With Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler, Ricardo Pietreczko, Florian Hempel and Dragutin Horvat, five German participants are taking part in the Darts World Cup this time. Who has the best chance of prevailing in the 2024 edition of the major PDC tournament?
sport.deExpert Florian Regelmann took a closer look at Clemens, Schindler and Co. in collaboration with DAZN darts commentator Adrian Geiler. Here is the result:
- Gabriel Clemens (PDC Order of Merit: 22)
Gabriel Clemens is going into the World Cup again as German number one, but what can the “German Giant” be capable of this time a year after his sensational semi-final run? Before Clemens reached the semi-finals in a strong manner at the World Cup dress rehearsal at the Players Championship Finals, the answer would have been: not much. Gaga didn’t have a bad year in 2023, his scoring was even good for long stretches (94.23 annual average), but especially at the big tournaments he repeatedly ruined everything with a miserable doubles rate.
Until he celebrated his biggest major success since the last World Cup and showed everyone: If Clemens hits the doubles, then he is definitely a top 16 player in the world who also has the level to go far again at the World Cup come.
The 40-year-old’s problem: Even if he comes to the Ally Pally strengthened after his liberation, he could face an early exit. Clemens will almost certainly face Gian van Veen in round two.
vs. van Veen – a match that could be one of the absolute highlights in the early phase of the World Cup. The 21-year-old 180cc machine (647 units in 2023!) from the Netherlands is an upcoming superstar of the scene. Clemens can play really well and still say goodbye to the World Cup very early. On the other hand, a win against van Veen could also be the initial spark for Clemens to at least aim for the quarter-finals.
Adrian Geiler: “If it were football, Gaga would have been a team this year that had an extremely high expected goals value, but simply scored too few goals. His values have actually all gone up, except for the double rate. With them Players Championship Finals we have now seen how strong he is when the doubles are underway. Then he immediately belongs in the top 16. The draw is of course not good, but I do believe that he can also have van Veen under control. Gaga now had a great presence on stage. A match like that against Luke Woodhouse in the quarter-finals was predestined to go wrong. But it didn’t because he solved it very well. I have a lot of confidence in him at the World Cup.”
- Martin Schindler (PDC Order of Merit: 26)
Schindler is in a very similar situation to Clemens. “The Wall” has established itself in the top 32 in the world and has shown its (scoring) potential so often that one asks the question: When will the next step towards the top 16 come? When will the first, longed-for tournament victory finally come? The fact that both Clemens and Schindler still have to wait for their first title is almost grotesque in view of the other no-names on the Pro Tour who have already won all the titles.
Schindler has had an interesting year. A year that, on the one hand, had major upward swings. The 27-year-old was the first German to reach major quarter-finals at the UK Open and the World Grand Prix, and he also recorded his first semi-final on the European Tour. The negative side: Schindler’s win rate (56.52%) was worse this year than it has been since 2020. And similar to Clemens, the reason is easy to identify: the weakness on doubles (only 38% over the year).
Schindler is still losing too many matches that he should actually win. At the World Match Play he lost unnecessarily against Danny Noppert at the start, and it was exactly this Danny Noppert that he could face again at the World Cup in round three if Schindler solves his feasible first task (Jermaine Wattimena or Fallon Sherrock). And these are exactly the matches Schindler has to start winning if he wants to make the hoped-for step into the top 16.
Adrian Geiler: “We shouldn’t forget about Martin that he lost the tour card in 2021. That he only won his first game at the World Cup last year before he was defeated by Bully Boy after a 3-1 lead. He’s missing a little bit like that the liberation that Clemens has now achieved, but I think he can still be satisfied with the year. It is a year of stabilization at a high level. Martin has an extremely high floor, he very rarely plays below 93, 94 points on average (annual average : 94.26) and when his power scoring is there, it’s incredibly fun to watch him. Noppert also sometimes walks between heaven and hell, I’m a fan of his game, but Martin can definitely beat him too. He can do that too In my opinion, he goes in completely free, he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, the year was too good for that.”
- Ricardo Pietreczko (PDC Order of Merit: 39)
Who will be the second German after Max Hopp to win a tournament in the PDC? Ricardo Pietreczko! Not even Pietreczko himself would have given this tip a year ago. A year ago, the German shooting star was still considering whether he should give up his tour ticket because he had lost his joy in darts. “Pikachu” continued, consistently impressed with good results on the Pro Tour and celebrated his big breakthrough in October with his unexpected triumph at the European Tour event in Hildesheim.
And it wasn’t just the title itself that was impressive. Pietreczko defeated Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals after the best leg in German darts history (10-darter in the decider to 7:6) and was unstoppable by Peter Wright in the final. The 29-year-old is particularly dangerous because hardly anyone on the tour checks as well as he does (6th place in terms of double rate with over 42%).
