Sporting Life
Dirk van Duijvenbode and Danny Noppert (Picture: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe)
Dirk van Duijvenbode and Danny Noppert (Picture: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe)

World Cup of Darts 2023: Free darts betting tips, preview and group predictions for the Sky Sports televised major in Germany

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Sat June 17, 2023 · 1y ago

The Sky Sports-televised World Cup of Darts takes place in Germany this weekend and our Chris Hammer brings you his preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Cup of Darts

3pts Netherlands to win the World Cup at 13/2 (General)

1pt each-way Belgium to win the World Cup at 25/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair, Coral, 1/2, 1,2)

1pt each-way Germany to win the World Cup at 22/1 (Boylesports 1/2, 1,2)

1pt France, Austria and Poland to win their groups at 9/1 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

The first important point to mention - I wrote this preview after Wednesday's news that Michael van Gerwen withdrew from the World Cup of Darts for the second year running.

Twelve months ago his absence was due to an arm injury and this time he's not yet fully recovered from a dental operation earlier in the week.

Ironically, I couldn't write this preview on Tuesday as intended due to my own injury, which was sustained by dropping a catch during a cricket match and left me waiting in A&E until about 1.30am while I waited for stitching to repair the webbing between my fingers. So maybe this is some strange kind of blessing in disguise to help me get the best value on the four-time champions.

The second important point to mention is this preview is a lot shorter than my usual ones due to the aforementioned pain and difficulty I have typing at the moment. This too could be a blessing for regular readers who want me to get to the point much quicker.

The Netherlands, who last won this trophy back in 2018, subsequently drifted to a best of 13/2 from 7/2 (on the back of MVG's injury rather than me tipping them - although the latter may see them get even bigger), but let's not forget this is the same pairing that reached the semi-finals last year. And since then, super sub Dirk van Duijvenbode has become an even more dangerous player and is just three places below Danny Noppert in the PDC Order of Merit at 11.

Aubergenius may well be a huge crowd pleaser with his big-stage presence but he's also a highly focused operator in the much quieter Players Championship surroundings, where he's won three of the 14 so far (two more than anyone else) in 2023, while he's also reached a European Tour final in Germany that he lost narrowly to Gerwyn Price in a deciding leg.

His seasonal average in all competitions of 96.10 is eighth highest in the world but crucially only bettered by Price (99.34), Gary Anderson (98.21) and Clayton (96.80) in terms of World Cup players.

Noppert is straggling by comparison at 94.04 but he has picked up a Players Championship title and will be relishing the opportunity to have another crack at team darts with someone he gets on a lot better with than MVG.

DVD and Noppert only played one pairs match together 12 months ago - crushing Brazil 5-0 - as their next three ties only required singles matches (2-0 v Ireland, 2-0 v Northern Ireland & 0-2 v Wales) so it's hard to say for sure what chemistry they'll have in this new 'all pairs' format, but come on, who couldn't thrive in Dirk's presence?

I also think Noppert's comparatively ice cool demeanour and mental strength can also be a perfect compliment to van Duijvenbode's energy and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing them in action when they enter the competition at the second-round stage.

As Paul Nicholson discussed in his World Cup column, it may not necessarily be an advantage for the top four seeded nations - England, Wales, Netherlands and Scotland - to bypass the two-day group stage, which sees the other 36 nations split into 12 pools of three.

They will be relatively cold compared to everyone else in the knockout stages and don't have the luxury of singles matches anymore to exert their authority on the lower ranked players.

Pairs is a wonderful format that we never saw enough in previous World Cups due to there always being too many singles-dominated matches but thankfully the PDC have finally listened to darts fans and given this competition an even greater 'team' feel than ever before.

Although the group stage matches are only first to four legs - which could help many minnow nations cause some notable scalps - the knockout stages start at best of 15 legs so it'll be fascinating to see what standard we see when there's so many players on stage for such a long time compared to previous years.

As Nicholson noted: "In singles darts, you think 50% of the time and play 50% of the time. In this event you are only playing 25% of the time! Now imagine if you are playing with a couple of slow players on stage!"

ALSO READ: PAUL NICHOLSON'S WORLD CUP COLUMN

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO READ PAUL'S COLUMN

This is why playing in the group stage and getting legs under your belt in this environment will be a benefit to those who progress - even though there is the obvious risk of crashing out early doors.

So let's quickly take a look at each group, in which the winner progresses to the knockout stages, and I'll provide my verdict.

Group A

  • (5) Belgium (Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts)
  • Finland (Marko Kantele, Paavo Myller)
  • China (Xiaochen Zong, Lihao Wen)

Belgium will show contrasting styles on stage when the calm Dimitri Van den Bergh plays alongside the fiery Kim Huybrechts and after serenely progressing from this group, they could well explode into life in the knockout stages.

Huybrechts has always been consistently inconsistent during his singles career and continually keeps us guessing with averages ranging from 72 to 112 this season - while he also won his first PDC since 2015 back in February.

