Announcements

ST HELENS darter Michael Smith teams up with Rob Cross for top seeds England in the BetVictor World Cup of Darts in Salzburg in November.

The English pair take on Philippines in a repeat of last year's opening round of the tournament.

A new-look Scottish team, made up of John Henderson and Robert Thornton, are not among the eight seeded nations and face a tricky opening tie against Japan's Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada as the nations meet for a third successive year.

Wales' number two seeds Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will play Russia.

The 32-nation tournament sees two-player teams representing their countries, with selection based initially on the top-ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit, and will take place at the Salzburgarena from November 6-8.

Michael van Gerwen will be joined by debutant Danny Noppert in representing the Netherlands, with the Dutch pair set to take on Brazil in their opener.

Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan's Northern Ireland will face a strong Canadian side, while Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts' Belgium will take on the Czech Republic.

Host nation Austria, represented by Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez, will play USA, while Germany's Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens will come up against Finland.

One of the pick of the first round ties will see last year's runners-up Republic of Ireland, who again feature the pairing of William O'Connor and Steve Lennon, face Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta's Australia.

In a change to the initial listing of team line-ups, Finland will now be represented by Marko Kantele and Veijo Viinikka following the withdrawal of Kim Viljanen.

The schedule of play for the event will be confirmed in due course.

The BetVictor World Cup of Darts will be televised on Sky Sports as well as through the PDC's international broadcast partners including RTL7 and DAZN, as well as for PDCTV 'Rest of the World Subscribers' and on matchroom.live.

BetVictor World Cup of Darts

Draw Bracket

(1) England v Philippines

Lithuania v Gibraltar

(8) Austria v USA

Singapore v Hungary

(4) Northern Ireland v Canada

New Zealand v Denmark

(5) Belgium v Czech Republic

Hong Kong v China

(2) Wales v Russia

Japan v Scotland

(7) Republic of Ireland v Australia

Poland v South Africa

(3) Netherlands v Brazil

Italy v Spain

(6) Germany v Finland

Sweden v Greece

2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts

Competing Nations & Players (seeding in brackets)

(1) England - Michael Smith & Rob Cross

(2) Wales - Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton

(3) Netherlands - Michael van Gerwen & Danny Noppert

(4) Northern Ireland - Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan

(5) Belgium - Dimitri Van den Bergh & Kim Huybrechts

(6) Germany - Max Hopp & Gabriel Clemens

(7) Republic of Ireland - William O'Connor & Steve Lennon

(8) Austria - Mensur Suljovic & Rowby-John Rodriguez

Australia - Simon Whitlock & Damon Heta

Brazil - Diogo Portela & Bruno Rangel

Canada - Jeff Smith & Matt Campbell

China - Xicheng Han & Di Zhuang

Czech Republic - Karel Sedlacek & Adam Gawlas

Denmark - Niels Heinsøe & Per Laursen

Finland - Marko Kantele & Veijo Viinikka

Gibraltar - Craig Galliano & Justin Hewitt

Greece - John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis

Hong Kong - Kai Fan Leung & Royden Lam

Hungary - Patrik Kovacs & Janos Vegsö

Italy - Andrea Micheletti & Daniele Petri

Japan - Seigo Asada & Yuki Yamada

Lithuania - Darius Labanauskas & Mindaugas Barauskas

New Zealand - Cody Harris & Haupai Puha

Philippines - Lourence Ilagan & Noel Malicdem

Poland - Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk

Russia - Boris Koltsov & Aleksei Kadochnikov

Scotland - John Henderson & Robert Thornton

Singapore - Paul Lim & Harith Lim

South Africa - Devon Petersen & Carl Gabriel

Spain - Cristo Reyes & Toni Alcinas

Sweden - Daniel Larsson & Dennis Nilsson

USA - Chuck Puleo & Danny Lauby