The 2020

BetVictor BetVictor is an online gambling company headquartered in Gibraltar. Founded in 1946, it offers products such as sports betting and online casino. The company is currently owned by Michael Tabor. History The company was founded by William Ch ...

World Cup of Darts was the tenth edition of the

PDC World Cup of Darts The PDC World Cup of Darts is a team darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, and was one of the three new tournaments introduced into the PDC calendar in 2010. It is broadcast live by Sky Sports.behind closed doors from 6–8 November 2020 at the

Salzburgarena Salzburgarena is a multi-functional hall situated in Liefering, a district of Salzburg, Austria. It is a venue for concerts, sporting events and due to flexible seating arrangements, there is space for up to 6,700 people. The venue was opened w ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The event was originally due to be held between 18–21 June 2020 at the

Barclaycard Arena Arena Birmingham (known for sponsorship reasons as Utilita Arena Birmingham, and previously as The Barclaycard Arena and originally as the National Indoor Arena) is an indoor arena and sporting venue in central Birmingham, United Kingdom. It ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, but was postponed and relocated due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. It was also relocated away from a second planned venue of the Premstättner Halle in Graz.

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

were the defending champions, after defeating the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

team of William O'Connor and Steve Lennon 3–1 in the 2019 final, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson did not defend the title for Scotland this year, as both withdrew from taking part due to the

, and were replaced by John Henderson and Robert Thornton, making Scotland the first defending champions of this tournament to be unseeded at the following tournament. The new-look Scotland team were beaten 2–1 by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in the second round.

, represented by

Gerwyn Price Gerwyn Stephen Price (born 7 March 1985) is a Welsh professional darts player and former professional rugby union and rugby league player. Nicknamed "The Iceman", he competes in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), where he is cu ...

and

Jonny Clayton Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the Welsh team that won the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts before winning his ...

, won their first World Cup of Darts title by defeating the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

team of Michael Smith and Rob Cross 3–0 in the final.

Format

The tournament remained at 32 teams this year, with the top 8 teams being seeded and the remaining 24 teams being unseeded in the first round. As with recent years, the tournament is a straight knockout. First round: Best of nine legs doubles.
Second round, quarter and semi-finals: Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores are tied, a best of seven legs doubles match will settle the match.
Final: Three points needed to win the title. Two best of seven legs singles matches are played, followed by a best of seven doubles match. If necessary, one or two best of seven legs singles matches in reverse order are played to determine the champion.

Prize money

Total prize money remained at £350,000. The prize money per team was:

Teams and seedings

All the countries that participated at the 2019 event returned for the 2020 event, although notably owing to the changes of personnel in their teams, neither Scotland nor Australia will be seeded at this tournament for the very first time. On 18 October, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

expressed concerns due to logistics issue caused by

COVID-19 travel restrictions During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and regions imposed quarantines, entry bans, or other travel restrictions for citizens of or recent travelers to the most affected areas. Some countries and regions imposed global restrictions th ...

, and have threatened to withdraw, but they were cleared to participate in the end. On 2 November,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

withdrew from the competition as Harith Lim couldn't fly to Austria, because of new regulations in Singapore (whereas his teammate Paul Lim was based in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

), so they were replaced by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

(represented by

José de Sousa José Augusto Oliveira de Sousa (born 12 February 1974) is a Portuguese professional darts player. He is based in Tarragona and represented Spain at the 2011 WDF World Cup, but played for the Portuguese team afterwards at the PDC. He won his ...

and José Marquês), while

Kim Viljanen Kim Viljanen (born December 4, 1981) is a Finnish darts player. Career Viljanen won the boys' singles event at the 1999 WDF World Cup in Durban, South Africa. In 2004, he progressed to the last 32 of the World Masters, losing 3–2 to Tony West ...

Cristo Reyes Cristo Reyes Torres (born 30 July 1987) is a Spanish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career In October 2014, Reyes bested a field of 154 players to win the Iberian Qualifier for the 2015 PDC World Champi ...

and Xicheng Han of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and China respectively, were replaced by

Veijo Viinikka Veijo Viinikka (born 27 March 1966) is a Finnish professional darts player. He competed in the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship, losing 4–2 to Roland Scholten in the preliminary round. He made his European Tour debut for German Darts Champi ...

, Jesús Noguera and Zizhao Zheng. On the eve of the tournament, the Chinese team of Zizhao Zheng and Di Zhuang were forced to withdraw after issues with their flights to Austria, with standby team Latvia, represented by

Madars Razma Madars Razma (born 26 September 1988) is a Latvian professional darts player nicknamed Latvian Razmatazz who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the Latvia National Championships in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Car ...

& Janis Mustafejevs, taking their spot. The competing nations were confirmed following the conclusion of the 2020 World Grand Prix on 12 October, all players named on the seeded nations are the top 2 of each nation on the PDC Order of Merit, although team selection was subject to change. The Top 8 nations based on combined Order of Merit rankings on 12 October will be seeded. The teams were officially announced on 15 October: Seeded nations Unseeded nations

Results

Draw

Second round

Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best of seven legs doubles match settled the match.

Quarter-finals

Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best of seven legs doubles match settled the match.

Semi-finals

Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best of seven legs doubles match will settle the match.

Final

Three match wins were needed to win the title. Two best of seven legs singles matches followed by a best of seven doubles match. If necessary, one or two best of seven legs reverse singles matches were played to determine the champion.

References

{{2020 in PDC darts

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...