World Cup of Darts Preview & Betting Guide

World Cup of Darts Preview

The 2025 World Cup of Darts sponsored by BetVictor is the fifteenth edition of the tournament. The number of competing nations rose to 40 in 2023, and there are again 40 teams in 2025.

Format for the World Cup of Darts

In addition to the rise in competing nations, there was also a new format introduced for the 2023 edition, partly to accommodate the additional teams. This is still in force with all matches throughout the tournament being doubles events (so no singles matches).

The top 4 nations with the best combined rankings of their two players on the PDC Order of merit are seeded and enter the tournament at the second round stage. The remaining 36 teams (12 seeded) are split into 12 groups of 3 nations and play a round-robin format; the winner in each group qualifies for the second round.

• Group Stage: Best of 7 legs
• Second Round to Semi Finals: Best of 15 legs
• Final: best of 19 legs, with each match being the best of 7 legs.

Who are the Favourites to win the World Cup of Darts?

England are the defending champions after defeating Austria 10-6 in the 2024 World Cup of Darts Final. England were registering a record fifth victory in the tournament.

World Cup of Darts 2025 15 Jun @ 18:00 - Win Tournament
Wales	2.75
Netherlands	3.50
Northern Ireland	6.00
Germany	7.00
Australia	13.00
Republic Of Ireland	21.00
Hong Kong	41.00
Czechia	67.00

For World Cup of Darts predictions from profitable tipsters, head over to the best darts tipsters page, where only those who have been profitable over the past twelve months and have open tips are shown.

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World Cup of Darts Schedule

The World Cup of Darts takes place over four days, where the forty nations will battle it out to become the World Cup of Darts champions and scoop the £80,000 winners' prize. Thursday will see the first round of twelve group matches, and Friday's two sessions will feature the completion of the first round.

The eight-second round matches take place across two sessions on Saturday, and a busy Sunday will feature the four quarter-final matches in the afternoon and the semi-finals and Final on Sunday evening.

World Cup of Darts Schedule

• Day One - 12 x Group Stage (best of 7 legs)
• Day Two, Session One -  12 x Group Stage
• Day Two, Session Two - 12 x Group Stage 
• Day Three, Session One - 4 x Second Round (best of 15 legs)
• Day Three, Session Two - 4 x Second Round 
• Day Four, Session One - Quarter-Finals (best of 15 legs)
• Day Four, Session Two - Semi-Finals (best of 15 legs) & Final (best of 19 legs)

World Cup of Darts Seeded Nations

The top 4 seeded nations in 2025 receive a bye into the second round. They consist of two players with the best combined Order of Merit rankings, subject to player availability. 

Who is playing for England in the World Cup of Darts?

Luke Humphries partners Luke Littler, the top two players in the world rankings heading into the World Cup of Darts.

Seeded Nations (Top 4)

Here are the top four seeded nations, along with their Win-Loss record and the players representing them in 2025:

Seeded Nations (First Round)

These are the seeded nations for the first round group stage:

World Cup of Darts European Nations

These are the unseeded European nations for the 2025 World Cup of Darts; their players are assigned by qualifying tournaments that took place before the World Cup of Darts and are subject to change depending on availability.

World Cup of Darts Rest of the World Nations

Below are the unseeded nations for the rest of the world in the 2025 World Cup of Darts:

World Cup of Darts Groups

First Round (Group Stage):

• Netherlands 4-0 Italy
• Italy 4-0 Hungary
• Netherlands 4-0 Hungary

• Belgium 4-1 Latvia
• Latvia 2-4 Philippines
• Belgium 3-4 Philippines

• Germany 4-2 Portugal
• Portugal 2-4 Singapore
• Germany 4-0 Singapore

• Ireland 4-2 Gibraltar
• Gibraltar 4-2 China
• Ireland 2-4 China

• Poland 4-3 South Africa
• South Africa 4-1 Norway
• Poland 2-4 Norway

• Canada 1-4 Malaysia
• Canada 1-4 Denmark
• Malaysia 4-1 Denmark

• Sweden 4-1 Lithuania
• Lithuania 4-3 France
• Sweden 3-4 France

• Austria 4-1 Spain
• Spain 0-4 Australia
• Austria 1-4 Australia

• USA 1-4 Hong Kong
• USA 4-1 Bahrain
• Hong Kong 4-0 Bahrain

• Czechia 4-2 Chinese Taipei
• Chinese Taipei 4-2 India
• Czechia 4-2 India

• Croatia 3-4 Japan
• Croatia 4-3 Switzerland
• Japan 1-4 Switzerland

• Finland 0-4 New Zealand
• Finland 1-4 Argentina
• New Zealand 3-4 Argentina

Would Cup of Darts Knockouts

Here is the bracket for the knockout stages of the World Cup of Darts.

World Cup of Darts Previous Winners

The early years were dominated by two nations, after winning the inaugural event in 2010, the Netherlands also went on to win in 2014, 2017 and 2018. In the years that they did not win, 2012, 2013, 2015 & 2016, it was England who went on to success, meaning both nations have won the tournament a total of four times. The Netherlands were also runners-up in 2016, whilst England were runners-up in both 2014 and 2020.

In 2019, Scotland won their first-ever World Cup of Darts, beating Ireland 3-1 in the final. England went out in the second round and the Netherlands in the semi-finals. In 2020, it was Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton who led Wales to their first success in which was their third final appearance, with a 3-0 win over England. The Netherlands went out at the quarter-final stage to Germany.

The 2021 tournament saw Scotland win their second title by defeating Austria 3-1 in the final. It was Austria's first-ever appearance in the final. In their eleventh tournament, favourites Wales and England both fell in the semi-final stage while the Netherlands went out in the quarter-finals.

Australia won their first World Cup of Darts title in 2022 with Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta defeating the Welsh team, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, 3-1 in the final. The same Welsh pairing went one better in 2023, defeating Scotland 10-2 in the final.

England registered a record fifth win in the tournament after defeating tenth seeds Austria 10-6 in the 2024 Final.

Author and Contributor Information

OLBG Sponsored Darts Professional

Matthew Edgar, born on August 28, 1986, is an English professional darts player currently targeting the WDF World championships at Lakeside in December 2024 and commentating on Darts for Sky Sports. Known for his practice sessions with former world championship runner-up Kevin Painter, Edgar began his sports career as a coach for Northampton Town before shifting to darts. Prior to his darts career, he trained in mixed martial arts and was a professional wrestler. Edgar also hosts a dedicated darts YouTube channel, "Edgar TV," where he interacts with followers and shares his professional competition experiences.

Follow Matthew as he targets Lakeside and the WDF World Championships in December 2024.

- Matthew Edgar, Darts Editor and WDF Professional

Content Editor / Fact Checker

James is one of OLBG's in-house sports betting specialists with decades of industry experience. He manages our Darts event calendar, working with Matt to update the event preview articles with recent results and data checking for accuracy.

- James Banting, Tipster Competition Assistant

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