World Cup of Darts 2025 Predictions: Back Wales to upset the Lukes

It's one of the most fun events of the darting calendar this week, as the players pair up for the World Cup of Darts in Germany. 

Our darts expert Sean Rafferty gives his World Cup of Darts 2025 predictions - comprising two selections in the outright market and a single to win their group.

History, Location and Format

The 2025 PDC World Cup of Darts is the fifteenth running of this PDC event, having been first held in 2010. It is the only major team event on the PDC Tour.

The tournament will be held at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, with this year's event running from Thursday 12th to Sunday 15th June and will be shown on Sky Sports.

The defending champions are England, with Luke Humphries and Michael Smith defeating Austria's Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez 10-6 in the 2024 final.

Prize Money

There is a prize fund in of £450,000 on offer to the 40 national teams, with the top four seeds automatically placed into the second round and the other 36 teams taking place in the 12 scheduled groups.

Draw

World Cup of Darts Odds

5 units Wales to win outright @ 11/2

England are the deserved favourites and clearly the ones to beat, of course, with Luke Littler and Luke Humphries representing their country together for the first time. But at a skinny price of 2/5, choosing to oppose them is the only option that makes sense in terms of trying to find some value.

The pairs only format brings more than talent into the equation, how well the players gel is a big factor and having to wait at least a minute between visits to the board can kill any fluency to their games.

The very obvious first alternative to England for me is Wales. I’m always very keen on the Welsh at the World Cup as they have a very reliable pairing in Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton. The two have already enjoyed great success in previous years at the World Cup - winning it together in 2020 and 2023, as well as making the final in 2022.

Unfortunately last year, Price had to withdraw from the event on short notice, being replaced by Jim Williams which saw them exit against Croatia in the first knockout round.

Clayton will be very glad to have Price back partnering him this year, with the two being good mates on tour and having the experience of enjoying success together already. They sit in the opposite half of the draw from England and are very much the team to beat en route to the final.

Clayton has enjoyed his best form for a few years recently, winning events on both the Pro Tour and European Tour within the last two months, as well as making the World Masters final and UK Open semi finals earlier in the year. Price enjoyed a decent Premier League campaign, comfortably finishing in the top four and running Littler close in the semis.

11/2 looks a good bit of value for a pairing who have at least made the final in three of the last five editions of the tournament when they’ve played together. They’re most definitely my main outright pick this week and a confident one in terms of them making the business end of things.

2 units Northern Ireland each way (1/3 - 2 Places) @ 20/1

My next pick comes in the shape of a revamped Northern Ireland pairing, as Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney will have a go at winning a first World Cup for their country. The two have both represented Northern Ireland at the World Cup previously, but it’s the first time they’ve been paired together for it.

This looks like the strongest pairing they’ve ever had, Brendan Dolan departs from the team and although he’s a solid player, he hasn’t got as much scoring power as replacement Gurney has.

Rock was outstanding in his World Cup debut last year, as good as carrying Dolan at times, he shouldn’t need to worry about that as much this time as Gurney is a steady scorer and very reliable on the doubles at times. Both are a fan of double 18 too which could bode well for them in terms of set-up play.

Rock has been one of the standout players on tour this year, in terms of stats and numbers - Rocky sits third in the world for overall averages since the beginning of March, sitting at 98.78 so he’ll come here full of confidence.

It’s two players who wear their heart on their sleeve and they should bounce off each other. 20/1 looks rather on the generous side considering they are fourth seeds, meaning they jump straight to the last 16 and don’t have to play in the group stages.

They’ll potentially need to get past England if they’re to make the final with them being in the same half, but on their day are capable of matching them in the scoring and doubles departments.

It’s an exciting new era for the team of Northern Ireland and if they can gel quickly on the oche I think they’ll be a pretty formidable team.

1 unit South Africa to win Group E @ 7/1

Bit of an outlandish pick but one I think to be very overpriced. Poland are the heavy favourites to top the group at 1/6, Ratajski is undoubtedly the best player involved in this group but Radek Szaganski could potentially be a weak link as he hasn’t been in the best of form for some considerable time now.

Norway don’t look like they’ll be up to much with Cor Dekker and Kent Jøran Sivertsen. However, at the same odds, South Africa look a cracking bet to take on the Poles for top spot.

The experienced Devon Petersen partners the very capable Cameron Carolissen and definitely have some potential depending on the form. You’re banking on both of them to have a week where they both play close to their best, but if they do then they could be tough to beat.

Since the introduction of the group stage format, South Africa have won three of their four matches, topping their group once. This looks their best pairing yet so could enjoy similar success.

Carolissen showed his capabilities at the World Championship in December, going oh so close to completing a huge upset against Wessel Nijman, narrowly losing 3-2 in sets in the end. Devon has all the experience to help them along and previously won a European Tour event when playing at his very best.

There’ll be plenty team spirit with these two and I fancy them to have a good shot at getting to the vulnerable favourites in Poland. As I say, 7/1 was just too good to ignore.

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