AS football's World Cup draws to a close, the Professional Darts Corporation can now confirm details of the inaugural PDC World Cup, to be held from December 3-5 at the Rainton Meadows Arena with £150,000 prize money on offer.
A total of 24 countries will contest the PDC World Cup over three days, with the tournament being screened live by Sky Sports from the Rainton Meadows Arena in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne & Wear.
Each country will be represented by two players, with the top two ranked players from each of 24 countries on the PDC Order of Merit at the end of October's World Grand Prix being invited to compete.
The top eight nations will be seeded through to the last 16 of the tournament, to come in at the second round stage.
The opening session in the afternoon of Friday December 3 will see the teams ranked from 9-24 playing off, with each game being the best of 11 legs of doubles, with the losing team throwing first in the next leg.
The evening session on Friday will see the top eight ranked teams drawn against the first round winners to compete in round two, again over the best of 11 legs.
The eight second round winners will then be drawn into two groups, with Group A playing on Saturday afternoon and Group B playing on Saturday evening.
In each group, the teams will face each other once over the best of 11 legs, with the top two teams from the group moving into the semi-finals.
Sunday afternoon's semi-finals will see the teams compete in two singles games and one doubles match, with one point being awarded for a singles win and two points for a doubles win. If the scores are tied 2-2, the team with the most legs won will be declared the winner.
The final on Sunday evening will follow the same format, but with games being the best of 19 legs.
The winning team will pick up £20,000 each, with the runners-up taking home £10,000.
The full prize fund breakdown will be:
Winning Team: £20,000 each
Runners-Up: £10,000 each
Semi-Finalists: £6,000 each
Third in Group: £4,000 each
Fourth in Group: £2,500 each
Round Two Losers: £1,500 each
Round One Losers: £1,000 each
Total Prize Fund: £150,000
Ticket details will be announced at the start of September.