2018 Betway World Cup of Darts Preview

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

THE 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts begins on Thursday at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt.

Dutch Visit Boosts Van Gerwen

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN has prepared for his Betway World Cup of Darts title defence by playing darts with the Dutch football team.

2018 Betway World Cup Schedule

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

THE schedule of play for the 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts has been confirmed.

Betway World Cup of Darts Draw

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

THE NETHERLANDS will begin their defence of the Betway World Cup of Darts title against Gibraltar in Frankfurt.

2018 Betway World Cup Teams Confirmed

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

SCOTLAND will be the number one seeds for the 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts following the confirmation of the 32 teams.

New Faces Set To Star In Betway World Cup

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

A NUMBER of new faces are set to compete in the 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts.

Zhou Heads List of World Cup Qualifiers

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

MOMO ZHOU will become the first woman to represent China at the 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts.

Price Stronger For Premier League Experience

BetMGM Premier League

GERWYN PRICE looks back on a mixed start to 2018 following his Unibet Premier League elimination.

2018 Betway World Cup Nations

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

THE 32 competing nations for the 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts have been confirmed ahead of the eighth staging of the tournament.

Quartet Confirm Betway World Cup Teams

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

THE Brazil, Finland, Sweden and Denmark teams for the 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts have been confirmed.

The 2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts was held from November 6-8 at the Salzburgarena.

The tournament saw the top two players from 32 nations competing in both doubles and singles matches.

2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Salzburgarena, Salzburg, Austria
Friday November 6
Afternoon Session

8x First Round
Lithuania 5-3 Gibraltar
Portugal 5-0 Hungary
New Zealand 5-2 Denmark
Canada 5-2 Northern Ireland 
Belgium 5-4 Czech Republic
Austria 5-2 USA
England 5-3 Philippines
Spain 5-4 Italy

Evening Session
8x First Round
Greece 5-0 Sweden
Scotland 5-4 Japan
Poland 5-0 South Africa
Australia 5-2 Republic of Ireland
Wales 5-0 Russia
Germany 5-0 Finland
Netherlands 5-1 Brazil
Latvia 5-4 Hong Kong

Saturday November 7
Afternoon Session

4x Second Round

Canada 2-0 New Zealand
Singles One: Jeff Smith 4-1 Haupai Puha
Singles Two: Matt Campbell 4-2 Cody Harris
Doubles (not required)

Austria 2-0 Portugal 
Singles One: Mensur Suljovic 4-2 Jose De Sousa
Singles Two: Rowby-John Rodriguez 4-1 Jose Marques
Doubles (if required):

Belgium 2-0 Latvia
Singles One: Kim Huybrechts 4-0 Janis Mustafejevs
Singles Two: Dimitri Van den Bergh 4-3 Madars Razma
Doubles (not required):

England 2-0 Lithuania
Singles One: Michael Smith 4-0 Darius Labanauskas
Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-2 Mindaugas Barauskas
Doubles (not required):

Evening Session
4x Second Round

Australia 2-0 Poland
Singles One: Simon Whitlock 4-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Singles Two: Damon Heta 4-1 Krzysztof Kciuk
Doubles (not required):

Wales 2-1 Scotland
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-2 John Henderson
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 2-4 Robert Thornton
Doubles: Wales 4-0 Scotland

Germany 2-0 Greece
Singles One: Gabriel Clemens 4-1 John Michael
Singles Two: Max Hopp 4-0 Veniamin Symeonidis
Doubles (not required):

Netherlands 2-0 Spain 
Singles One: Michael van Gerwen 4-0 Toni Alcinas
Singles Two: Danny Noppert 4-3 Jesus Noguera
Doubles (not required):

Sunday November 8
Afternoon Session

Canada 1-2 Belgium
Singles One: Jeff Smith 1-4 Kim Huybrechts
Singles Two: Matt Campbell 4-1 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Doubles: Canada 2-4 Belgium

England 2-1 Austria
Singles One: Michael Smith 3-4 Mensur Suljovic
Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-3 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Doubles: England 4-3 Austria

Wales 2-1 Australia
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-3 Simon Whitlock
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 2-4 Damon Heta
Doubles: Wales 4-2 Australia

Netherlands 1-2 Germany
Singles One: Danny Noppert 3-4 Gabriel Clemens
Singles Two: Michael van Gerwen 4-1 Max Hopp
Doubles: Netherlands 3-4 Germany​

Evening Session
Semi-Finals
England 2-0 Belgium 

Singles One: Michael Smith 4-3 Kim Huybrechts 
Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh 
Doubles (not needed):

Wales 2-0 Germany
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-2 Gabriel Clemens
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 4-2 Max Hopp
Doubles (not needed):

Final
Wales 3-0 England 
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-1 Michael Smith 
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 4-2 Rob Cross 
Doubles: Wales 4-3 England 
Singles Three: Michael Smith v Jonny Clayton (not needed)
Singles Four: Rob Cross v Gerwyn Price (not needed)

Draw Bracket
(1) England v Philippines
Lithuania v Gibraltar
(8) Austria v USA
Portugal v Hungary
(4) Northern Ireland v Canada
New Zealand v Denmark
(5) Belgium v Czech Republic
Hong Kong v Latvia
(2) Wales v Russia
Japan v Scotland
(7) Republic of Ireland v Australia
Poland v South Africa
(3) Netherlands v Brazil
Italy v Spain
(6) Germany v Finland
Sweden v Greece
NB: Singapore replaced by Portugal. China replaced by Latvia.

