PDC World Cup of Darts 2019 Betting Tips and Odds

Betting Online Team

Darts Betting Tips

5 August, 2024

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And now for something completely different – our PDC World Cup of Darts 2019 betting tips.

After four months of Premier League action, the second half of the PDC darts campaign kicks off with the only major team event on the schedule.

Most kids dream of scoring a winning goal for their country in the final of the football World Cup, but even so that should not diminish the importance and prestige for these 64 tungsten tossers of representing their nations in darts’ own version of the international showpiece.

There have been eight editions of the World Cup of Darts and all of them have been won by either England or the Netherlands; six by the pairings of Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld and Phil Taylor alongside Adrian Lewis.

But it’s all change in 2019, with Barney replaced by Jermaine Wattimena in the Dutch set-up and England being represented by Rob Cross and Michael Smith.

Does that make these perennial World Cup champions vulnerable to a new name on the trophy?

Tournament History & Format

As mentioned, this tournament made its inaugural bow in 2010, when the Dutch duo of RVB and the legendary Co Stompe defeated the Welsh pairing of Mark Webster and Barrie Bates in the final at Sunderland’s Rainton Meadows Arena.

It’s testament to the growth of the sport that the 2019 edition will take place in Hamburg’s 13,000 capacity Barclaycard Arena, and with the prize fund more than doubled since the event’s inception there are plenty of reasons for those involved to deliver some national pride on the oche.

The teams are automatically picked based on world ranking and Order of Merit performance – hence why Wattimena makes his World Cup debut – with seedings decided based upon the combined rankings of the players. So that’s why the Netherlands are seeded four despite having the world’s number one ranked player in their midst.

The format remains the same, with the top eight teams seeded and the remaining 24 hoping to avoid one of the big guns in the first round of the straight knockout draw.

The first round sees both players team up in a best-of-nine leg doubles match – that short format really can be a graveyard for the fancied nations, while the second round, quarters and semis features two singles matches over the best-of-seven legs, with a doubles match played if the tie is level at 1-1 after the singles.

The final requires the winner to pick up three points to lift the trophy. There are two best-of-seven singles matches followed by a pairs encounter of the same length. Should the tie not be settled at this point, reverse singles matches are played.

The Field

It’s a rare treat to see many of the world’s best players taking out of their comfort zone in this unique pairs format.

England, the number one seeds and tournament favourites, will be represented by Rob Cross and Michael Smith, while Gary Anderson makes a rare appearance on the oche as he battles a variety of injuries. He will team up with his old nemesis-turned-friend Peter Wright in Scottish colours.

The third seeds will be Wales, for whom Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will slip into the red shirt, while Wattimena has the unenviable task of trying to replace Van Barneveld in the Dutch line-up. Good luck with that!

Seeds five, six and seven are Australia (Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson), Northern Ireland (Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan) and Belgium (Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri Van den Bergh) respectively, with Mensur Suljovic and Zoran Lerchbacher making up the eighth seed pairing for Austria.

The picks of the non-seeds include hosts Germany, who reached the last eight 12 months ago, talented Republic of Ireland pairing Steve Lennon and William O’Connor and Polish pair Krzysztof Ratajski and Tytus Kanik.

And don’t write off the Asian teams: Japan, Singapore and the Philippines can all play, and they will be targeting a decent run in Hamburg.