2025 World Cup of Darts: Outright preview with 5/1 and 16/1 tips

Written by: Matt Hill

The World Cup of Darts sees its 2025 renewal kick off on Thursday evening, with the dream pairing of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries hoping to lead a successful title defence for England

Can the world’s top two be opposed? And are there any dark horses lurking? Our arrows expert @Matt_Hill93 takes a closer look.

World Cup of Darts 2025 outright betting odds

England - 1/2

Wales - 11/2

Scotland - 14/1

Netherlands - 16/1

Northern Ireland - 20/1

Belgium - 20/1

Germany - 33/1

Australia - 55/1

Poland - 80/1

Republic of Ireland - 80/1

150/1 BAR

Is England’s dream team unstoppable?

You’d be going back many, many years to try and find an occasion where a darts outright market had a 1/2 favourite atop of it.

Even in the times of peak Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor, to claim that one competitor has a 66.7% implied chance of winning a tournament is near-enough unheard of in a medium as unpredictable as darts.

However, it’s not hard to see the logic here. A pairs event where the world’s two best players - by a reasonable distance - line up as one. How does anyone even get close to stopping Littler and Humphries?

Well, it may be that come Sunday night, we reach the simple and obvious conclusion – they don’t. But in horse racing, we see 1/2 shots beaten on a daily basis, so let’s have a think about why it may not be as cut and dry as the market suggests.

Littler is making his World Cup debut here, replacing Michael Smith, who partnered Humphries to glory 12 months ago. At the time, plenty argued it should’ve been Littler getting his spot but in the end, it mattered little to the outcome.

The Nuke is a phenom of his time, having gone from little-known youngster to world champion in a whirlwind 12 months. Nerves around new experiences, like most things with Littler, don’t seem to exist anything like they would with a standard competitor.

Now I’m not going to argue that nerves will impact him here – but we should acknowledge that pairs darts is a completely new experience for a player used to being so in control of his own fate.

Littler is a quick operator, hence the nickname, so having wait times of 45 seconds in between throws could easily pose a challenge in finding a rhythm. This was certainly the case for Humphries in his opener last year, before growing into the event.

If (and it’s a big if) England - who get a bye through to the knockouts alongside Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - are pulled to face a Netherlands, Germany or Belgium in their opening clash, a slow start could prove very damaging. Particularly when you consider the opponent will have already had two group games to get sufficiently adjusted to the format.

But you have to say, if England come through their opener, they are going to be very tough to stop. 

For me, there’s only three teams who can live with them over a distance – Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands. And two of those make up my outright plays.

Full-strength Wales a force once again

It feels to me that not enough is being said about the return of Gerwyn Price to this event.

The Iceman skipped last year’s renewal at the last minute, citing ‘health issues’, which led to Jim Williams being drafted in as a very last-minute replacement.

Williams is a sound operator but looked understandably undercooked, while Clayton himself was struggling with patchy form at the time.

But when at full strength, this Wales team boast a truly fearsome record in World Cup matches – winning two titles and 16 of their last 18 matches here (the two losses only coming to eventual champions in Australia and Scotland).

Let’s be honest, Price and Clayton are a dream pair in their own right. While they don’t have the same buzz as Littler/ Humphries, they are the tried-and-tested World Cup winning machine.

They love the pairs format, they get on fiercely both on and off the board, they both love representing their country and they are both bang in form. 

Price has re-entered the conversation as a potential World Championship winner for me this year, with some stellar performances across all manner of events. Clayton, meanwhile, seems to be rediscovering his magic touch, having lifted a Euro Tour title only last month (beating Humphries on the way).

All the pressure being on England is another huge plus – because you can guarantee the Welsh duo are absolutely relishing the prospect of spoiling the supposed precession.

It’s not a startling revelation to conclude they are far and away the second-most likely winners of this tournament but at 11/2, we are getting a much more attractive price. 

Taking them each-way looks a worthwhile ploy at 1/2 odds for a runner-up berth. While we don’t know much about the make-up of the knockout draw yet for obvious reasons, we do know they can’t meet England until at least the final, so I’m more than happy to lock in a profit should they take care of their three other knockout games en-route.

New-look Netherlands look overpriced

I mentioned Scotland and Netherlands as the other two teams who I believe can serve it up to England. However, I’m far more enamoured with the latter’s prospects.

Scotland, represented by the decorated veteran duo of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright, clearly have what’s required but you are taking a leap to suggest both will be on tip-top form at the same time.

Anderson, for all his brilliance in the last three years’ of revival, has often struggled to bring his best game to the big stage. Meanwhile, Wright is even less reliable – saving his best stuff for the rarest of occasions, such as when he dumped Humphries out of Ally Pally in December with a spellbinding stint on the outer ring. 

So, rather than take that leap of faith at 14/1, let’s get with a much more intriguing runner in the Netherlands – represented in 2025 by Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen.

For the casual viewer, it would be a fair assumption that no Van Gerwen means a weaker Dutch unit. And yet, recent history tells us quite the opposite.

MVG is skipping the event for the third time in four years, even claiming in a recent interview that he may never play in it again. He’s opted for a holiday to Ibiza instead, which tells you exactly where the World Cup sits on his priority list.

Previous team combinations in his absence have never quite seemed to click. Most recently, it’s been Noppert alongside Dirk van Duijvenbode – and I’m struggling to think of two more polarising characters on the oche. 

Noppert, aptly now nicknamed the Freeze, is the definition of unflustered, going about his business in a cool and calm fashion. Van Duijvenbode, conversely, stomps around the stage like a raging bull. It never felt like a successful dynamic.

