This Thursday at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, Scottish pair Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson and Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright will look to unseat the auld enemy, England, as world cup holders. The pair, ranked two and three in the world, will be looking to take down the £300,000, four-day tournament and see off competition from 33 other two-player nations, including some countries making their first appearance as the game’s global reach continues to grow.
For England, champions in four of the past five years, Adrian Lewis, who teamed up with Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor last year to lift the trophy for the English, has been dropped this time around due to poor form. Poor form is not a problem currently being experienced by his replacement Dave Chisnall, who has overseen a remarkable turnaround in performances recently. World number five, Chizzy recently moved above James Wade in the rankings following an unbeaten run in his last seven Premier League games.
Any side with world number one Michael van Gerwen in their ranks is to be feared especially one that also includes Raymond van Barneveld so look out for a strong Dutch showing here, winners twice before most recently in 2014.
Fourth seeds Wales will be represented by Gerwyn Price and Mark Webster just as they were last year, while Australia too, seeded fifth, will also be fielding their regular pair Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson. The same applies to Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan as well as Belgian brothers Kim and Ronny Huybrechts, while Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez will represent Austria, the last of the seeded nations.
For the first time ever Brazil will field a team at the World Cup of Darts as Alexandre Sattin and the London-based Diogo Portela lead out their team in Germany.
World Cup of Darts Betting Tips
The way the sportsbooks and betting odds have fallen look to suggest that only three nations have a realistic chance of winning the 2017 PDC World Cup of Darts. The first dart is thrown this Thursday, 1st June, and will be shown live on Sky Sports 1HD.
Top seeds Scotland, with two of the world’s top three players, are involved in the opening game, a match they cannot and will not lose against Singapore. With Peter Wright and Gary Anderson their chosen pair, they have been given second favourite status and a 6/4 chance of landing the top prize, available at Bet365.
Netherlands’ pair MVG and RVB are priced at 11/10 with Betway, while at 6/1 with Skybet, England, who open against Gibraltar, are definitely worth a look, especially given their dominant record in this tournament. After this, from Australia onwards, the odds begin to drift outwards very quickly.
Some more interesting offers include; England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Netherlands all to win their first-round ties at 1.85/1 with Skybet, while a bet on the finalists at Skybet will pay out at 4/5 for a Holland v Scotland match up, while England, who due to seedings cannot meet the Dutch in the final, are 0/3 to meet the Scottish instead.
Betway World Cup of Darts
- Second Round, Quarter-Finals & Semi-Finals: two best of seven leg 501 Singles matches
- Final: two best of seven leg 501 Singles matches
- First Round: Best of nine legs Doubles
1-8 Seeded Nations (June 1-4 and broadcast live on Sky Sports)
- 1 Scotland – Gary Anderson & Peter Wright
- 2 England – Adrian Lewis & Dave Chisnall
- 3 Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen & Raymond van Barneveld
- 4 Wales – Gerwyn Price & Mark Webster
- 5 Australia – Simon Whitlock & Kyle Anderson
- 6 Northern Ireland – Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
- 7 Austria – Mensur Suljovic & Rowby-John Rodriguez
- 8 Belgium – Kim Huybrechts & Ronny Huybrechts
- Brazil – Diogo Portela & Alexandre Sattin
- Canada – John Norman Jnr & John Part
- China – Weihong Li & Yuanjun Liu
- Czech Republic – Frantisek Humpula & Karel Sedlacek
- Denmark – Per Laursen & Alex Jensen
- Finland – Kim Viljanen & Marko Kantele
- Germany – Max Hopp & Martin Schindler
- Gibraltar – Dyson Parody & Dylan Duo
- Greece – John Michael & Ioannis Selachoglou
- Hong Kong – Kai Fan Leung & Royden Lam
- Hungary – Janos Vegso & Zoltan Mester
- Italy – Daniele Petri & Gabriel Rollo
- Japan – Haruki Muramatsu & Yuki Yamada
- New Zealand – Cody Harris & Rob Szabo
- Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski & Tytus Kanik
- Republic of Ireland – Mick McGowan & William O’Connor
- Russia – Boris Koltsov & Aleksandr Oreshkin
- Singapore – Paul Lim & Harith Lim
- South Africa – Devon Petersen & Deon Oliver
- Spain – Cristo Reyes & Antonio Alcinas
- Sweden – Magnus Caris & Daniel Larsson
- Switzerland – Patrick Rey & Philipp Ruckstuhl
- Thailand – Thanawat Gaweenuntawong & Attapol Eupakaree
- United States of America – Darin Young & Larry Butler