The PDC World Cup of Darts is a team darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, and was one of the three new tournaments introduced into the PDC calendar in 2010. It is broadcast live by Sky Sports.PDC announces 3 new tournaments Retrieved 15 July 2010, PDC.tv
The first edition was held in 2010 but due to the rescheduling of the Players Championship Finals in the PDC calendar, the second edition was played in Hamburg, Germany, in February 2012. In 2015, the event took place the Eissporthalle Frankfurt, where it stayed until returning to Hamburg in 2019 when it moved to the Barclaycard Arena. In 2020, the event was held at the Salzburgarena in Salzburg, Austria, and in 2021, it returned to Germany, this time in the Sparkassen-Arena, Jena, and in 2022 it returned to Frankfurt where it has been held since.
The competition succeeded the Jocky Wilson Cup; a one-off international match between England and Scotland held in Glasgow on 5 December 2009. England defeated Scotland by 6 points to 0.
Background In October 2009, PDC chairman Barry Hearn announced his intention to buy the British Darts Organisation and inject £2 million into amateur darts, but the BDO decided not to accept the offer. In a statement, Hearn stated "The aim of our offer to the BDO was to unify the sport of darts and this remains our long-term objective despite the decision by the BDO County Associations"PDC launch World Cup Retrieved 15 July 2010 Skysports.com The Jocky Wilson Cup was held in December.
But following the BDO's rejection, the PDC went on to arrange three brand new tournaments for 2010 to help the development of youth and women's darts: the PDC Under-21 World Championship, the PDC Women's World Championship, and the PDC World Cup of Darts.
Format
In the first 3 competitions (held in 2010, 2012 and 2013), the participating teams were the top 24 countries in the PDC Order of Merit at the end of October after the 2010 World Grand Prix. Each nation's top ranked player was then joined by the second highest player of that country. For seeding, the average rank of both was used.
The top 8 nations automatically started in the second round (last 16). The other 16 nations played in the first round. Matches were best of 11 legs in doubles, and the losing team threw first in the next leg. The winners of the first round played the top eight ranked teams in the second round, also in best of 11 doubles.
In 2010, the winners of the second round were drawn into two groups of four (A & B). Each team played each other once (three matches per team). Each match consisted of two singles and one doubles – all over best of five legs. 1 point was awarded for a singles win, and 2 points for a doubles win, with all points counting towards the overall league table. The top two teams in each group advanced to the semi-finals.
The semi-finals consisted of four singles games and one doubles game (if required) per match – all over best of 11 legs. Again, 1 point was awarded for a singles win, and 2 points for a doubles win. If the match score is 3–3 at the end of the games, then a sudden-death doubles leg would decide who goes through to the final.
The final was the same format as the semi-final, but each game was best of 15 legs.Cash Converters World Cup Format Retrieved 19 November 2010, PDC.tv
In 2012, the first round format remained the same, with the exception being that the matches were best of 9 doubles. The second round had games where each match consisted of two singles and one doubles – over best of seven legs in singles, and best of 9 legs in doubles. As before, 1 point was awarded for a singles win, and 2 points for a doubles win. If the score was tied 2–2, then a sudden death doubles leg took place to determine the winner. The format was the same for the quarter-finals, with the exception that the doubles matches were best of 7 legs, like the singles.
In the semi-finals, games had each match consisting of four singles and one doubles match – over best of seven legs. As before, 1 point was awarded for a singles win, and 2 points for a doubles win. If the score was tied 3–3, then a sudden death doubles leg took place to determine the winner. In the final, the match consisted of four singles and one doubles match – over best of 13 legs. As before, 1 point was awarded for a singles win, and 2 points for a doubles win. If the score was tied 3–3, then a sudden death doubles leg took place to determine the winner.
In 2013, a new format was created. The 24 teams were put into groups of 3, which each contained one of the top 8 seeds, plus two other teams. The teams played each other in best of 9 doubles matches, with the top 2 in each group progressing to the last 16. The last 16 also used the same best of 9 doubles format.
In the quarter-finals onwards, the matches began with two best of 7 leg singles matches. If one team won both singles matches, they were declared the winner, if each team won one match each, a best of 7 doubles match would decide the winner. In the final, there would be four best of 7 leg singles matches (if needed), with a point for each win, with a 7 leg doubles decider, if the singles matches ended making the score 2–2.
In 2014 and 2015, the field extended to 32 teams, with the top 16 teams being seeded, and each playing a best of 9 doubles match to begin. After that, the format was the same as the later stages of the previous tournament with two best of 7 leg singles matches. If one team won both singles matches, they were declared the winner, if each team won one match each, a best of 7 doubles match would decide the winner. In the final, there would be four best of 7 leg singles matches (if needed), with a point for each win, with a 7 leg doubles decider, if the singles matches ended making the score 2–2. In 2015, the final was tweaked, so that the doubles match would be the third match.
The format remained the same until 2023, with the only major change being in 2016, when only the top 8 teams were seeded, rather than the top 16.
