THE Group Stage format for the Betfair World Cup of Darts has been amended.
In a change to the original announced format for the 24-nation Group Stage, Friday's evening session will now feature the Seeded Nations playing against the afternoon's winners.
The Friday afternoon losers will then take on the Seeded Nations in the final Group Stage games on Saturday afternoon, with the top two nations from each group progressing to the Last 16.
The Betfair World Cup of Darts will begin on Friday February 1, with the afternoon session seeing the non-seeded nations from each of the eight groups meeting in the best of nine leg Doubles games.
Belgian brothers Kim and Ronny Huybrechts will open the event when they play Hungary's Nandor Bezzeg and Meszaros Zsolt, with Danish pair Per Laursen and Jann Hoffmann then meeting South Africa's Charl Pietersen and Shawn Hogan.
Spanish duo Antonio Alcinas and Carlos Rodriguez - who reached the 2010 semi-finals - will then play Italian debutants Daniele Petri and Matteo Dal Monte, before Croatia's Robert Marijanovic and Tonci Restovic play the New Zealand pairing of Phil Hazel and Craig Caldwell.
Three-time World Champion John Part will be partnered by Jeff Smith for Canada as they open their challenge against Sweden's Magnus Caris and Par Riihonen, with Austria's Mensur Suljovic and Maik Langendorf playing Japan's Haruki Muramatsu and Sho Katsumi.
Gibraltar's Dyson Parody and Dylan Duo play Poland's Krzysztof Kciuk and Krzysztof Ratajski in the afternoon's seventh game, before Finnish duo Jani Haavisto and Jarkko Komula take on America's Darin Young and Larry Butler in the afternoon's final game.
The evening session will see reigning champions England, the number one seeds who will be represented by Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, enter the fray alongside the likes of 2010 winners Netherlands - who see Michael van Gerwen team up with Raymond van Barneveld - and former finalists Australia and Wales, plus Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and host nation Germany.
* Please note that the Group Stage format is the best of nine legs, not the best of seven legs.