Australia will begin their defence of the My Diesel Claim World Cup of Darts against debutants Guyana on Thursday, with the schedule for the tournament’s opening night now confirmed.
The 2023 World Cup of Darts will be held in Frankfurt from June 15-18, with an expanded tournament featuring 40 teams and a £450,000 prize fund in the exciting new Pairs format.
England, Netherlands, Wales and Scotland are the top four ranked nations - based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players – and will therefore enter at the last 16 stage.
The remaining 36 teams have been split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round – which includes a further 12 seeded nations – from which each group winner will progress.
Thursday’s opening night will see the first 12 group games take place at the Eissporthalle, as reigning champions Australia open their challenge against newcomers Guyana.
Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock steered Australia to a historic success in 2022, and the pair will return to World Cup action to take on Sudesh Fitzgerald and Norman Madhoo in Thursday's Group C tussle.
Germany’s Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler will begin their title challenge on home soil against Hong Kong, while Northern Irish duo Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney kick off their campaign against France.
Fifth seeds Belgium – led by Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts – take on Finland in Group A, with former finalists Republic of Ireland and Austria up against Thailand and Denmark respectively.
Three-time quarter-finalists Canada will play India, while Latvia – spearheaded by Madars Razma – take on New Zealand in Thursday evening’s finale.
Krzysztof Ratajski and Jose de Sousa will collide when Poland and Portugal lock horns in an intriguing tie, with Spain and South Africa set to do battle in their Group J opener.
Czech Republic will meet Singapore in another tasty tie as 69-year-old Paul Lim makes his big stage return, while Switzerland and Italy clash in the opening game of the tournament.
The losing nations from Thursday’s matches will play the third team from each group in Friday's afternoon session, with the decisive final group games set to be played on Friday evening.
Following the completion of the round-robin phase, the draw for the last 16 will take place on Friday evening, as England, Netherlands, Wales and Scotland enter the fray in Saturday’s second round.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will then take place during a bumper double session on Sunday, and the schedule of play for the remainder of the tournament will be confirmed in due course.
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.
2023 My Diesel Claim World Cup of Darts
Eissporthalle, Frankfurt
Thursday June 15 (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Group Stage – First Matches x12
Team 1 v Team 2 from each group
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 x12
Loser First Match v Team 3
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Group Stage – Final Matches x12
Winner First Match v Team 3
Saturday June 17
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Second Round x4
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Second Round x4
Sunday June 18
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Semi-Finals
Final
Format
Group Stage - Best of seven legs
Second Round - Best of 15 legs
Quarter-Finals - Best of 15 legs
Semi-Finals - Best of 15 legs
Final - Best of 19 legs
All games will be played in a Doubles format.
Competing Nations & Pairings
Australia - Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock
Austria - Mensur Suljovic, Rowby-John Rodriguez
Bahrain - Basem Mahmood, Abdulnasser Yusuf
Belgium - Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts
Canada - Matt Campbell, Jeff Smith
China - Xiaochen Zong, Lihao Wen
Croatia - Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grbavac
Czech Republic - Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek
Denmark - Vladimir Andersen, Benjamin Reus
England - Michael Smith, Rob Cross
Finland - Marko Kantele, Paavo Myller
France - Thibault Tricole, Jacques Labre
Germany - Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler
Gibraltar - Craig Galliano, Justin Hewitt
Guyana - Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald
Hong Kong - Man Lok Leung, Lok Yin Lee
Hungary - Patrik Kovács, Levente Sárai
Iceland - Hallgrimur Egilsson, Vitor Charrua
India - Prakash Jiwa, Amit Gilitwala
Italy - Michele Turetta, Massimo Dante
Japan - Jun Matsuda, Tomoya Goto
Latvia - Madars Razma, Dmitriy Zhukov
Lithuania - Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas
Netherlands - Danny Noppert, Dirk van Duijvenbode
New Zealand - Ben Robb, Warren Parry
Northern Ireland - Brendan Dolan, Daryl Gurney
Philippines - Christian Perez, Lourence Ilagan
Poland - Krzysztof Ratajski, Krzysztof Kciuk
Portugal - Jose de Sousa, Luis Ameixa
Republic of Ireland - William O'Connor, Keane Barry
Scotland - Peter Wright, Gary Anderson
Singapore - Paul Lim, Harith Lim
South Africa - Devon Petersen, Vernon Bouwers
Spain - Jose Justicia, Tony Martinez
Sweden - Dennis Nilsson, Oskar Lukasiak
Switzerland - Stefan Bellmont, Marcel Walpen
Thailand - Attapol Eupakaree, Yong Gaweenuntavong
Ukraine - Vladyslav Omelchenko, Illia Pekaruk
USA - Jules van Dongen, Leonard Gates
Wales - Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton
Prize Fund (Per 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