England’s quest to retain the World Cup of Darts came to an abrupt end after a stunning 8-4 second-round defeat to Germany in Frankfurt. Despite boasting the top two ranked players in the world, Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, the English team was undone by a fired-up German duo and a raucous home crowd at the Eissporthalle.
Germany’s Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko delivered a composed and clinical performance, making the most of England’s missed opportunities at crucial moments. Littler, the 18-year-old prodigy who has previously struggled on German soil, looked unsettled from the start. The Germans seized the opening two legs before Littler produced a 123 checkout to get England on the board. A 64 finish then levelled the match at 2-2, raising hopes of a resurgence.
However, missed doubles began to haunt the English side. Littler failed to capitalise on three chances in the fifth leg, allowing Pietreczko to check out on 106. More costly misses followed, and a mistake from Humphries hitting 25 instead of the bullseye while going for a 122 left England trailing 5-2 at the break.
Germany didn’t let up after the interval. Pietreczko took out 101, and the home side quickly surged to a commanding 7-2 lead. England managed to claw back two legs, but their poor conversion rate just four hits from 11 attempts at doubles sealed their fate. The result left Littler and Humphries visibly frustrated, especially after being celebrated recently with MBEs in the King’s birthday honours.
Germany now advances to a quarter-final clash against Australia, who dispatched Argentina 8-1. Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock dominated despite a wobbly performance on doubles, missing 21 of their 29 attempts. Argentina had no answer for their firepower, and the result was never in doubt.
Elsewhere, Wales cruised into the last eight with an 8-2 win over the Philippines. Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, winners in 2020 and 2023, showed their experience and composure despite losing the first three legs against the darts. Their quarter-final test will come against Hong Kong, who overcame Sweden to progress.
In one of the most one-sided matches of the round, Scotland suffered an 8-0 thrashing at the hands of the Netherlands. Danny Noppert and rising star Gian van Veen dismantled Peter Wright and Gary Anderson in just 15 minutes, hitting eight of 12 double attempts and averaging 100.2 across the match.
Ireland also impressed as William O’Connor and Keane Barry coasted to an 8-3 win over Switzerland, setting up a showdown with Northern Ireland, who breezed past South Africa 8-2 behind strong performances from Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney.
Rounding out the last eight, the Czech Republic secured a confident win over Malaysia and now prepares to take on the Netherlands.