One thing you always get from him in this event, however, is passion and I believe having a high calibre team-mate in VDB leading the way with a far more consistent standard of darts will inspire the Hurricane to produce his best.

Well worth an each-way flutter at 25/1.

Group B

  • (6) Germany (Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler)
  • Hong Kong (Man Lok Leung, Lok Yin Lee
  • Japan (Jun Matsuda, Tomoya Goto)

Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens remain very much on an upward curve in their careers despite neither winning a PDC title.

Individually they've struggle to get the job done in the latter stages of tournaments and Schindler in particular seems to let nerves get the better of him on TV - so will having continued support from each other on stage keep them calmer or will they merely fluff their lines together when the pressure gets too much?

Last year they held their nerves in a last-leg decider against Spain in round one and we didn't see them in pairs action again after that - but they really should pick up two confidence-boosting wins in front of a home crowd during the group stages and that will work wonders for their confidence and belief.

I'm going to take a little flier here and back them each-way for the title, and I then wouldn't be surprised to see singles success follow for both of them.

Group C

  • (7) Australia (Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock)
  • Guyana (Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald)
  • Gibraltar (Craig Galliano, Justin Hewitt)

Australia are ridiculously short favourites to come through this group and having lifted the title this year, they will be a match for anyone in the knockout stages.

Damon Heta won Tuesday's Players Championship event in Germany so he heads to Frankfurt in very confident mood and although Simon Whitlock hasn't enjoyed too many good results this year, the Wizard thrives in the World Cup atmosphere.

Wouldn't put anyone off the Aussies but I'm favouring other nations.

Group D

  • (8) Northern Ireland (Brendan Dolan, Daryl Gurney)
  • France (Thibault Tricole, Jacques Labre)
  • Ukraine (Vladyslav Omelchenko, Illia Pekaruk)

Northern Ireland are fragile favourites to progress from this group and if Brendan Doland and Daryl Gurney do it well, they'll fancy their chances of a lengthy run.

However, France are very dangerous and I fancy them to spring a surprise at 3/1 to top this group - especially when you consider these matches are just first to four legs.

Jacques Labre became the first Frenchman to win a Tour Card back in January and although WDF World Championship runner-up Thibault Tricole missed out, he's since enjoyed success on the Challenge Tour and produced some decent displays in the Players Championship events he was able to enter.

Group E

  • (9) Republic of Ireland (William O'Connor, Keane Barry)
  • Thailand (Attapol Eupakaree, Yong Gaweenuntavong)
  • Croatia (Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grbavac)

Republic of Ireland are another seeded team regarded to be in danger of a shock exit, with Boris Krcmar hoping to leading Croatia to a famous scalp.

Krcmar's seasonal average of 91.99 is only fractionally less than William O'Connor and better than Keane Barry, who is making his tournament debut, although he will need able support from Romeo Grbavac.

They are probably too much of a one-man team with Grbavac averaging in the high 70s to mid 80s on the Challenge Tour but the Irish can't be complacent.

Group F

  • (10) Austria (Mensur Suljovic, Rowby-John Rodriguez)
  • Denmark (Vladimir Andersen, Benjamin Reus)
  • USA (Jules van Dongen, Leonard Gates)

This is the first group of death.

Austria, who gave Wales a real scare in last year's second round, are the 1/2 favourites to top it but they'll have to be near their best to do so ahead of 11/5 dark horses USA, who have seniors hero Leonard Gates teaming up with the very capable Jules van Dongen.

Even Denmark aren't complete no hopers at 8/1 but in Austria's favour, this will really focus the minds of Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez and ensure they leave no stone unturned in their preparations.

What we've got to remember is Suljovic's slow pace could adversely affect opponents due to their extended waiting time between visits so I'd still fancy them to go through and cause similar issues in the knockout stages.

Group G

  • (11) Poland (Krzysztof Ratajski, Krzysztof Kciuk)
  • Portugal (Jose de Sousa, Luis Ameixa)
  • Lithuania (Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas)

Poland are the seeded but only marginal 8/13 favourites to top this group ahead of Jose de Sousa's Portugal, who are just 7/4 to go through.

However, the Portuguese are - without being too disrespectful - a one-man team compared to many others while the world-class Krzysztof Ratajski will be getting more than able back-up from Tour Card holder Krzysztof Kciuk.

I feel the Poles are deemed to be more at risk than they actually are so I'm going to throw them into my acca.

Group H

  • (12) Canada (Matt Campbell, Jeff Smith)
  • India (Prakash Jiwa, Amit Gilitwala)
  • Hungary (Patrik Kovács, Levente Sárai)

Canada are considered genuine dark horses, especially after Jeff Smith's recent run to the US Darts Masters final at a bouncing Madison Square Garden, and I'd expect him and Matt Campbell to top this group.

Smith also beat Campbell in the final of the North American Championship that same weekend which was also something of a surprise given the level of performances his team-mate has produced in the PDC ranks this season.

