Luke Littler and Luke Humphries confirm World Cup of Darts decision but ex-world champion misses out

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries will team up again at the World Cup of Darts this summer – but Gerwyn Price won’t feature.

The top two players in the world are going to come together in hopes of claiming the title for England this summer.

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Littler and Humphries were knocked out of the tournament last year in a defeat labelled ‘one of the biggest upsets you will see’.

The huge favourites were sent home by German pair Ricardo Pietreczko and Martin Schindler to end their hopes of glory.

Eventually, it was Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney who went on to win the World Cup for Northern Ireland, creating some emotional scenes.

They team up again this time around aiming to defend their title, with Littler and Humphries looking to put up more of a fight.

There are also going to be plenty more huge darts names involved, as Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen represent the Netherlands.

Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies will pair up for Scotland, while Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh play for Belgium.

But for Wales, there is going to be a big change to their team.

Price made himself unavailable for selection for the World Cup, meaning Jonny Clayton is going to have a new partner.

The news comes following Price’s comments about his health last week, as he said: “My focus is there, but health-wise I’m not in a great place at the moment. But I’m battling on, searching for some results. Hopefully, over the next weeks, they will come and put me at ease.”

Clayton will instead play alongside debutant Nick Kenny.

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How does the World Cup of Darts work?

There are 40 teams at the World Cup of Darts, with four nations being seeded and entering the tournament at round two.

Those countries are England, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Scotland, while another 12 are seeded in the group stage.

The 12 seeded nations will join another 24 in the groups.

Countries will be split into 12 groups of three and compete in a round-robin, with each group winner progressing.

The latter rounds will then take place in a knockout format until the eventual winning pair takes home the trophy.

Pairings for the World Cup were decided using the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players.

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World Cup of Darts: Nations and pairings

The 2026 World Cup of Darts will get going in Frankfurt, Germany on June 11 and run through until June 14.

Here is the full list of competing nations and their players:

Seeds 1-4 – Exempt until Round Two

• (1) England – Luke Littler, Luke Humphries
• (2) Netherlands – Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen
• (3) Northern Ireland – Josh Rock, Daryl Gurney
• (4) Scotland – Gary Anderson, Cameron Menzies

Seeds 5-16 – Seeded for Group Stage

• (5) Germany – Martin Schindler, Ricardo Pietreczko
• (6) Belgium – Mike De Decker, Dimitri Van den Bergh
• (7) Wales – Jonny Clayton, Nick Kenny
• (8) Republic of Ireland – William O’Connor, Mickey Mansell
• (9) Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski, Sebastian Bialecki
• (10) Sweden – Jeffrey de Graaf, Oskar Lukasiak
• (11) Australia – Damon Heta, Adam Leek
• (12) Czechia – Karel Sedlacek, Adam Gawlas
• (13) Austria – Mensur Suljovic, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
• (14) Latvia – Madars Razma, Valters Melderis
• (15) Croatia – Boris Krcmar, Pero Ljubic
• (16) Finland – Jani Haavisto, Jonas Masalin

Unseeded Nations

• Canada – Jim Long, David Cameron
• China – Qingyu Zhan, Xiaochen Zong
• Denmark – Andreas Toft Jorgensen, Jonas Graversen
• France – Thibault Tricole, Nicolas Thuillier
• Hong Kong – Man Lok Leung, Lok Yin Lee
• Hungary – Patrik Kovacs, Pal Szekely
• India – Nitin Kumar, Ankit Goenka
• Italy – Michele Turetta, Riccardo Castelli
• Japan – Motomu Sakai, Haruki Muramatsu
• Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas
• Mongolia – Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren, Ganzorig Lkhagvasuren
• New Zealand – Jonny Tata, Ben Robb
• Norway – Cor Dekker, Kent Sivertsen
• Philippines – Alexis Toylo, Paolo Nebrida
• Portugal – Luis Camacho, Jose de Sousa
• Singapore – Paul Lim, Phuay Wey Tan
• Slovenia – Benjamin Pratnemer, Stefano Bozicek
• South Africa – Graham Filby, Devon Petersen
• Spain – Cristo Reyes, Jose Justicia
• Switzerland – Stefan Bellmont, Marcel Walpen
• Thailand – Sarayut Ouamumpa, Sowaris Rodman
• Trinidad and Tobago – Joshua Balfour, James Walklin
• Uganda – Patrick Ocheng, Juma Said
• USA – Adam Sevada, Stowe Buntz