Competing Nations & Players (seeding in brackets)
(1) England - Michael Smith & Rob Cross
(2) Wales - Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton
(3) Netherlands - Michael van Gerwen & Danny Noppert
(4) Northern Ireland - Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
(5) Belgium - Dimitri Van den Bergh & Kim Huybrechts
(6) Germany - Max Hopp & Gabriel Clemens
(7) Republic of Ireland - William O'Connor & Steve Lennon
(8) Austria - Mensur Suljovic & Rowby-John Rodriguez
Australia - Simon Whitlock & Damon Heta
Brazil - Diogo Portela & Bruno Rangel
Canada - Jeff Smith & Matt Campbell
Czech Republic - Karel Sedlacek & Adam Gawlas
Denmark - Niels Heinsøe & Per Laursen
Finland - Marko Kantele & Veijo Viinikka
Gibraltar - Craig Galliano & Justin Hewitt
Greece - John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis
Hong Kong - Kai Fan Leung & Royden Lam
Hungary - Patrik Kovacs & Janos Vegsö
Italy - Andrea Micheletti & Daniele Petri
Japan - Seigo Asada & Yuki Yamada
Latvia - Madars Razma & Janis Mustafejevs
Lithuania - Darius Labanauskas & Mindaugas Barauskas
New Zealand - Cody Harris & Haupai Puha
Philippines - Lourence Ilagan & Noel Malicdem
Poland - Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk
Portugal - Jose De Sousa & Jose Marques
Russia - Boris Koltsov & Aleksei Kadochnikov
Scotland - John Henderson & Robert Thornton
South Africa - Devon Petersen & Carl Gabriel
Spain - Toni Alcinas & Jesus Noguera
Sweden - Daniel Larsson & Dennis Nilsson
USA - Chuck Puleo & Danny Lauby

The Welsh duo of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton secured their country’s first BetVictor World Cup of Darts title on Sunday night after a dominant 3-0 win over England in the final.

Wales, appearing in the final for the third time, punished Michael Smith and Rob Cross in ruthless fashion whitewashing the English pair in Salzburg to claim a £70,000 top prize.

The opening Singles tie of the final saw world number three Gerwyn Price take on Michael Smith, with the Welshman overcoming his opponent in a 4-1 victory.

The crucial moment in the encounter came in the fourth leg when Price broke throw to punish Smith for missing six darts at a double to hold.

World number four Smith was unable to recover as Wales took a 1-0 lead in the tie.

That advantage was then doubled when Jonny Clayton averaged 105 in a 4-2 win over Rob Cross to put his side one victory away from the crown.

Clayton and Price didn’t have to wait long to seal their victory, beating the English team 4-3 in the Doubles match, with Price taking out 64 on tops and the team finishing with a sensational average of 103.

Wales become only the fourth team to claim World Cup glory after previous wins for England, Netherlands and 2019 winners Scotland.

"I’m the proudest man on the planet right now and to play with Gezzy, the best player in the world at the moment, I’m just so happy," said Clayton after the final.

"This means the world to me, and to beat England in the final, I'm so proud."

Price has claimed back-to-back Grand Slam of Darts wins over the past two years, won October's World Grand Prix and also took the World Series of Darts Finals titles at the Salzburgarena in September.

However, he insisted: "It's the proudest moment of my darting career - I'm quite emotional.

"I've had some success recently for myself but to win this for Wales this means so much to me.

"I know I’m playing well at the moment but this is a doubles game and I couldn’t win it without Jonny. This is a team and we deserve it."

Beaten duo Smith and Cross also spoke to the media after the decider and Cross was keen to play up their achievement, saying: "We’re proud of what we’ve done this weekend but we didn’t play our best in the final and they deserved to beat us."

With fans still unable to attend events due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the final was played in different circumstances to previous years but Smith spoke of his delight to still be playing and was quick to credit his opponents.

"It’s amazing just to be here and playing darts but I have to say the better pair won today and they fully deserve it," said Smith.

"We’ve given it our all this weekend and dug deep when we needed to, but just didn’t do enough in the end."

Smith and Cross began the final day of action with a dramatic 4-3 pairs victory over Austria’s Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez.

Suljovic had first seen off Smith averaging well over 100 to recover from 3-0 down before Rodriguez would go on to miss a handful of match darts against Cross in their singles battle.

The Doubles decider also went all the way to a last leg where it was England who prevailed to set up a semi-final with Belgium, who defeated Canada in the last eight.

Wales’ quarter-final opponents were Australia, and once again a Doubles decider was required to separate the teams after Price defeated Simon Whitlock but Clayton was unable to do the same against Damon Heta, who made an impressive World Cup debut for Australia.

The Welsh team were too strong in the pairs match progressing after a 4-2 win.

The semi-finals saw England take on Belgium and Wales face Germany, who had knocked out the Netherlands in the previous round, taking advantage of a back injury that saw Michael van Gerwen requiring treatment earlier in the morning.

A Doubles match was unrequited in the last four for England as Singles wins for Cross and Smith against Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts respectively moved them in to the final.

It was also a straightforward win for eventual winners Wales as well, with Price beating Gabriel Clemens 4-2 and Clayton moving past Max Hopp by the same scoreline.

Despite the English pairs best attempts, Wales were far too strong in the decider winning every rubber and securing a first World Cup title with a  3-0 win.

Germany’s run to the semi-finals was the best in their history in the event, as Clemens and Hopp enjoyed a memorable weekend which included their victory over four-time champions Netherlands in the last eight.

Wales' success also means that Clayton qualifies for the forthcoming BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts in Coventry.

Drawboard