2020 PDC World Cup of Darts

2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Tournament information
Dates	6–8 November 2020
Venue	Salzburgarena
Location	Salzburg
Country	Austria
Organisation(s)	PDC
Format	Legs
Prize fund	£350,000
Winner's share	£70,000
High checkout	160 Matt Campbell 160 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Champion(s)
Wales (Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton)
«2019 2021»

The 2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts was the tenth edition of the PDC World Cup of Darts. It took place 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,^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.

Total prize money remained at £350,000.^[5]

The prize money per team was:

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 expressed concerns due to logistics issue caused by COVID-19 travel restrictions, and have threatened to withdraw, but they were cleared to participate in the end.^[6]

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 standby team Latvia, represented by Madars Razma & Janis Mustafejevs, taking their spot.^[7]

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  England Michael Smith and Rob Cross 2  Wales Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton 3  Netherlands Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert 4  Northern Ireland Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan 5  Belgium Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts 6  Germany Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens 7  Ireland William O'Connor and Steve Lennon 8  Austria Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez

Unseeded nations Country Entered players  Australia Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta  Brazil Diogo Portela and Bruno Rangel  Canada Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell  Czech Republic Karel Sedláček and Adam Gawlas  Denmark Niels Heinsøe and Per Laursen  Finland Marko Kantele and Veijo Viinikka  Gibraltar Craig Galliano and Justin Hewitt  Greece John Michael and Veniamin Symeonidis  Hong Kong Kai Fan Leung and Royden Lam  Hungary Patrik Kovács and János Végső  Italy Andrea Micheletti and Daniele Petri  Japan Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada  Latvia Madars Razma and Janis Mustafejevs  Lithuania Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas  New Zealand Cody Harris and Haupai Puha  Philippines Lourence Ilagan and Noel Malicdem  Poland Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk  Portugal José de Sousa and José Marquês  Russia Boris Koltsov and Aleksei Kadochnikov  Scotland John Henderson and Robert Thornton  South Africa Devon Petersen and Carl Gabriel  Spain Toni Alcinas and Jesús Noguera  Sweden Daniel Larsson and Dennis Nilsson  United States Chuck Puleo and Danny Lauby Jr.

	First round (best of 9 legs) 6 November					Second round (best of 3 matches) 7 November								Quarter-finals (best of 3 matches) 8 November								Semi-finals (best of 3 matches) 8 November								Final (best of 5 matches) 8 November
	1	England 90.32	5
		Philippines 89.48	3
						1	England 91.92		4	4	2
							Lithuania 78.72		0	2	0
		Lithuania 87.23	5
		Gibraltar 77.17	3
														1	England 90.90	3	4	4	2
														8	Austria 90.98	4	3	3	1
	8	Austria 82.91	5
		United States 81.18	2
						8	Austria 83.92		4	4	2
							Portugal 83.87		2	1	0
		Portugal 85.40	5
		Hungary 73.32	0
																						1	England 95.55		4	4	2
																						5	Belgium 89.60		3	3	0
	4	Northern Ireland 87.78	2
		Canada 94.51	5
							Canada 92.26		4	4	2
							New Zealand 88.33		1	2	0
		New Zealand 86.22	5
		Denmark 72.85	2
															Canada 93.61	1	4	2	1
														5	Belgium 97.16	4	1	4	2
	5	Belgium 93.53	5
		Czech Republic 90.37	4
						5	Belgium 85.35		4	4	2
							Latvia 76.10		0	3	0
		Hong Kong 81.54	4
		Latvia 78.35	5
																														1	England 95.38			1	2	3	0
																														2	Wales 101.30			4	4	4	3
	2	Wales 93.94	5
		Russia 73.60	0
						2	Wales 96.32	4	2	4	2
							Scotland 85.72	2	4	0	1
		Japan 75.08	3
		Scotland 80.45	5
														2	Wales 98.90	4	3	4	2
															Australia 98.59	3	4	2	1
	7	Ireland 93.12	2
		Australia 92.52	5
							Australia 97.91		4	4	2
							Poland 82.61		3	1	0
		Poland 90.54	5
		South Africa 82.73	0
																						2	Wales 99.38		4	4	2
																						6	Germany 92.12		2	2	0
	3	Netherlands 94.00	5
		Brazil 76.42	1
						3	Netherlands 96.96		4	4	2
							Spain 85.89		0	3	0
		Italy 78.83	4
		Spain 86.13	5
														3	Netherlands 84.78	3	4	3	1
														6	Germany 86.46	4	1	4	2
	6	Germany 96.35	5
		Finland 81.77	0
						6	Germany 92.73		4	4	2
							Greece 85.72		1	0	0
		Sweden 82.92	0
		Greece 91.65	5

