Each year the PDC holds the World Cup of Darts. A pairs tournament where nations enter their two best players based on the PDC Order of Merit ranking.
Theoretically, these should be the BEST two players from each nation based on recent form and achievements.
It’s not 100% accurate as the Order of Merit is based on a two year period so sometimes you can get a very out of form player included, but for the most part, it usually works out to be a fair system for selection.
In the 14 years the tournament has ran, the following are the nations that have won it the most:
| Country | Tournament Wins |
| England | 5 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| Scotland | 2 |
| Wales | 2 |
| Australia | 1 |
You can see that England and the Netherlands dominate. England also won the latest 2024 tournament courtesy of World Number 1 & 2 at the time, Luke Humphries and Michael Smith.
This format decides who the best of the best are but doesn’t show how much talent each country is producing.
Therefore, we’re going to rank the best nations in darts based on how many players they currently have in the top 32 of the PDC Order of Merit.
We could have extended this to the top 64 or the entire Tour but we want to look at the most successful pro players – which are mostly in the top 32.
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9. Poland – 1 Player 🇵🇱
Krzysztof Ratajski (29th)
Krzysztof Ratajski is the only representative for Poland and edges the nation into contention based on his ranking of 29th in the OoM.
2021 was an impressive year for Ratajski who went on several deep tournament runs in PDC majors including the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship and semi-finals of the World Matchplay.
Unfortunately, he’s not made it to a televised quarter-final in three years now so if he doesn’t improve towards the business end of 2024, Poland could lose their place on this list.
8. Australia – 1 Player 🇦🇺
Damon Heta (10th)
There was a time when Australia would have ranked higher on this list thanks to veteran Simon Whitlock. At 51st in the OoM and at risk of losing his Tour card in the near future, it’s unlikely we’ll see him back with the elite.
In his place though is Damon Heta. The pair won the World Cup of Darts in 2022 and ranked 10th in the OoM, Heta is doing a decent job taking over the reins and representing the land down under.
He’s yet to make it to the final of a ranked PDC major tournament but he’s one of the main players that we’ve tipped to pick up a title in the coming years.
See more: 6 players we think SHOULD win a PDC major soon
7. Germany – 2 Players 🇩🇪
Martin Schindler (21st), Gabriel Clemens (28th)
Germany has one of the biggest viewership audiences in darts. They host great events for the European Tour and in recent years have started to produce more top quality players.
The most well known in the modern era is Gabriel Clemens who has been a familiar face on the Tour for several years now. He currently sits at 28th on the OoM.
2024 has seen two more players emerge as solid contenders though. Ricardo Pietreczko just misses out on boosting Germany on this list as ‘Pikachu’ is just outside the top 32 in 33rd.
Martin Schindler could be a German star though. He’s 21st in the OoM and after winning two European Tour titles this year, he’s setting himself up nicely for future success.
Related – Martin Schindler wins Swiss Darts Trophy
A fair prediction is that Germany will have more top players in the coming years from what we’ve been seeing…
6. Belgium – 2 Players 🇧🇪
Dimitri Van den Bergh (11th), Mike De Decker (25th)
Dimitri Van den Bergh and Mike De Decker are ensuring Belgium are seen as a talented nation when it comes to darts.
With a PDC major win each this year (UK Open and World Grand Prix), it’s fair to say their ranking is also translating to success on the oche.
Kim Huybrecths was a sole representative for ‘good’ Belgium players in the 2010’s but this new duo look like they’ll be putting Belgium firmly on the darts map for the next few years.
5. Scotland – 2 Players 🏴
Peter Wright (14th), Gary Anderson (22nd)
Gary Anderson and Peter Wright are both darts legends and have done a great job establishing Scotland as a serious darts nation.
They already had former greats like Jocky Wilson and Les Wallace but in the last decade, Wright and Anderson have both won the World Championship twice and have dozens of major titles between them.
Scotland do have some decent players on the Tour like Menzies and Soutar who could push for the top 32 at some point but the current duo are both ageing into their 50’s and are not the force they once were.