In March 2023, the PDC announced a completely revamped format for the following tournament set to happen between 15–18 June 2023. This new format consisted of 40 different nations for the first time in the events history and a group stage for the first time since 2013. 12 groups of 3 countries were drawn, with the winner of each group advancing into the second round, while the top four ranked countries automatically advance into the second round. This format also consisted of doubles throughout the competition for the first time.
Results by year #YearWinnersScoreScore decided in matches except for (p) which indicates score decided by points. Format changed from matches to legs in 2023.Runners-upVenuePrize money (team)SponsorsPlayersTeamTeamPlayersTotalWinnersRunners-up12010Mark WebsterBarrie Bates£150,000£40,000£20,000Cash Converters2 2012Simon WhitlockPaul NicholsonAlsterdorfer Sporthalle, Hamburg3 2013 Betfair42014 Michael van GerwenRaymond van Barneveld3–0 (m)Phil TaylorAdrian Lewis£200,000Bwin52015Phil TaylorAdrian Lewis3–2 (m)Gary AndersonPeter WrightEissporthalle, Frankfurt£250,000£50,000£26,00062016Phil TaylorAdrian Lewis3–2 (m)Betway720173–1 (m)Mark WebsterGerwyn Price£300,000£60,000£32,000820183–1 (m)Gary AndersonPeter Wright920193–1 (m)Steve LennonWilliam O'ConnorBarclaycard Arena, Hamburg£350,000£70,000£40,000BetVictor1020203–0 (m)Salzburgarena, Salzburg112021John Henderson3–1 (m)Mensur SuljovićRowby-John RodriguezSparkassen-Arena, JenaCazoo122022Damon HetaSimon Whitlock3–1 (m)Gerwyn PriceJonny ClaytonEissporthalle, Frankfurt132023Gerwyn PriceJonny Clayton10–2 (l)£450,000£80,000£50,000My Diesel Claim142024Luke HumphriesMichael Smith10–6 (l)Mensur SuljovićRowby-John RodriguezBetVictor152025Josh RockDaryl Gurney10–9 (l)Gerwyn PriceJonny Clayton162026Luke LittlerLuke Humphries10–5 (l)Gian van VeenMichael van Gerwen£500,000£100,000£48,000
Records and statistics
Individual appearances As of the 2026 tournament, only 2 players have played in all 16 editions of the World Cup of Darts.
They are: William O'Connor Mensur Suljović
Total finalist appearances Country Rank Country Won Runner-up Finals Appearances 1 England 6 2 8 16 2 4 2 6 16 3 Wales 2 4 6 16 4 Scotland 2 3 5 16 5 Australia 1 1 2 16 6 1 0 1 16 7 Austria 0 2 2 16 8 Belgium 0 1 1 16 Ireland 0 1 1 16
In the event of identical records, countries are first sorted by date first achieved
Team RankPlayersTeamWonRunner-upFinalsAppearances 1Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis4156 2Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld3146 3Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton2247 4Gary Anderson and Peter Wright1348 5Raymond van Barneveld and Co Stompé1011Peter Wright and John Henderson1012Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock1016Luke Humphries and Michael Smith1011Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney1012Luke Littler and Luke Humphries1012 11Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez0229 12Mark Webster and Barrie Bates0111Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson0115Kim Huybrechts and Ronny Huybrechts0115Mark Webster and Gerwyn Price0112Steve Lennon and William O'Connor0115Michael Smith and Rob Cross0113Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen0111
In the event of identical records, teams are first sorted by date first achieved
Player RankPlayerTeamWonRunner-upFinalsAppearances 1Adrian Lewis4156Phil Taylor4156Raymond van Barneveld4158 4Michael van Gerwen32511 5Peter Wright23511Gerwyn Price23510 7Jonny Clayton2249 8Luke Humphries2023 9Gary Anderson13412 10Simon Whitlock11215Michael Smith1125 12Co Stompé1011John Henderson1013Damon Heta1017Daryl Gurney10110Josh Rock1013Luke Littler1012 18Mark Webster0227Rowby-John Rodriguez0229Mensur Suljović02216 21Barrie Bates0111Paul Nicholson0115Kim Huybrechts01113Ronny Huybrechts0115Steve Lennon0115William O'Connor01116Rob Cross0114Gian van Veen0112 Active players are shown in bold Only players who reached the final are included In the event of identical records, players are first sorted by date first achieved, and second in alphabetical order by family name
High averages Team Ten highest World Cup of Darts one-match team averagesAverageTeamYear (+ Round)Opponents Result (legs) Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk2023, Group Stage Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas4–1117.88 Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld2014, Semi-finals Brendan Dolan and Mickey Mansell4–0111.33 Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld2017, Second round Darin Young and Larry Butler4–0109.33 Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld2017, First round Karel Sedláček and František Humpula5–1109.31 Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock2022, Quarter-finals Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts4–0108.41 Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson2010, Group stage John Part and Ken MacNeil3–1107.77 Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld2016, Quarter-finals Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson4–3105.48 Kim Huybrechts and Ronny Huybrechts2013, Semi-finals Jani Haavisto and Jarkko Komula4–0105.17 Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld2017, Quarter-finals Max Hopp and Martin Schindler4–1104.97 Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk2021, First round Karel Sedláček and Adam Gawlas5–2