World Cup of Darts tips and predictions: England to live up to favourites tag, Australia to impress
- Thomas Ridley
- 25 June 2024
One of the most eagerly anticipated events on the darts calendar is back, with 40 countries sending the cream of their darting crop to Frankfurt as they look to win the World Cup of Darts.
While Euro fever is engulfing Germany, there's another big event coming to the country... the World Cup of Darts.
It's when two players put rivalries aside and team up to represent their country, with the right to be called world cup winners on the line.
It was Wales' duo of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton that took the crown last year. They were going to be back competing as a pair, but Price has pulled out due to health issues so Jim Williams will now team up with Clayton for the defending champions.
They do have tough competition in the form of England and the Netherlands.
The past two world champions, Luke Humphries and Michael Smith, line up for England who are looking to win the title for the first time since 2016, when it was Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis who took the crown.
On current form it is hard to look past an England win, as the duo both made the Premier League play-offs while Humphries has made many finals this year and arguably only Luke Littler has been better than the world champion this year.
The pair are the favourites, however they will face tough competition from the Dutch.
Michael Van Gerwen and Danny Noppert may not have been in the best of form recently but both are capable of the levels you need to win this competition.
Scotland have had a brilliant record in this event, having made the final in four of the last six editions including two victories.
The experienced pair of Peter Wright and Gary Anderson have combined to win the event in the past, but the form of Snakebite is a concern with it being epitomised by his Premier League performance, where he won just two games in 16 nights.
In terms of an outright winner, England are the ones to beat but with bookies paying out 1/2 on each-way bets, some of the bigger prices could be worth a punt.
The former world youth champion Josh Rock teams up with Brendan Dolan, both have won on titles this year and are capable of producing a shock with Dolan getting the better of both Anderson and Price in the world championship.
Australia won the event in 2022 and their winning pair are back here.
Damon Heta is currently in the world's top 10 and has been there or therabouts in tournaments this year, while Simon Whitlock was a regular in the Premier League once upon a time.
With Whitlock and Heta's track record in this event, their odds of 25/1 look tasty and it may be worth a punt as you'd get half of that should the Aussie pair reach the final.
