BST (local time +1 hour)
Thursday June 12
First Group Matches
6pm-11pm
Sweden v Lithuania (G)
Czechia v Chinese Taipei (J)
Croatia v Japan (K)
Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar (D)
Canada v Malaysia (F)
USA v Hong Kong (I)
Poland v South Africa (E)
Belgium v Latvia (B)
Netherlands v Italy (A)
Germany v Portugal (C)
Austria v Spain (H)
Finland v New Zealand (L)
