World Cup of Darts: Luke Littler and Luke Humphries 4/9 to win it for England

• World Cup of Darts starts in Frankfurton 12 June

• Littler and Humphries represent favourites England

• Wales are second in the Betfair market at 5/16.00

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries are expected to arrow England to victory at the World Cup of Darts which starts in Frankfurt on Thursday (12 June).

The 18-year-old sensation and world number will represent the defending champions in the tournament which sees the best players on the planet pair up for their countries. 

Humphries was part of the team, alongside Michael Smith, who won the World Cup of Darts for England last year. Until then you had to go back to the days of Phil Taylor (2016) for the last time England won the tournament. 

World Cup of Darts rankings, format and more

How does darts doubles work? Team-mates take to turns to throw three darts. The teams are made up of the highest-ranked players from each country.

Humphries is top of the world rankings with Littler second in the order of merit, so that explains why England are the favourites to retain their title in Frankfurt. 

England, like Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, received a first round bye due to being the top four-ranked nations in the world. 

That means they skip the group stage which sees 36 nations divided in 12 groups of three teams. The winners of each group will go through to the the second round where the world's top four will join the competition.

The group stage starts on Thursday so check out the Betfair Sportsbook markets for the first round of matches. and get the prices on every team in the outright winner market.

Van Gerwen absence leaves Netherlands in group stage

You can bet on which nations you think will win each group here. Regular darts punters will not be surprised to see the Netherlands as 1/121.08 favourites to top Group A.

The surprise is that such a strong darting nation did not reach the second round automatically but that is down to world number three ranked player Michael van Gerwen not taking part.

Instead, they are represented by Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen who are 14/115.00 to win the tournament.

Can anyone stop England winning the World Cup of Darts?

Luke Littler took the darts world by storm from the moment he reached the PDC Championship 2024 final as a 16-year-old. He won the tournament a year later and, now 18, is the reigning world champion. 

Last month, Humphries beat Littler in the final of the Premier League of Darts, so both England players arrive in Frankfurt in top form. It is difficult to seen any pair stopping the two Luke's from winning consecutive World Cups for England. 

Wales are the most likely but a price of 5/16.00 underlines the difficulty of their task. In Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price (below), however, Wales have a pair who know what it takes. They won the World Cup for Wales in 2020 and 2023. 

Clayton has talked up their chances: "I don't care that England are world No 1 and No 2, it's us Welsh boys, we're going to stop them. We're there to win the trophy. You want to win trophies you've got to beat the big name players."

Beyond Wales, it's another home nation, who the market says is best placed to deny England. Those are long odds, though, so it will be a surprise if Gary Anderson and Peter Wright can do it, even though they won it together in 2019 and Wright teamed up with John Henderson to win two years later. 

As the Betfair odds show, the form of Humphries and Littler means it will be a surprise if England do not retain the title. 

Interested in this week's golf US Open? Read Betfair golf experts' best bets for this week's major at Oakmont