Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld will attempt to retain The Netherlands' Betway World Cup of Darts crown this weekend, as 32 nations head to the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt to battle it out on the oche, with only one coming out victorious, and the action all kicks off in Germany on Thursday.
The Dutch duo defeated Wales in last year's final, and fresh from an emphatic Premier League Darts win, van Gerwen will be hoping he can continue his fine form in this year's event, and with van Barneveld performing with credit in the Premier League then there's no surprise to see that pair heading the betting for the hotly-anticipated event.
van Gerwen has been warming up for the showpiece event by putting on a darts masterclass with the Dutch national football team, but with Ronald Koeman's men not heading to Russia for next month's football World Cup then it will have to be MvG and RvB flying the flag on the world stage, and they will be the ones to beat.
Four-times winners England will have a new-look side for the 2018 tournament as world champion Rob Cross will make his debut for the national team, and he will be partnered by Dave Chisnall, and the number two seeds open their account against Czech Republic, while second favourites Scotland (Gary Anderson & Peter Wright) are still look to win their maiden World Cup crown, and the number one seeds will lock horns with the United States in their first round match.
As shown last year when Scotland were beaten by lowly Singapore in the first round there are sure to be some shock results over the coming days, and while the likes of Australia (Simon Whitlock & Kyle Anderson), Wales (Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton), Belgium (Kim Huybrechts & Dimitri Van den Bergh) and Austria (Mensur Suljovic & Zoran Lerchbacher) will also fancy their chances of heading into the latter stages of the event there will be some nations hoping to bag a notable scalp and put their name on the world darting map.
China's Momo Zhou will be the second female player to feature in the World Cup - following on from Anastasia Dobromyslova's appearance for Russia a few years ago - and she will be hoping she can play her best darts when facing Switzerland in the first round, and with the first round only being played over a best-of-9-legs match then it could prove to be a tough ask for some recognised nations to hit top speed from the off.
One thing is for sure though that there will be notable fireworks in Frankfurt throughout the four-day tournament, and only the best nation will prevail and etch their names on the illustrious roll of honour.
2018 Betway World Cup of Darts First Round Draw
Schedule of Play
Thursday May 31 (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
First Round
Italy v Canada
Russia v Spain
Switzerland v China
Denmark v Brazil
Wales v Thailand
Australia v Hong Kong
Scotland v United States of America
Austria v Japan
Friday June 1 (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
First Round
New Zealand v Singapore
Greece v Finland
Northern Ireland v Poland
Hungary v South Africa
Belgium v Republic of Ireland
England v Czech Republic
Sweden v Germany
Netherlands v Gibraltar
Competing Nations
Seeded Nations
1 Scotland - Peter Wright & Gary Anderson
2 England - Rob Cross & Dave Chisnall
3 Netherlands - Michael van Gerwen & Raymond van Barneveld
4 Australia - Simon Whitlock & Kyle Anderson
5 Wales - Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton
6 Northern Ireland - Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
7 Belgium - Kim Huybrechts & Dimitri Van den Bergh
8 Austria - Mensur Suljovic & Zoran Lerchbacher
Other Nations
Brazil - Diogo Portela & Bruno Rangel
Canada - John Part & Dawson Murschell
China - Momo Zhou & Xiaochen Zong
Czech Republic - Roman Benecky & Karel Sedlacek
Denmark - Per Laursen & Henrik Primdal
Finland - Kim Viljanen & Marko Kantele
Germany - Max Hopp & Martin Schindler
Gibraltar - Dyson Parody & Justin Broton
Greece - John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis
Hong Kong - Royden Lam & Ho Yin Shek
Hungary - Tamas Alexits & Nandor Bezzeg
Italy - Michel Furlani & Alessio Medaina
Japan - Seigo Asada & Haruki Muramatsu
New Zealand - Cody Harris & Warren Parry
Poland - Krzysztof Ratajski & Tytus Kanik
Republic of Ireland - Steve Lennon & William O'Connor
Russia - Boris Koltsov & Aleksandr Oreshkin
Singapore - Paul Lim & Harith Lim
South Africa - Devon Petersen & Liam O'Brien
Spain - Cristo Reyes & Toni Alcinas
Sweden - Daniel Larsson & Dennis Nilsson
Switzerland – Alexander Fehlmann & Andreas Bless
Thailand - Thanawat Gaweenuntavong & Attapol Eupakaree
United States of America - Larry Butler & Darin Young
