World Cup of Darts: Everything you need to know about the annual team event in Frankfurt

The World Cup of Darts takes place at the Eissporthalle from June 15-18 - live on Sky Sports. Here's what you need to know ahead of the expanded tournament under an exciting new format.

Who are the reigning champions?

Represented by Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock - Australia won their maiden World Cup of Darts title after shocking England and Wales en route to glory in Frankfurt last year.

Heta and Whitlock produced a sensational doubles display to dump out five-time semi-finalists Belgium before defeating four-time winners and top seeds England in the semi-finals.

The green and gold then claimed the title thanks to a 3-1 victory over Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton in the final.

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Who are this year's favourites?

Take your pick! The top four ranked nations - based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players - are seeded and will enter at the second round stage.

Four-time winners England and Netherlands will begin their campaign in the last 16, alongside 2020 winners Wales and two-time champions Scotland.

Which country has the best pairings?

World Champion Michael Smith and Rob Cross will star for top seeds England, with Dirk van Duijvenbode and Danny Noppert set to fly the flag for Netherlands after Michael van Gerwen pulled out.

Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will bid to repeat their 2020 exploits as they represent Wales for a sixth straight year, while Gary Anderson returns to partner Peter Wright for fourth seeds Scotland.

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What makes the World Cup of Darts so exciting?

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Let's go back to 2012 when the duel between England and Australia was decided via a last-leg shoot-out. Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis appeared to have the title in the bag but Paul Nicholson and Simon Whitlock had other ideas.

What's the format?

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With the top four ranked nations entering at the second round stage, the remaining 36 teams have been split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round - including 12 seeded nations - from which each group winner will progress.

Following the completion of the round-robin phase, the draw for the last 16 will take place on Friday evening, as England, Netherlands, Wales and Scotland prepare to enter the fray in Frankfurt on Saturday.

The top four seeded nations will be pre-allocated into the draw bracket, with the 12 group winners to be drawn at random.

The second round will take place across a double session on Saturday, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on a bumper Finals Day in Frankfurt.

Group Stage Draw

Seeded through to Second Round
(1) England
(2) Wales
(3) Netherlands
(4) Scotland

Group A
(5) Belgium
Finland
China

Group B
(6) Germany
Hong Kong
Japan

Group C
(7) Australia
Guyana
Gibraltar

Group D
(8) Northern Ireland
France
Ukraine

Group E
(9) Republic of Ireland
Thailand
Croatia

Group F
(10) Austria
Denmark
USA

Group G
(11) Poland
Portugal
Lithuania

Group H
(12) Canada
India
Hungary

Group I
(13) Czech Republic
Singapore
Philippines

Group J
(14) Spain
South Africa
Iceland

Group K
(15) Latvia
New Zealand
Bahrain

Group L
(16) Switzerland
Italy
Sweden

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Session Schedule

Thursday June 15 (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
Group Stage - First Matches x12
Team 1 v Team 2 from each group - match order TBC
Belgium v Finland
Germany v Hong Kong
Australia v Guyana
Northern Ireland v France
Republic of Ireland v Thailand
Austria v Denmark
Poland v Portugal
Canada v India
Czech Republic v Singapore
Spain v South Africa
Latvia v New Zealand
Switzerland v Italy

Friday June 16
Afternoon Session 11am (BST)
Group Stage - Second Matches x12
Loser First Match v Team 3

Evening Session (6pm)
Group Stage - Final Matches x12
Winner First Match v Team 3

Saturday June 17
Afternoon Session (12pm)
Second Round x4

Evening Session (6pm)
Second Round x4

Sunday June 18
Afternoon Session (12pm)
Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (6pm)
Semi-Finals
Final

Competing Nations & Pairings

Australia - Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock
Austria - Mensur Suljovic, Rowby-John Rodriguez
Bahrain - Basem Mahmood, Abdulnasser Yusuf
Belgium - Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts
Canada - Matt Campbell, Jeff Smith
China - Xiaochen Zong, Lihao Wen
Croatia - Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grbavac
Czech Republic - Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek
Denmark - Vladimir Andersen, Benjamin Reus
England - Michael Smith, Rob Cross
Finland - Marko Kantele, Paavo Myller
France - Thibault Tricole, Jacques Labre
Germany - Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler
Gibraltar - Craig Galliano, Justin Hewitt
Guyana - Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald
Hong Kong - Man Lok Leung, Lok Yin Lee
Hungary - Patrik Kovács, Levente Sárai
Iceland - Hallgrimur Egilsson, Vitor Charrua
India - Prakash Jiwa, Amit Gilitwala
Italy - Michele Turetta, Massimo Dante
Japan - Jun Matsuda, Tomoya Goto
Latvia - Madars Razma, Dmitriy Zhukov
Lithuania - Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas
Netherlands - Danny Noppert, Dirk van Duijvenbode
New Zealand - Ben Robb, Warren Parry
Northern Ireland - Brendan Dolan, Daryl Gurney
Philippines - Christian Perez, Lourence Ilagan
Poland - Krzysztof Ratajski, Krzysztof Kciuk
Portugal - Jose de Sousa, Luis Ameixa
Republic of Ireland - William O'Connor, Keane Barry
Scotland - Peter Wright, Gary Anderson
Singapore - Paul Lim, Harith Lim
South Africa - Devon Petersen, Vernon Bouwers
Spain - Jose Justicia, Tony Martinez
Sweden - Dennis Nilsson, Oskar Lukasiak
Switzerland - Stefan Bellmont, Marcel Walpen
Thailand - Attapol Eupakaree, Yong Gaweenuntavong
Ukraine - Vladyslav Omelchenko, Illia Pekaruk
USA - Jules van Dongen, Leonard Gates
Wales - Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton

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Watch the World Cup of Darts on Sky Sports

Thursday June 15
6pm: Group Stage (Sky Sports Action)

Friday June 16
11am: Group Stage (Sky Sports Arena)
6pm: Group Stage (Sky Sports Arena)

Saturday June 17
12pm: Second round (Sky Sports Action)
6pm: Second round (Sky Sports Action)

Sunday June 18
12pm: Quarter-finals (Sky Sports Action)
6pm: Semi-finals and final (Sky Sports Action)

The annual World Cup of Darts will be broadcast on Sky Sports and you can catch all the action from June 15-18.