Team World Championship in Frankfurt
Germany can even become world champion in darts
By Kevin Schulte, Frankfurt am Main
27.06.2024, 19:43
The European Football Championship is taking a two-day break, and instead the team world championship in darts is taking place in Frankfurt am Main. Germany is one of the favorites and Martin Schindler is dreaming of the perfect summer.
Darts World Championship in the summer? In Frankfurt? What is that? No, you haven’t missed a revolution in darts. The original, the “World Darts Championship”, is still held in London’s Alexandra Palace, the place of longing for all darts fans. The darts fly every year in December, before and after Christmas, with the grand final shortly after New Year. In Frankfurt, on the other hand, the doubles world championship title is at stake this week. The World Cup of Darts takes place every summer in the Frankfurt ice rink. 40 nations compete with their two best players. Germany is one of the favorites to win the title.
The annual doubles tournament is the only one of its kind. The PDC stars only play in teams on these four days in June. That alone makes the tournament special. Notorious individual athletes have to be formed into a doubles team. Some teams do this very well, others less so, and Belgium doesn’t do it at all.
Who are the favorites?
No major darts nation is missing, but some top players are. Defending champion Wales is going into the race with a heavily depleted squad because 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price cancelled the day before the start of the tournament for health reasons. Doubles partner Jonny Clayton will instead compete with Jim Williams, ranked 44th in the world.
England is the top-seeded nation. The world’s number 1 and 3 represent the motherland of darts on the Main. The reigning world champion Luke Humphries plays together with his predecessor Michael Smith. Sounds like an unbeatable doubles team? But many teams have thought so in the past, but the reality was often different. Humphries and Smith have never played together before and may need to get used to each other first.
The new darts superstar par excellence, World Championship finalist Luke Littler, is not (yet) taking part in the Team World Championship. Next year, however, the 17-year-old should qualify for the English team. This year, there were simply too few tournaments for the super talent to work his way to the top of the world rankings. But England is still the favorite, especially since Price’s cancellation.
It is questionable whether the Netherlands can compete for the title. On paper, the doubles team appears to be top-notch, with three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert. However, the two players are very different and do not really harmonize with each other. It is questionable whether they will still be able to pull off a major victory. Especially since van Gerwen, who is number two in the world rankings, is completely out of form.
The mood will be better, at least among the Scots. Peter Wright and Gary Anderson reached the final last year and want to take the final step this year. The two two-time world champions are not lacking in experience. Scotland has 107 years of life experience at the World Cup of Darts. Anderson will lead the team this time, but Wright is at least on the up after some questionable performances in recent months.
What is the mode?
The top four nations, England, Wales, the Netherlands and Scotland, will only enter the tournament on Saturday. The quartet is seeded for the round of 16. Today and tomorrow, the other 36 teams will play in 12 groups of three to determine the other participants for the knockout round. The game will be played in the super short “Best of 7 Legs” format, meaning that only four legs are needed to win. At professional level, this is the shortest format of the year. From the round of 16 onwards, 8 legs are needed to win, and in the final, 10 legs are needed.
- Group A: Belgium, Singapore, Philippines
- Group B: Northern Ireland, South Africa, Switzerland
- Group C: Germany, New Zealand, Finland
- Group D: Australia, Japan, Hong Kong
- Group E: Ireland, Lithuania, Taiwan
- Group F: Austria, China, Guyana
- Group G: Poland, Norway, Hungary
- Group H: Czech Republic, Bahrain, Iceland
- Group I: Croatia, Malaysia, Canada
- Group J: France, Latvia, Denmark
- Group K: Sweden, Spain, Gibraltar
- Group L: USA, Portugal, Italy
- Seeded in the round of 16: England (1), Wales (2), Netherlands (3), Scotland (4)
What are Germany’s chances?
Germany is not one of the top favorites, but it is not far from it. This year there has been a change of guard in the rankings. For the first time, Martin Schindler is the German number one, closely followed by Gabriel Clemens. Together, the two have the best conditions for a strong result in Frankfurt. Last year, Schindler and Clemens defeated top-seeded England in the quarterfinals, before losing to Scotland in the semifinals. It is not out of the question that they will reach the final on Sunday for the first time in World Cup history.
“It would be a great story if we became European football champions and team world champions in darts,” said Martin Schindler in the run-up to the tournament in the darts podcast “Checkout”. The 27-year-old lives with his family just 40 minutes by car from the venue and has high hopes for the home tournament. “It’s a special feeling to represent Germany together with Gabriel Clemens. We are ready to go a long way again,” announced Schindler, making it clear: “We can beat anyone. If we get our game right, all doors are open to us. Our biggest competitor is ourselves.”
But first the German duo must survive the tricky group phase, says Schindler. This evening they will face New Zealand, their strongest opponent in the group. If Schindler and Clemens win, they should be able to make it to the round of 16 against Finland on Friday evening.
What else should you pay attention to and who should you pay attention to?
The Scots’ 107 years of life experience are clearly topped: Team Singapore, led by the iconic darts legend Paul Lim (70 years old), has a whopping 124 years. However, Singapore will almost certainly not make it out of the preliminary round, in a difficult group with the Philippines and Belgium.
Speaking of Belgium, the doubles match is probably the most exciting of the entire tournament. Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts can’t stand each other, but now have to play together for four days. Last year, there was a scandal in the first game when the two didn’t look at each other. The strong doubles team still made it to the semi-finals. That will be difficult this year, because Huybrechts was seriously injured in an altercation on the sidelines of the Belgian Cup final in May and had to undergo surgery. His doctors had expressly advised Huybrechts not to play again. But he’s doing it anyway.
Another unknown factor for the tournament is the European Football Championship, which is taking place at the same time. Although there are no games in Frankfurt over the weekend, the focus is unlikely to be on darts, especially on Saturday evening, when Germany will face Denmark in the round of 16 of the European Football Championship from 9 p.m. It is quite possible that Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens will then be assigned to the afternoon session. At least: interest in the Team Darts World Championship is high despite the European Football Championship. According to information from ntv.de, 90 percent of the tickets for Saturday evening have been sold.