India will be no pushovers with the very handy Prakash Jiwa in the line-up but ultimately the Canadians will be too strong and have eyes on causing shockwaves in the later rounds.

Group I

  • (13) Czech Republic (Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek)
  • Singapore (Paul Lim, Harith Lim)
  • Philippines (Christian Perez, Lourence Ilagan)

The best thing about a group stage being introduced to the World Cup is that we are guaranteed to have two matches featuring Paul Lim!

And the tie I'm actually looking forward to most during the whole first round is Lim's Singapore Slingers v Phillippines, who have the explosive and highly-entertaining Lourence Ilagan in the ranks.

It could end up being a decisive in the destiny of this group of death, in which 13th seeds Czech Republic are very worried favourites at 1/2 despite having two highly-rated tour card holders in Karel Sedlacek and Adam Gawlas.

Ilagan's team-mate Christian Perez is also a tour card holder following his success at Q School so they will have some backers at 5/2 to go through but I'm siding with the Czechs. Begrudgingly.

Group J

  • (14) Spain (Jose Justicia, Tony Martinez)
  • South Africa (Devon Petersen, Vernon Bouwers)
  • Iceland (Hallgrimur Egilsson, Vitor Charrua)

Spain are another of the lesser seeds who find themselves in a tough group to call but in Jose Justicia and Tony Martinez they have two steady Tour Card holders.

South Africa remain a one-man team but Devon Petersen is still a long way short of what we became used to seeing from him and statistically he's averaging around 86 this season which is two points less than the Spanish pair.

I'm tempted to throw them into the acca as well but three selections is more than enough when there's the lottery element of the pairs involved.

Group K

  • (15) Latvia (Madars Razma, Dmitriy Zhukov)
  • New Zealand (Ben Robb, Warren Parry)
  • Bahrain (Basem Mahmood, Abdulnasser Yusuf)

Latvia are the seeds and extremely marginal favourites due to the presence of Madars Razma but they are a one-man team and New Zealand's Ben Robb and Warren Parry will be fancied to sneak through.

Neither are superior to Razma but it'll be interesting to see if their combined ability will be enough to defeat Latvia and indeed Bahrain.

Group L

  • (16) Switzerland (Stefan Bellmont, Marcel Walpen)
  • Italy (Michele Turetta, Massimo Dante)
  • Sweden (Dennis Nilsson, Oskar Lukasiak)

Another trappy group in which Switzerland and Sweden are vying for favourtism and Italy aren't without hope at around 5/1.

It's a flip of a coin job and I'm not calling.

  • Preview posted at 1700 BST 14/08/2023

World Cup of Darts knockout stages

  • (1) England (Michael Smith & Rob Cross) v Group winner
  • Group winner v Group winner
  • (4) Scotland (Peter Wright & Gary Anderson) v Group winner
  • Group winner v Group winner
  • (2) Wales (Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton) v Group winner
  • Group winner v Group winner
  • (3) Netherlands (Danny Noppert & Dirk van Duijvenbode) v Group winner
  • Group winner v Group winner

World Cup of Darts: Daily Schedule & Results

Thursday June 15 (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Group Stage – First Matches (Best of seven legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports

  • Switzerland v Italy
  • Poland v Portugal
  • Czech Republic v Singapore
  • Spain v South Africa
  • Republic of Ireland v Thailand
  • Northern Ireland v France
  • Belgium v Finland
  • Canada v India
  • Austria v Denmark
  • Germany v Hong Kong
  • Australia v Guyana
  • Latvia v New Zealand

Friday June 16
Afternoon Session (1200 local time, 1100 BST)
Group Stage – Second Matches (Best of seven legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports

  • 12 matches (Loser of group's first match v Team 3 in group)

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Group Stage – Final Matches (Best of seven legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports

  • 12 matches (Winner of group's first match v Team 3 in group)

Saturday June 17
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Second Round (Best of 15 legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports

  • Four matches

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Second Round (Best of 15 legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports

  • Four matches

Sunday June 18
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Quarter-Finals (Best of 15 legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports

  • Four Matches

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Semi-Finals (Best of 15 legs)
TV Coverage: Sky Sport

  • Two matches

Final (Best of 19 legs)

  • Winner SF 1 v Winner SF1

Where can I watch the World Cup of Darts on TV?

The My Diesel Claim World Cup of Darts will be broadcast on Sky Sports for viewers in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC's international broadcast partners, including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers.

World Cup of Darts: Sky Bet Odds

Click here for Sky Bet's darts page

Prize Fund (Per two-player team)

  • Winners - £80,000
    Runners-Up - £50,000
    Semi-Final Losers - £30,000
    Quarter-Final Losers - £20,000
    Last 16 Losers - £9,000
    Second in Group - £5,000
    Third in Group - £4,000
  • Total - £450,000

World Cup of Darts: Past Finals

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