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

England (1)	Lithuania	Score
Michael Smith 91.09	Darius Labanauskas 81.48	4–0
Rob Cross 92.74	Mindaugas Barauskas 75.95	4–2
Final result		2–0

Austria (8)	Portugal	Score
Mensur Suljović 86.48	José de Sousa 93.52	4–2
Rowby-John Rodriguez 81.36	José Marquês 74.22	4–1
Final result		2–0

Canada	New Zealand	Score
Jeff Smith 88.32	Haupai Puha 88.41	4–1
Matt Campbell 96.19	Cody Harris 88.24	4–2
Final result		2–0

Belgium (5)	Latvia	Score
Kim Huybrechts 87.13	Janis Mustafejevs 69.43	4–0
Dimitri Van den Bergh 83.56	Madars Razma 82.76	4–3
Final result		2–0

Wales (2)	Scotland	Score
Gerwyn Price 104.60	John Henderson 93.62	4–2
Jonny Clayton 82.47	Robert Thornton 74.13	2–4
Price & Clayton 101.90	Henderson & Thornton 89.42	4–0
Final result		2–1

Australia	Poland	Score
Simon Whitlock 95.82	Krzysztof Ratajski 94.78	4–3
Damon Heta 99.99	Krzysztof Kciuk 70.44	4–1
Final result		2–0

Netherlands (3)	Spain	Score
Michael van Gerwen 101.90	Toni Alcinas 86.00	4–0
Danny Noppert 92.01	Jesús Noguera 85.78	4–3
Final result		2–0

Germany (6)	Greece	Score
Gabriel Clemens 95.73	John Michael 85.00	4–1
Max Hopp 89.73	Veniamin Symeonidis 86.43	4–0
Final result		2–0

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

England (1)	Austria (8)	Score
Michael Smith 101.54	Mensur Suljović 109.52	3–4
Rob Cross 88.89	Rowby-John Rodriguez 83.54	4–3
Johnson and Smith 82.28	Jackson and Carter 79.88	4–3
Final result		2–1

Canada	Belgium (5)	Score
Jeff Smith 97.57	Kim Huybrechts 108.32	1–4
Matt Campbell 97.56	Dimitri Van den Bergh 94.42	4–1
Smith & Campbell 85.71	Van den Bergh & Huybrechts 88.75	2–4
Final result		1–2

Wales (2)	Australia	Score
Gerwyn Price 98.04	Simon Whitlock 104.13	4–3
Jonny Clayton 99.87	Damon Heta 102.25	2–4
Price & Clayton 98.80	Whitlock & Heta 89.38	4–2
Final result		2–1

Netherlands (3)	Germany (6)	Score
Danny Noppert 84.91	Gabriel Clemens 88.58	3–4
Michael van Gerwen 87.00	Max Hopp 77.24	4–1
Van Gerwen & Noppert 82.42	Clemens & Hopp 93.57	3–4
Final result		1–2

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

England (1)	Belgium (5)	Score
Michael Smith 96.57	Kim Huybrechts 88.60	4–3
Rob Cross 94.53	Dimitri Van den Bergh 90.59	4–3
Final result		2–0

Wales (2)	Germany (6)	Score
Gerwyn Price 94.36	Gabriel Clemens 90.51	4–2
Jonny Clayton 104.40	Max Hopp 93.72	4–2
Final result		2–0

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.

England (1)	Wales (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