The 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, known as the 2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts for sponsorship reasons, was the tenth edition of the PDC World Cup of Darts. It occurred behind closed doors from 6–8 November 2020 at the Salzburgarena in Salzburg, Austria. The event was originally due to be held between 18–21 June 2020 at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, but was postponed and relocated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also relocated away from a second planned venue of the Premstättner Halle in Graz.
Scotland were the defending champions, after defeating the Irish 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 COVID-19 pandemic, 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 in the second round.
Wales, represented by Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, won their first World Cup of Darts title by defeating the English 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 in 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-leg singles matches. If the scores are tied, a best-of-seven-leg 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: Position (no. of teams) Prize money(Total: £350,000)Winners (1) £70,000Runners-Up (1) £40,000Semi-finalists (2) £24,000Quarter-finalists (4) £16,000Last 16 (second round) (8) £8,000Last 32 (first round) (16) £4,000
Teams and seedings All the countries that participated in 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 expressed concerns due to logistics issues caused by COVID-19 travel restrictions, and had threatened to withdraw, but they were cleared to participate in the end.
On 2 November, Singapore 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), so they were replaced by Portugal (represented by José de Sousa and José Marquês), while Kim Viljanen, Cristo Reyes and Xicheng Han of Finland, Spain and China respectively, were replaced by Veijo Viinikka, 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 the standby team Latvia, represented by Madars Razma & 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 Rank Country Entered players 1 Michael Smith and Rob Cross 2 Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton 3 4 Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan 5 6 Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens 7 William O'Connor and Steve Lennon 8
Unseeded nations Country Entered players Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta Diogo Portela and Bruno Rangel Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell Karel Sedláček and Adam Gawlas Niels Heinsøe and Per Laursen Marko Kantele and Veijo Viinikka Craig Galliano and Justin Hewitt John Michael and Veniamin Symeonidis Kai Fan Leung and Royden Lam Patrik Kovács and János Végső Andrea Micheletti and Daniele Petri Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada Madars Razma and Janis Mustafejevs Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas Cody Harris and Haupai Puha Lourence Ilagan and Noel Malicdem Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk José de Sousa and José Marquês Boris Koltsov and Aleksei Kadochnikov John Henderson and Robert Thornton Devon Petersen and Carl Gabriel Toni Alcinas and Jesús Noguera Daniel Larsson and Dennis Nilsson Chuck Puleo and Danny Lauby Jr.
Results Draw
Second round Two best-of-seven singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best-of-seven-leg doubles match settled the match.
(1) Score 4–0 4–2 Final result 2–0
(8) Score 4–2 4–1 Final result 2–0
Score 4–1 4–2 Final result 2–0
(5) Score 4–0 4–3 Final result 2–0
(2) Score 4–2 2–4 4–0 Final result 2–1
Score 4–3 4–1 Final result 2–0
(3) Score 4–0 4–3 Final result 2–0
(6) Score 4–1 4–0 Final result 2–0
Quarter-finals Two best-of-seven singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best-of-seven-leg doubles match settled the match.
(1) (8) Score 3–4 4–3 4–3 Final result 2–1
(5) Score 1–4 4–1 2–4 Final result 1–2
(2) Score 4–3 2–4 4–2 Final result 2–1
(3) (6) Score 3–4 4–1 3–4 Final result 1–2
Semi-finals Two best-of-seven singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best-of-seven-leg doubles match would settle the match.
(1) (5) Score 4–3 4–3 Final result 2–0
(2) (6) Score 4–2 4–2 Final result 2–0
Final Three match wins were needed to win the title. Two best-of-seven singles matches followed by a best-of-seven doubles match. If necessary, one or two best-of-seven reverse singles matches were played to determine the champion.
(1) (2) Score Michael Smith 96.89 Gerwyn Price 95.38 1–4 Rob Cross 94.41 Jonny Clayton 105.00 2–4 Smith & Cross 94.85 Price & Clayton 103.52 3–4 Final result 0–3
References