Now, Dirk is replaced by a talented – and crucially, understated – operator in Van Veen. Someone who was giving as good as he got with Littler on the Development Tour only a couple of years ago.

If it wasn’t for Littler’s unprecedented rise, we’d all be hailing Van Veen as the future of darts. Already a World Youth Champion, a Pro Tour winner and a major semi-finalist at the ripe old age of 23, I still believe this is a player who will lift the Sid Waddell Trophy before he hangs up his arrows.

On raw ability, he and Noppert are capable of beating anyone but they also have the key component I have already referenced with Wales – compatibility.

Van Veen revealed in some pre-World Cup media duties earlier this week that he and Noppert have a strong relationship, practicing together before every tournament. I’m not sure many were aware of that information.

Now we hear it, it makes sense. They are birds of a feather. Polite operators who let their darts do the talking and who should never be written off.

I also love the fact that Van Veen still plays Super League back in his homeland, meaning he is well tuned into pairs darts and its nuances. That could be a crucial advantage.

Neither of these two players are overly reliant on a fast pace, either. While the youngster’s throw itself is quick, he is quite adept at pausing, taking his time and recomposing. 

Meanwhile, Noppert has to be one of the coolest finishers around. He’s a major winner, a player who was in the conversation for the Premier League only two years ago. Sure, he’s not as glamorous as some of the other leading lights but I’d love him on my side.

Netherlands, it should be pointed out, do have to come through the group phase, which perhaps hints at how their larger price has came about. But given they are 1/12 to do so, I see no reason why we should worry about that element.

If anything, it should allow the pairing to be fully tuned up for their first knockout match on Saturday – and even if that ends up being against England, you’d be a brave man laying them.

Let’s take some of the 16/1 available each-way. If you can find a Ladbrokes account with a ‘Boost’ promotion still alive on it (tough going, admittedly), you can make that 18/1.

Hard to forecast a shock winner

Though we’ve seen a good variety of winners in recent times here, there hasn’t really been a ‘shock’ winner – and I don’t see that changing in 2025.

Of the top-end contenders I’ve not yet covered, it’s probably Northern Ireland and Germany who have the best prospects of going really deep. 

Norn Iron have a new duo for the first time since the Titanic sunk as World Cup ever-present Brendan Dolan makes way for the new kid on the block, Josh Rock. 

Rock is another who would be raved about much more had it not been for Littler’s explosion onto the scene. His path to the top is proving more traditional, bursting onto the radar in his frist year before a mediocre second term. 

In 2025, Rock seems to have found a new maturity to his game which bodes extremely well for his future. His scoring is up there with the very best – but I still worry about his occasional lapses on the outer ring.

His playing partner Daryl Gurney is in reasonable nick but seems to have picked up an irritating habit of losing games he should win. Superchin has seen it all in this tournament however and will know that in Rock, he has a partner capable of bludgeoning opposition in the scoring phase.

I’m struggling to see a way they’d overcome England in a potential semi-final though, so it is a pass.

Germany can always count on home support in this tournament and at times, that has been as much of a burden as it has an advantage. However, I do like this year’s pairing.

The in-form Ricardo Pietreczko comes in for a seemingly declining Gabriel Clemens and while Pikachu isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, he is unquestionably at his best on home soil, with his sole Euro Tour win and other best performances coming in Germany.

He’ll partner Martin Schindler, who is a veteran of this tournament now and is enjoying arguably the best spell of his career.

They should have no problems getting through their group and if they land on the right side of the draw (i.e. avoiding England), they might go deep. However, I’ve already stressed my preference for Wales and the Netherlands, so taking three bets against England seems a tad ambitious. I may live to regret it but it’s another pass.

I don’t see much to get excited about with Belgium. Mike De Decker is a favourite of mine but he blows hot and cold at the best of times. On World Cup debut, nerves could be apparent.

That’s before you even consider the fact that his partner, Dimitri Van den Bergh, is coming off an extended break from darts for mental health reasons. Far too many red flags to back this pairing at just 20/1, even if they do have plenty of talent.

Australia won this event three years ago, landing me a lovely touch at 33/1, but Simon Whitlock has dropped off the tour since then and it’s hard to see the Wizard returning to the fray here in title-winning form. It’ll take a good performance to get rid of them, and I do expect them to win their group, yet an outright wager seems fanciful this time around.

Poland have an in-form Krzysztof Ratajski but the same cannot be said about his teammate Radak Szaganski. I’d have preferred them as a runner if young Sebastien Bialecki had taken his place. 

The same can be said for Austria – perennial overachievers here in recent years – who have a mediocre Mensur Suljovic and debutant Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. They’ll struggle to come past Australia in the groups this time, I believe.

Of the rest, Ireland have flattered to deceive in recent times and it’s basically name your price beyond that. 

So, keep it simple and back Wales and the Netherlands to give England a run for their money.

Matt’s outright selections for the 2025 World Cup of Darts

2pts EW - Wales to win the World Cup - 5/1 (General - 1/2 odds 2 places)

1pt EW - Netherlands to win the World Cup - 16/1 (Ladbrokes. Coral - 1/3 odds 2 places)

Meet the Author

Matt Hill


Head of Content

Matt has now been operating in the sports content and betting space for the best part of a decade, including extended stints with industry giants Betfred and LiveScore.

A qualified journalist, he began his career reporting on his beloved Carlisle United FC as a teenager and still follows the Blues avidly to this day, as much as life allows.

One of the keenest punters around, Matt is never shy of an opinion and builds the bulk of his betting portfolio around antepost football markets and PDC darts events.

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