However, Pietreczko also showed his vulnerable side more than clearly in 2023. In September he forfeited his participation in the World Grand Prix in Hungary with a completely inexplicable defeat against local hero Nandor Major because he got into a fight with the fans. And things got even worse at the Grand Slam of Darts when Pietreczko lost to Beau Greaves and failed again because of the crowd. And to make matters worse, he reacted very inconfidently.
Since the darts god obviously has a sense of humor, the draw now wanted Pietreczko to meet a woman again in round one of the World Cup (Mikuru Suzuki) and therefore, logically and given his behavior, will have the fans against him… You should have the popcorn ready.
Adrian Geiler: “Eat, sleep, darts, repeat. That’s what Ricardo Pietreczko describes best. Pikachu loves darts, Pikachu lives for darts. He had just won Hildesheim, but it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if he had another e-dart tournament the next day would have played somewhere in Middle Franconia. But if his joy is taken away from him, as has now been seen several times by the audience, then he is totally vulnerable. But I am sure that he has drawn the right conclusions from it and that it will not happen to him again . On top of that, Mikuru Suzuki is just not as strong as Beau Greaves, he has to win that. I want a third round match against Luke Humphries. And I can tell you, Luke won’t be happy about facing Pikachu because he knows that it can be dangerous for him. We’ve already seen that on the European Tour.”
- Florian Hempel (PDC Order of Merit: 59)
Sport is madness. Darts is crazy. There Hempel is on the board at the last World Cup qualifying tournament in the first round against Luc Peters and has to watch as the Dutchman has one match dart after the other. And Hempel knows exactly: If Peters scores, that’s it for him. A defeat would not only mean the end of the World Cup, but also the final loss of the tour card would be sealed. But Peters doesn’t score. And not again. And not again.
Hempel “survives” the match, then secures his World Cup ticket at the last minute in an absolutely impressive way and suddenly his darts world looks completely different again. And Hempel has also been rewarded for his hard work on the Practice Board.
After an extremely complicated year in which little came together for a long time (annual average below 89), Hempel has been getting better and better since the second half of the year. If you just look at the last few months, for example, Hempel is in the top 32 in the world in terms of “First 9 Average”. Seen from this point of view, the late World Cup qualification does not come as a surprise, but despite all the joy about it, Hempel’s situation remains difficult.
If the 33-year-old wants to keep his tour card, he must at least win his opening match against Dylan Slevin. That’s certainly possible, but it’s quite possible that even that won’t be enough and Hempel would then have to eliminate Dimitri van den Bergh in round two. Now the “Dreammaker” has not been in top shape for some time, but of course it remains an incredibly hard task under the highest pressure. But if anyone can do it, maybe it’s this Flo Hempel…
Adrian Geiler: “For me, Flo Hempel is one of the mentally strongest players on the tour. I think his competitive sports background from handball from the past helps him, he always says that himself. That gives him great strength in pressure situations perform. His second half of the year is really great, unfortunately he had a lot of bad luck with the draws on the Pro Tour, so his good performances weren’t always reflected in the results. He struggled for a long time about everything going well on the practice board “If he just can’t carry it over into the match, he’s done that now. I find it impressive how he always finds the motivation to stick with it and I really hope that he keeps the tour card.”
- Dragutin Horvat (PDC Order of Merit: 164)
For the first time in history, five Germans are starting at the World Cup – and there could so easily have been six. Shoutout to Pascal Rupprecht at this point, because you have to remember this name. The 23-year-old has been close to winning a World Cup ticket twice in recent months. At the last qualifying event he lost heartbreakingly in the decisive match 6:7 against Croatian Boris Krcmar and previously Rupprecht had lost the final of the Super League against Dragutin Horvat.
After his debut in 2017 (defeat against Simon Whitlock), Horvat is allowed to go to the Ally Pally for the second time seven years later and there is probably no one in the German darts scene who doesn’t begrudge “Hercules”. The 47-year-old is not just the ultra-likeable hobby player who works as a warehouse clerk and had to ask his boss for special leave after qualifying for the World Cup, he is above all a damn good player whose qualification doesn’t come as a surprise at all.
Horvat has had an outstanding year on the Challenge Tour. To put it into perspective: All players who don’t have a tour card are there and the level is high. If, like Horvat, you end up in the top 10 and have already qualified for the UK Open 2024, then you must have a lot on your plate.
Horvat goes into his opening match against the Belgian Mike De Decker as an underdog (can play outstandingly, but can’t score anything either), but he certainly doesn’t have a chance. De Decker, Madars Razma in round two… who knows what’s possible… in any case no one should be surprised if Horvat causes a bit of a sensation at the World Cup…
Adrian Geiler: “There are matches that can break a player. Brazzo had a match like that in 2022 when he had the tour card in front of him in the qualifying school and missed twelve match darts against Tony Martinez. Twelve! How he coped with it, with how many The energy and power he played on the Challenge Tour this year and then won the Super League can’t be overestimated. I’m looking forward to seeing the first darts come from him. When they come, when he If we do a complete 180, then we know the good Dragutin is there and we’ll have fun with him.”