The World Cup is held since 1977 and organised by the World Darts Federation. The tournament is opened for ladies in 1983 and in 1999 the youth is also finally invited. The tournament is known as the official World Championship but hasn’t got the profile of either the BDO or the PDC World Championships. It is a gathering of players from all parts of the World who meet and play in a very friendly atmosphere. In the early years the English are very dominant, led by John Lowe and Eric Bristow. The singles title between 1981 and 1991 always goes to one of them. In pairs they are virtually unbeatable, winning six of the first seven events and being runner-up in the other. In the men’s competition England wins the overall every time except 2 untill 2003. Since then The Netherland have taken the title home each year untill 2009. In the ladies it’s a slightly different story, overall England does win most of the times, but countries like the USA, New Zealand and Netherlands get their successes too. Especially the Netherlands are very successful since the 1990’s, in men’s, ladies and youth. Roland Scholten is the first Dutch male to become World Cup singles champion in 1993. Van Barneveld gets crowned three times in 1997, 1999 en 2003. Dick van Dijk is probably the most surprising champion ever in 2005. In the ladies singles Valery Maytum (1987) and Francis Hoenselaar (2001) are victorious for Holland. The WDF World Cup has been hosted in The Netherlands twice, in 1991 (Zandvoort) and 2007 ('s-Hertogenbosch).
