tournament in London
Christmas party and lots of show: Darts World Cup promises a spectacle
Gerwyn Price caused a stir with his headphones at the Darts World Cup last year. photo
© Zac Goodwin/PA Wire/dpa
Asterix dances and the muscle man shows off: At the Darts World Cup, the unusual is common. About the sports party that captivates more and more people around Christmas.
This show is getting weirder and weirder. When a rugby muscleman meets a fireman on the largest darts stage in the world and Asterix drinks beer-filled pints with Super Mario in the stands, then it’s that time again: the World Cup begins in the famous Alexandra Palace.
On a hill in north London, the state of emergency will then become normal for 16 days of competition until January 3rd.
Colorful costumes and lots of alcohol, a cheerful atmosphere between carnival, folk festival and Christmas conviviality: the world association PDC has been successfully marketing the world’s most important darts tournament as an event for years.
Sometimes the focus is on sport, as was the case at the last World Cup final, when world champion Michael Smith from England and the Dutchman Michael van Gerwen fought a memorable duel. But sometimes it’s also the external circumstances: the lasting image of the 2023 World Cup was provided by the Welshman Gerwyn Price, who suddenly came onto the stage with huge headphones. Price unsuccessfully tried to use the mental trick to turn things around in his World Cup quarter-finals.
A quarter of the fans from Germany
The World Cup in London triggers enthusiasm and goosebumps among the professionals. “I associate everything with this competition venue. The World Cup is the highlight in the darts calendar. Just the word World Cup, the Ally Pally – the overall package is something unique. The number of spectators explodes every year,” said the German starter Florian Hempel to the German press. Agency.
The World Cup, which starts on Friday (8 p.m.), is also becoming increasingly popular in this country. Around a quarter of the more than 90,000 tickets sold go to Germany. German fans are particularly well represented in London in the days after Christmas. This time, for the first time, five German starters qualified for the World Cup. The most promising contenders are last year’s World Cup semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens and whiz kid Ricardo Pietreczko.
“Lives can change”
The TV station Sport1 and the streaming service DAZN broadcast extensively from the 28 sessions; at the last World Cup, surprise man Clemens even made it onto the 8 p.m. Tagesschau. “Lives can change there. It is simply the biggest and most important tournament,” said Clemens. There are only breaks on the three days of Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Otherwise the game is played every day, on most days from 1:30 p.m. to midnight (German time).
In addition to stars and champions such as Smith, van Gerwen and Iroquois fan Peter Wright, the 96 starters also include two women, Fallon Sherrock and Mikuru Suzuki. There is always a particular focus on the Englishwoman Sherrock after her historic victories at the 2020 World Cup. This time, a successful start against the Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena could lead to a second-round duel with the German Martin Schindler.
The duel between men and women, which is unusual in other sports, has long been normal in darts – especially at the World Cup. “You can put whoever you want on the stage: in the end it’s an opponent for me,” said Pietreczko. The man from Nuremberg will face the Japanese Suzuki right at the start. At the Grand Slam of Darts he recently lost a clear 1:5 against the Englishwoman Beau Greaves. She is considered the best woman in the world, but decided not to take part in the World Cup.
No move to a larger hall planned
The prize money (2.5 million pounds, around 2.92 million euros) and the field of participants are the same for the sixth consecutive World Cup year. A hall change within Alexandra Palace from the smaller West Hall (almost 3,500 seats) to the Great Hall (around 10,000 seats) has not yet been achieved.
“That was always under discussion, it was never implemented. I also think it won’t be implemented that quickly. The West Hall is really big. That’s massive and then you have a different picture,” said Werner von Moltke as managing director of PDC Europe.
This time too, all the tickets were gone in a very short time. However, the association fears that if they move to the larger hall, they will lose the special Ally Pally flair. The big Christmas party should be just as loud and exciting on a Tuesday lunchtime as it is on a Saturday evening.