Take your place as the arrows fly once again at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg for the 2013 PDC World Cup of Darts.
The top two throwers from 24 nations will step up to the oche to battle in straight knockout competition and Sky Sports will show all three days of the £150,000 event exclusively live.
England’s pairing of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis lifted the title in 2012 after defeating Australian duo Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson in a breathtaking final.
Lewis and Taylor raced into a 3-0 lead before Nicholson gave the Aussies a lifeline in the final singles match, a chance the men from down under seized in the doubles clash to force a championship-deciding leg.
But, after Whitlock, Taylor and Nicholson all spurned match-winning opportunities, then-World Champion Lewis kept his cool to lead England to victory.
Taylor and Lewis will return to defend their titles on the World Cup oche this year, with ‘The Power’ having wrestled the PDC World Championship trophy from the grasp of ‘Jackpot’ at Alexandra Palace last month.
Each nation is represented by its top two players on the PDC’s order of merit, with seedings determined by the average world ranking of each pairing.
England will be among the pre-tournament favourites, but the likes of the Netherlands, Australia and Wales are certain to mount strong challenges to dethrone the reigning champions.
World Championship runner-up Michael van Gerwen ousts Vincent van der Voort from the Dutch team and ‘Mighty Mike’ will make his debut in the event for the Netherlands, alongside 2010 winner Raymond van Barneveld, while Belgium is set to be represented by the Huybrechts brothers.
Kim and Ronny Huybrechts will create history as they represent Belgium as the first siblings to compete in the World Cup of Darts.
UK Open champion Robert Thornton’s rise back into the world’s top 16 has seen him return to the Scotland team alongside Gary Anderson, while Andree Welge comes into the Germany team alongside Jyhan Artut and Connie Finnan makes his World Cup debut alongside William O’Connor for Ireland.
The 24-nation event will begin with a group stage, which will see the teams drawn into eight three-team groups, which will see each nation face each other once over the best of seven legs.
The Group Stage will be split across two sessions on Friday and Saturday’s afternoon session, before the top two teams from each group progress to the knockout Last 16 on Saturday evening.
Sunday afternoon will see the Quarter-Finals take place, before the Semi-Finals and Final are held on Sunday evening.
Dave Clark will present Sky Sports’ exclusive live coverage of the event from Hamburg throughout the weekend of February 1-3.
Commentary comes from Wayne Mardle, Rod Harrington, Rod Studd, Nigel Pearson and Stuart Pyke.
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Group Stage Draw
GROUP A
England (1) – Phil Taylor & Adrian Lewis
Austria – Mensur Suljovic & Maik Langendorf
Japan – Haruki Muramatsu & Sho Katsumi
GROUP B
Republic of Ireland (8) – William O’Connor & Connie Finnan
Denmark – Per Laursen & Jann Hoffmann
South Africa – Charl Pietersen & Shawn Hogan
GROUP C
Scotland (4) – Gary Anderson & Robert Thornton
Canada – John Part & Jeff Smith
Sweden – Magnus Caris & Par Riihonen
GROUP D
Wales (5) – Mark Webster & Richie Burnett
Spain – Antonio Alcinas & Carlos Rodriguez
Italy – Daniele Petri & Matteo Dal Monte
GROUP E
Netherlands (2) – Michael van Gerwen & Raymond van Barneveld
Gibraltar – Dyson Parody & Dylan Duo
Poland – Krzysztof Kciuk & Krzysztof Ratajski
GROUP F
Germany (7) – Jyhan Artut & Andree Welge
Finland – Jani Haavisto & Jarkko Komula
United States – Darin Young & Larry Butler
GROUP G
Australia (3) – Simon Whitlock & Paul Nicholson
Croatia – Robert Marijanovic & Tonci Restovic
New Zealand – Phil Hazel & Craig Caldwell
GROUP H
Northern Ireland (6) – Brendan Dolan & Michael Mansell
Belgium – Kim Huybrechts & Ronny Huybrechts
Hungary – Nandor Bezzeg & Meszaros Zsolt
…
Belgium 5-0 Hungary
Denmark 5-4 South Africa
Spain 5-3 Italy
Croatia 5-3 New Zealand
Canada 5-4 Sweden
Austria 4-5 Japan
Gibraltar 2-5 Poland
Finland 5-4 USA LIVE: 1.30pm-5.00pm – Sky Sports 2 Evening Session 8x Group Matches – Best of nine legs 501 Doubles
Seeded Nations play Friday Afternoon Winners
Northern Ireland 5-2 Belgium Republic of Ireland 5-0 Denmark Wales 5-0 Spain Australia 5-1 Croatia Scotland 5-3 Canada England 5-0 Japan
Netherlands 5-3 Poland
Germany 5-3 Finland LIVE: 7.00pm-11.00pm – Sky Sports 3 Saturday 2nd February Afternoon Session 8x Group Matches – Best of nine legs 501 Doubles
Seeded Nations v Friday Afternoon Losers Northern Ireland v Hungary
Republic of Ireland v South Africa
Wales v Italy
Australia v New Zealand
Scotland v Sweden
England v Austria
Netherlands v Gibraltar
Germany v USA
LIVE: 1.00pm-5.00pm – Sky Sports 3 Evening Session 8x Second Round Matches Matches TBC
LIVE: 1.00pm-5.00pm – Sky Sports 3 Sunday 3rd February
Afternoon Session
Quarter-Finals LIVE: 1.00pm-5.00pm – Sky Sports 3 Evening Session Semi-Finals & Final LIVE: 7.00pm-10.00pm – Sky Sports 2
I will give it a try