World Cup of Darts 2024 LIVE RESULTS: Latest updates as 40 ...
Live Blog
THE World Cup of Darts got underway yesterday with 40 nations competing in Frankfurt - and resumes THIS MORNING.
England, Wales, Netherlands and Scotland are all seeded nations and will progress straight to the knockout rounds.
The group stages began today with some cracking match-ups and conclude on Friday with the second round beginning on Saturday.
Start time: 11am BST (morning session)TV channel: Sky Sports Main Event/ActionLive stream: Sky Sports app / PDC.TVCASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
Follow our live blog below...
Today's action has started in Frankfurt!
Spain's duo of Jose Justicia and Jesus Noguera start proceedings against Gilbraltar.
They need a big win.
Today's action gets underway in just 15 minutes!
Spain and Gibraltar will kick things off when their chosen throwers take to the oche to see who can advance from Group K.
Follow along here for all the action and scores.
Gerwyn Price was forced to withdraw from representing Wales at the World Cup of Darts on Wednesday due to "health issues".
Price has been replaced by Jim Williams, who will partner Jonny Clayton.
Here's what Price had to say about missing out.
I'm massively disappointed that I'm having to miss the World Cup and I always love representing Wales.
I wish Jonny and Jim Williams the best of luck this weekend and hopefully they can bring back the title again!
Gerwyn Price
Luke Humphries is keen to write his own name in history alongside teammate Michael Smith at the World Cup this week.
Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis are the only pair to win the competition with England, but Cool Hand Luke is hoping to add his name to that list.
Speaking to PDC, he said: "Phil is obviously the greatest player of all-time, and Adrian [Lewis] is a legend of the game too.
“For me and Michael to join them in winning the World Cup for England, it really would mean the world to us.
“There’s a chance for us to go on and create our own history. We’re both really up for it, so hopefully everything goes well, because if it does, then we stand a great chance.
“Me and Michael both get along very well, we’re both heavy scorers and most of the time we’re good on our doubles, so if we put that all together, it will take something special to stop us.”
World number one Luke Humphries is excited to get out and make his World Cup debut tomorrow in Frankfurt.
Humphries, who is partnered with Michael Smith for the tournament, has described it as a "very special moment".
It will be a surreal feeling.
It’s like the World Championship win. You don’t really think it’s going to happen to you until it does!
It’s going to be a very special moment for me and my family.
I’ve always wanted to represent my country, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Luke HumphriesPDC
Here’s a reminder of the pairings for every nation taking part in the World Cup this week…
Australian star Simon Whitlock - who survived a scare from Japan with partner Damon Heta - is not convinced England should be the favourites for the World Cup.
The English team is Luke Humphries and Michael Smith, the world champions in 2024 and 2023, and the highest ranked pair with both players in the top 3.
But Whitlock isn't sure they will work in the pairs format.
He said: "They're both amazing players. But I don't think they will work together. I don't think it will work for them.
"That might be nasty saying that. They're more singles players while we play a lot of pairs in Australia and that's how it works for us."
As the top seed, the English pair don't get into action until after the group stage and begin their campaign on Saturday.
The Belgian team, Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts, weren't speaking on stage last year but have vowed to push aside their differences for the good of the nation.
"We're here for Belgium," Van den Bergh said, "We have learned a lot from last year.
"We haven't showed the best in the first game last year and this year we're in the position to say we've got to grow up. We've got a whole load of pressure on ourselves. What is that our national colours.
"That means so much more to us as a person and in that case that means even more to us as a country. That's what we're doing and need to be doing."
Huybrechts added: "There's no question mark for us. We are here, we're at the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt. I have to play with him, he has to play with me.
"Whether we like it or not, there's no question mark. We are here to win it, we are here to go all the way. I'm not saying we will win it but we have one goal and I have to do it with him and he has to do it with me. The only question marks are from the media. That's it.
"There's no doubt I know he's going to do his best and I'm going to do my best. We are here for Belgium. I want to win it, he wants to win it. We are not here for fun or to make friends. We are here to represent our country and be professional and I hope everybody around us is going to be professional."
Play is set to resume at 11am with these matches coming up in the morning session:
Spain v Gibraltar (K)Bahrain v Iceland (H)Latvia v Denmark (J)Malaysia v Canada (I)Lithuania v Taiwan (E)Norway v Hungary (G)United States v Italy (L)Singapore v Philippines (A)South Africa v Switzerland (B)New Zealand v Finland (C)Japan v Hong Kong (D)China v Guyana (F)The top four seeds at the World Cup of Darts join the tournament in Frankfurt at the second-round stage.
The other 12 seeds are taking part in the group stages - hoping to reach the last 16 for tomorrow and Sunday.