If they don’t find some solid successors in the near future, Scotland could go from having two greats representing the nation to hardly anyone…
4. Wales – 2 Players 🏴
Jonny Clayton (6th), Gerwyn Price (7th)
Similar to Scotland, Wales have two great players but arguably a step below. Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton are currently both in the top 10 OoM making them an elite duo.
The ranking is also why we’ve placed them ahead of Scotland.
They may not have the most talent when it comes to darts but you can’t argue with two top 10 players!
Gerwyn Price is a World Champion and serial title winner while Clayton has himself managed to pick up a solid number of majors over the years.
As with the Scots though, it’s hard to see Wales producing as much talent as what we’re seeing from other nations and in the future we could see the UK nations with much fewer representatives on this list.
3. Northern Ireland – 3 Players 🇮🇪
Josh Rock (15th), Daryl Gurney (26th), Brendan Dolan (30th)
Having said what we just said about UK representatives, Northern Ireland have surprised us when compiling this list.
Three players inside the top 32 is impressive!
Brendan Dolan (30th) and Daryl Gurney (26th) are two consistent players on this list with Gurney even winning a few majors over the years. With both having over a decade each on the Tour though, they are likely passed their best.
Fortunately for Ireland, Josh Rock has emerged.
The 2022 World Youth Champion and 2023 Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals has been steadily rising the ranks and trying to live up to his ‘prodigy’ status in recent years and is doing a good job of it.
A Euro Tour title in 2024 and consistency on the floor events has seen Rock reach 15th in the OoM already.
While the Irish may not be able to boast as many top players in the coming years, they do have a budding World Champion contender to cheer on.
2. Netherlands – 5 Players 🇳🇱
Michael van Gerwen (3rd), Danny Noppert (16th), Dirk van Duijvenbode (24th), Raymond van Barneveld (27th), Gian van Veen (31st)
When Raymond van Barneveld left the BDO (after a dominant period) and then won a PDC World Championship, he single handedly inspired a nation to take up darts.
We then saw Michael van Gerwen, the second most dominant player darts has ever seen and it’s fair to say that the world thought the Netherlands were about to completely take over darts.
While MVG and Barney are two of the best to ever do it, there hasn’t been another Dutch player to quite join their ranks.
Still, they have 5 players inside the top 32 and with rising star Gian van Veen making it to 31st on the list, Netherlands are still a nation primed for future darting success.
Though they will likely need to triple their manufacturing of darts talent in order to close the gap with the ‘best’ darts nation at the moment.
1. England – 14 Players 🏴
Luke Humphries (1st), Michael Smith (2nd), Rob Cross (4th), Dave Chisnall (5th), Nathan Aspinall (8th), Ross Smith (9th), Stephen Bunting (12th), Chris Dobey (13th), James Wade (17th), Joe Cullen (18th), Ryan Searle (19th), Luke Littler (20th), Andrew Gilding (23rd), Ryan Joyce (32nd)
They have the World Number 1 and World Champion Luke Humphries, the World Number 2 and former World Champion Michael Smith, a darts prodigy in Luke Littler and also a dozen elite darts players inside the top 32.
It’s fair to say that England, the ‘home’ of darts, is maintaining their position as the dominant nation in the sport.
Having won the World Cup of Darts they are technically the best nation in 2024 but our list just adds further weight to this.
There were past greats like Eric Bristow, John Lowe and of course Phil Taylor but when you started to see the talent from the Netherlands enter the league, there was a sense they could take over the sport at some point in the 2020’s.
With over 40% of the players in the top 32, the best players in the world and then Luke Littler inspiring a new generation, it’s hard to see England losing the title of the best darts nation at any point in the near future at least!
This list has just been one aspect of a ‘best nation’.
Don’t get too concerned if you don’t agree with the list as we’ll also be bringing out some other lists looking at how many titles the individual nations have won, and also the most successful players from each nation.
A lot more to come on this topic 👀
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