World Cup of Darts 2024 Predictions: The Boys in Green can rule the world

The PDC calendar continues to march towards the Betfred World Matchplay in Blackpool in July, but for this week we've got a rare treat with a team event in the form of the World Cup of Darts.

As always, we've asked our darts expert Sean Rafferty to preview the event and give us his World Cup of Darts Predictions.

History, Location and Format

The 2024 PDC World Cup of Darts is the fourteenth edition of this PDC event and the tournament is being held at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, with this year's event running from the 27th to 30th June and will be shown on Sky Sports, Viaplay and PDCTV.

The tournament was introduced in 2010 and replaced the Jocky Wilson Cup, a one-off team competition between England and Scotland.

Netherlands and England are the most successful clubs in the World Cup era, with four wins apiece, Scotland  and Wales are next with two wins and then Australia with a solitary win.

The field is comprised of 40 pairings from different countries, with the top four teams (England, Wales, Netherlands and Scotland) progressing into the second round and the other 36 teams split into 12 groups of three, with the top team qualifying for the second round.

Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton of Wales are the defending champions after defeating Peter Wright and Gary Anderson of Scotland 10-2 in the 2023 final. However, Price will not be able to defend his title after withdrawing from the tournament with health issues. Instead, Jonny Clayton will be partnered by Jim Williams.

Prize Money

There is a total prize fund of £450,000 on offer to the 80 participants.

Draw

World Cup of Darts Odds

0.75 units Northern Ireland e/w (1/2, 2 places) @ 20/1  

I really like the new pairing of Josh Rock and Brendan Dolan for Northern Ireland, bringing a good blend of talent, youth and experience. A mixture of good scoring from Rock and reliable doubles from Brendan, could be the perfect recipe for them to go deep in this tournament.

NI have generally struggled a bit to live up to expectations over the years in this event but I do think Rock will be an upgrade on Gurney, who partnered Dolan for many years. Rock also said in a recent interview that he’s played doubles for many years at grassroots level with his dad, so is very comfortable with this format.

He’s enjoyed some good form of late - winning a European Tour event just last month, making a PC final recently and has also averaged 100+ in four of his last five matches. He seems to be entering some stellar form in time for his World Cup debut.

Dolan is just the perfect partner for Rocky, as he has so much experience and will keep Josh relaxed if required - the two already get on well, so should have a good chemistry. Dolan himself is having a really good year - he won a Pro Tour event last month and continues to sit comfortably inside the world top 32. As far as I’m concerned, 22/1 for a pairing who have won a PDC ranking event each in the past two months is cracking value.

0.75 units Australia e/w (1/2, 2 places) @ 25/1

I mention the word chemistry a lot when it comes to this event and I think the pair of Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock have it in abundance. It got them over the line when they won the World Cup in 2022 at similar odds.

Heta was the weaker link at times that year, despite being higher ranked, but they are so good at digging each other out of holes in matches. Heta has continued to play at a high level - sitting just outside the top 10 in the rankings currently. 'The Heat' won a Pro Tour in February, made the semis of the UK Open and has averaged 99+ in five of his last seven matches, so his recent form is pretty impressive.

Whitlock’s form hasn’t been as good but he's still winning more matches than he’s losing - he’s averaging 90.31 for 2024, which is still relatively solid enough to make a good contribution to this pair.

The Aussies narrowly lost out in a thriller against Belgium at the QF stage last year, despite averaging 95 themselves. I really think they’ll be so difficult to beat and will prove a tough test for anyone in this. Probably the best value of all my selections.

0.5 units Sweden e/w (1/2, 2 places) @ 150/1

I like to have a go at one real big outside shot if I can in this event and Sweden fit the bill this year. They possess two really solid players who should contribute pretty evenly in the scoring.

Oskar Lukasiak will be looked at as the weaker link but he won a Challenge Tour event earlier in the year, which is no mean feat at all and beat some good names on that run. He also enjoyed a brilliant run in the World Cup last year - reaching the QF's with Dennis Nilsson, where they topped their group with two wins, upset Canada in the second round with an average above 91, then even pushed Wales in a 8-5 defeat in the QF. Lukasiak showed no signs of nerves and surely can only come here with more confidence after that success.