SEEDING:
Straight into second round (last 16):
1 England – Luke Humphries, Michael Smith.2 Wales – Jonny Clayton, Jim Williams.3 Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert.4 Scotland – Peter Wright, Gary Anderson.
Taking part in group stage:
5 Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts.6 Northern Ireland – Josh Rock, Brendan Dolan.7 Germany – Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens.8 Australia – Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock.9 Republic of Ireland – William O’Connor, Keane Barry.10 Austria – Rowby-John Rodriguez, Mensur Suljovic.11 Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski, Radek Szaganski.12 Czechia – Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek.13 Croatia – Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grvabac.14 France – Jacques Labre, Thibault Tricole.15 Sweden – Jeffrey de Graaf, Oskar Lukasiak.16 USA – Danny Lauby, Jules van Dongen.
We'll see the rest of the World Cup of Darts group games split over afternoon and evening sessions today.
Then comes the second round - the last 16 on Saturday.
Sunday afternoon brings the quarter-finals, followed by the semis and the final that evening.
The eventual champions will scoop £80,000 between them in prize money.
Group Stage - Best of seven legsSecond Round - Best of 15 legsQuarter-Finals - Best of 15 legsSemi-Finals - Best of 15 legsFinal - Best of 19 legs
Luke Littler-less England are odds-on favourites to win the World Cup of Darts.
Luke Humphries and Michael Smith are No 1 and 2 in the PDC Order of Merit.
That's why England are rated at around 8/13 - with the Netherlands duo Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert next best on 4/1.
Then come Germany on 15/2 and Scotland 10/1, with Wales and Northern Ireland on 14/1.
Last year’s successful format is being repeated - meaning groups and knockout stages of all doubles matches over four days.
The top four seeds are the nations with the lowest combined PDC Order of Merit ranking of their two players.
Those four countries – England, Wales, the Netherlands, Scotland – enter at the second-round stage.
The other 36 teams are split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round – battling to join the four seeds on Saturday.
Saturday
Afternoon Session (12pm BST)Second Round - 4 matches
Evening Session (6pm BST)Second Round - 4 matches
Sunday
Afternoon Session (12pm BST)Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (6pm BST)Semi-FinalsFinal
Afternoon Session (11am BST)Group Stage - Second Matches
Evening Session (6pm BST)Group Stage - Final Matches
Portugal landed a fine 4-2 win over 16th seed USA in this opening round of World Cup of Darts matches.
And No 8 seeds Australia got out of jail with a 4-3 triumph over Japan.
That was one of three matches to go all the way in Frankfurt .
Groups in brackets:
Sweden 4-0 Spain (K)Czech Republic 4-3 Bahrain (H)France 4-1 Latvia (J)Croatia 4-0 Malaysia (I)Republic of Ireland 4-2 Lithuania (E)Poland 4-2 Norway (G)USA 2-4 Portugal (L)Belgium 4-2 Singapore (A)Northern Ireland 4-1 South Africa (B)Germany 4-3 New Zealand (C)Australia 4-3 Japan (D)Austria 4-0 China (F)
Main man Suljovic finished it off with his first shot at double 16.
Austria looked very impressive in their first match of this World Cup of Darts.
Rodriguez pulls off his first shot at double 18 to leave Austria one leg from victory.
Suljovic bags a 180 and 140 - enabling Rodriguez to check out with 58 and double Austria's lead.
Suljovic is off to a stormer with a 180 as Austria win the opening leg in style.
Austrian duo Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic, seeded 10th, take on China’s Xiaochen Zong and Chengan Liu in tonight's final contest.
Zong - known as the Pandaman - aims to help give the favourites a metaphorical black eye in this final match of the night.
He's partnered by 51-year-old "Stone Buddha" Liu.
The Chinese duo meet "Little John" Rodriguez and and "The Gentle" Suljovic.
Hmm... Pandaman vs The Gentle doesn't sound too combative...
But let's see!
Japan won't believe this last leg - and the match - got away from them...
Goto took them from 104 to needing 16.
Heta could then only reduce Australia's target from 170 to 87.
Japanese star Azemoto came back to miss his shot at double eight - plus two further victory attempts at double four.
Whitlock then nipped in for a brilliantl- cool 87 checkout.
The Aussies again missed chances - leaving Azemoto with 90 to clinch victory.
He bagged two 20s - then got 25 instead of the bull he needed to triumph
Whitlock returned to make no mistake this time - levelling the match.
Azemoto makes Heta pay for missing three doubles to check out as Japan edge in front.
Japanese star Ryusei Azemoto checks out with his second shot at double top to level the contest.
