Netherlands will begin the defence of their BetVictor World Cup of Darts title against Spain in Hamburg.

The ninth PDC World Cup of Darts will see 32 countries competing from June 6-9 at the Barclaycard Arena, featuring a combination of Doubles and Singles matches throughout the event.

With £350,000 in prize money on offer, including £70,000 for the winning pair, the tournament will be bigger than ever this year as both the Netherlands and England aim to win a fifth title.

Reigning champions Netherlands will see World Champion Michael van Gerwen partnered by James Wattimena, who has moved above four-time World Cup winner Raymond van Barneveld on the PDC Order of Merit since last year’s staging of the event.

With nations represented by two-player teams, competitors are initially selected based on the PDC Order of Merit, where two or more players are ranked, and England’s team will see Rob Cross partnered by another debutant Michael Smith.

Scotland will see Gary Anderson and Peter Wright team up for a fifth time, having reached the final in 2015 and 2018, while 2018 semi-finalists Australia see Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson compete together for a fourth successive year.

Wales see Grand Slam of Darts champion Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton pair up for a second time, while Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney links up for a fourth year running with Brendan Dolan for Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland will be represented by Steve Lennon and recent Players Championship event winner William O’Connor, while the Belgian team sees 2013 runner-up Kim Huybrechts joined again by World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Host Nation Germany see Max Hopp and Martin Schindler continue the partnership which has seen them reach the quarter-finals for the past two years, and Mensur Suljovic is joined in the Austrian team by Zoran Lerchbacher.

Spain’s Cristo Reyes and Toni Alcinas and Finland’s Marko Kantele and Kim Viljanen maintain their partnerships from 2018, while Karel Sedlacek is joined in the Czech Republic team by Pavel Jirkal.

Sweden’s Magnus Caris is set to bow out of professional darts after making his eighth World Cup of Darts appearance, and he is partnered by Dennis Nilsson for his farewell on the big stage.

Denmark’s Per Laursen maintains his ever-present record in the World Cup as he partners debutant Niels Heinsoe, while America’s Darin Young is also making a ninth World Cup appearance and will team up with debutant Chuck Puleo.

Canada’s Dawson Murschell is joined by Jim Long, who sits third on the CDC rankings in North America and also competed in the 2019 World Championship.

New Zealand’s Cody Harris is joined by DPNZ number one Haupai Puha, while Russia’s Boris Koltsov is partnered by Aleksei Kadochnikov from the EADC rankings.

Lithuania, who replace Switzerland in this year’s event, make their debut in the event as emerging star Darius Labanauskas links up with Mindauskas Barauskas.

South Africa’s Devon Petersen will link up with qualifier Vernon Bouwers, Diogo Portela is joined in the Brazil team by Artur Valle and Hungary’s Pal Szekely is partnered by Janos Vegso.

China’s qualifiers were youngsters Xiaochen Zong and Qingyu Zhan, with Dyson Parody extending his ever-present record for Gibraltar alongside debutant Anthony Lopez.

Italian pair Andrea Micheletti and Stefano Tomassetti won through a qualifier to represent their country, while Greek ace John Michael partners Veniamin Symeonidis for a second successive year.

Legendary star Paul Lim is partnered for Singapore by Harith Lim for a sixth successive year, while 2018 quarter-finalists Japan are again represented by Seigo Asada and World Cup ever-present Haruki Muramatsu.

PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Royden Lam is partnered for Hong Kong by Kai Fan Leung, while the Philippines’ return to the World Cup sees them represented by Lourence Ilagan and Noel Malicdem.

We spoke to Chris Poole – Director of Trading at BetVictor – to check on the odds before the tournament

“Most number of bets so far for Wales now 7/1 (from 10/1), who have a strong and balanced team in World Number 7 Gerwyn Price and World Number 13 Jonny Clayton.

“We have also seen a bit of money from Belgium at 25/1.

“Weak in the betting are Holland at 3/1 (from 11/8) with punters shunning them despite one of the World’s best players, Michael Van Gerwen, being part of the team.

“His partner Jermaine Wattimena seems to be the ‘worry’ as he can be erratic at times.”

2019 BetVictor World Cup of Darts Draw

Thursday June 6 (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

First Round 
Gibraltar v Japan
Northern Ireland v South Africa
New Zealand v Lithuania
Belgium v Hong Kong
Brazil v Sweden
Wales v Singapore
Hungary v Germany
Scotland v Denmark

Friday June 7 (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

First Round
China v USA
Italy v Canada
Poland v Czech Republic
Republic of Ireland v Greece
England v Philippines
Austria v Russia
Australia v Finland
Netherlands v Spain

Saturday June 8

Secound Round x8

Sunday June 9

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Final