Now we add Jeffrey De Graaf into the equation (formerly of The Netherlands) who is for me, playing the darts of his career to date. He is enjoying what you could say is a bit of a renaissance after falling down the ranks for a couple years - he’s now a tour card holder, he made a PC final last month and reached the L16 of a Euro Tour event.

He’s also dominated the Nordic Baltic Tour - winning three of the six events played so far. He’s more confident than ever and has put in some really solid performances in televised events recently. They should complement each other perfectly and if the draw can be kind to them beyond the group stages, they may just better that QF appearance last year.

5 units Sweden to win Group K @ 4/6

This group is a bit of a two horse race in my opinion - no disrespect to Gibraltar but they have failed to make much of an impact over the years and are unlikely to average higher than mid 70s.

Spain are the rivals in this group but I don’t fancy their chances at all in comparison to Sweden - previous tour card holders Jose Justicia and Jesus Noguera represent the Spanish but neither of them are in great form. Both men are playing on the Challenge Tour this year - Noguera has managed two QFs in 15 events and Justicia has managed two last 16s in his last 14 events, which is not brilliant. I don’t see a great chemistry between the two and they didn’t get through a group they were favourites for last year.

I’ve already gone with Sweden above but when I compare them with the Spaniards I think they are much better placed. Jeffrey De Graaf looks the classiest player in this group and he could be the difference maker - he sits in the world's top 100 for averages since his run to the L32 of the World Championship in December, sitting at 89.25 which is considerably higher than anyone else in the group. Ultimately it looks like it will come down to the Sweden vs Spain match which opens the tournament, but I fancy the Swedes to come out flying.

0.5 units Italy to win Group L @ 13/2

I really wanted to back one outside shot to progress through the group stages and Group L looks the perfect candidate for that. In the odds, we have two favourites in USA 10/11 and Portugal 6/5.

However, both countries’ pairings have their fair share of negatives around them just now - Van Dongen of USA is having a bit of a disastrous year it’s fair to say, on the back of some promise in 2023 - he’s won just eight of his 33 matches this year after winning his tour card back, only averaging 83.73 over this time. For some comparison - he averaged 93.92 across the second half of 2023, a massive drop off in form.

He looks the obvious weak link for USA as he partners Danny Lauby, whom hasn’t really kicked on since winning a tour card and his rapid pace of throwing arguably isn’t as suited to the doubles format.

Portugal look a pretty weak pairing this year - David Gomes makes his televised debut as he won the WC Portugal qualifier, where he averaged around high 70s over the course of that event which is OK, but he’ll be looking for some inspiration from his teammate Jose De Sousa.

Up until a recent Euro Tour qualifier, Jose had lost ten matches in a row, unthinkable just a couple years ago from the former Grand Slam champion. However, he really has struggled the past 12-18 months and looks shy of any confidence, so it’s a big ask for The Special One to find something here and a group stage exit last year with two defeats and an 80 average over they games won’t fill him with good memories either.

Finally, Massimo Dalla Rosa makes his debut for Italy - admittedly we don’t know a great deal about him as he’s relatively been out of the spotlight events wise but he generally plays soft tip darts, however, he did make the QF's of the Italian Grand Masters in 2022, beating known player Sebastian Steyer and only losing 4-2 to Thibault Tricole, so could be a solid enough addition to the Italian team.

Michele Turetta is the more established name here and he’s played some decent stuff this year - managing to win a tour card at the start of the year. He’s struggled for results of late but did record a win against Joe Cullen and a thumping 6-1 victory over Dave Chisnall. He’ll need to be near his best for Italy to stand a chance but he has talent and experience. The Italians are well worth a shot at springing an upset in this group at 13/2.

You can find all Sean's latest Darts Betting Tips on our main Insights content hub.