MORE countries than ever before will be represented at the 2018/2019 William Hill World Darts Championship.
The tournament's biggest development since its move to London's Alexandra Palace a decade ago saw the field of players expanded to 96, offering more opportunities than ever before for international players.
Darts' biggest-ever event will see 28 nationalities represented, meaning the continental flavour will be stronger than ever at this year's festival of darts across the Christmas and New Year period.
Among the International Qualifiers is Nordic and Baltic Qualfier Darius Labanauskas, who will become the first player to represent Lithuania at the PDC World Championship.
There will also be 24 debutants in this year's event, the joint-second highest number since the first World Championship in 1994.
Among the new kids on the block are rising Dutch star Danny Noppert,UK & Ireland Women's Qualifier Lisa Ashton and American Chuck Puleo.
World Championship Competitors By Country
England (34) - Rob Cross, James Wade, Michael Smith, Ian White, Dave Chisnall, Darren Webster, Joe Cullen, Adrian Lewis, Stephen Bunting, Mervyn King, Steve Beaton, Steve West, Alan Norris, James Wilson, Ricky Evans, Chris Dobey, Josh Payne, Ryan Joyce, Richard North, Keegan Brown, Nathan Aspinall, Michael Barnard, Simon Stevenson, Luke Humphries, Alan Tabern, Wayne Jones, Ross Smith, Ryan Searle, Matthew Edgar, Lisa Ashton, Stephen Burton, Ted Evetts, Adam Hunt, Aden Kirk
Netherlands (13) - Michael van Gerwen, Raymond van Barneveld, Jelle Klaasen, Jermaine Wattimena, Benito van de Pas, Danny Noppert, Jeffrey de Zwaan, Jan Dekker, Ron Meulenkamp, Vincent van der Voort, Jeffrey de Graaf, Yordi Meeuwisse, Geert Nentjes
Australia (5) - Simon Whitlock, Kyle Anderson, Paul Nicholson, James Bailey, Raymond Smith
Scotland (4) - Peter Wright, Gary Anderson, John Henderson, Robert Thornton
Germany (4) - Max Hopp, Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens, Robert Marijanovic
Northern Ireland (4) - Daryl Gurney, Mickey Mansell, Brendan Dolan, Kevin Burness
Wales (3) - Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Jamie Lewis
Austria (2) - Mensur Suljovic, Rowby-John Rodriguez
Belgium (2) - Kim Huybrechts, Dimitri Van den Bergh
Spain (2) - Cristo Reyes, Toni Alcinas
Canada (2) - Jim Long, Jeff Smith
Republic of Ireland (2) - Steve Lennon, William O'Connor
New Zealand (2) - Cody Harris, Craig Ross
Philippines (2) - Lourence Ilagan, Noel Malicdem
Russia (2) - Boris Koltsov, Anastasia Dobromyslova
Brazil (1) - Diogo Portela
China (1) - Yuanjun Liu
Czech Republic (1) - Karel Sedlacek
Hong Kong (1) - Royden Lam
India (1) - Nitin Kumar
Japan (1) - Seigo Asada
Lithuania (1) - Darius Labanauskas
Poland (1) - Krzysztof Ratajski
Portugal (1) - Jose De Sousa
South Africa (1) - Devon Petersen
Singapore (1) - Paul Lim
Sweden (1) - Daniel Larsson
USA (1) - Chuck Puleo
World Championship Debutants
Raymond Smith
Danny Noppert
Matthew Edgar
Darius Labanauskus
Lisa Ashton
Ryan Searle
Ryan Joyce
James Bailey
Karel Sedlacek
Daniel Larsson
Kevin Burness
Nitin Kumar
Chuck Puleo
Adam Hunt
Stephen Burton
Yordi Meeuwise
Gabriel Clemens
Aden Kirk
Geert Nentjes
Nathan Aspinall
Noel Malicdem
Craig Ross
Jim Long
Yuanjun Liu