The 2023 World Cup of Darts will see all games be played as pairs, the PDC announced.

The event, scheduled to be at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt from Thursday 15 June – Sunday 18 June, will see 40 nations compete for the prestigious title.

It marks a change from previous editions of the tournament, which saw a mixture of singles and doubles matches played.

“It could be the right move for the event”

Australia won last year’s event, beating 2020 champions Wales in an epic final. Now, the team of Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta will play each game of their defence together as a pair.

The format now sees 40 nations, up from 32 last year. based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players, will be seeded and will enter at the second round stage.

The remaining 36 teams will be split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round – including 12 seeded nations –from which each group winner will progress.

“To move to an all doubles format is something that I know a lot of people have talked about for a long time,” PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter told Online Darts in an exclusive interview.

“Time will tell if it proves to be exactly the right decision, but we’re always happy to try things. I think the feedback and the comments we had about this format shows that it could be the right move for the event.”

Porter also spoke of his joy to see the event expanded to 40 nations including debuts for Iceland, Ukraine and Bahrain. He also mentioned that an extra session will also be played on Friday afternoon to accomodate the change.

You can view the entire conversation with Matt Porter later on this page.

PDC World Cup of Darts Schedule and Format

Schedule

Thursday 15 June (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

Group Stage – Opening Matches

 

Friday 16 June

Afternoon Session (1200 local time, 1100 BST)

Group Stage – Second Matches

 

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

Group Stage – Final Matches

Saturday 17 June

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)

Second Round x4

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

Second Round x4

 

Sunday 18 June

 

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)

Quarter-Finals

 

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

Semi-Finals
Final

Competing Nations

Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, USA, Wales + Latin America Qualifier

Format

Group Stage​​ – Best of seven legs

Second Round​​ – Best of 15 legs

Quarter Finals -​​ Best of 15 legs

Semi Finals​ – ​Best of 15 legs

Final – ​​ ​Best of 19 legs

All games will be played in a Doubles format.