At the age of 59, Raymond van Barneveld is going to the Darts World Cup again

Raymond van Barneveld has just done it again. The 59-year-old Dutchman secured one of the 128 starting places for the World Darts Championship in London, which begins in five weeks.

A win against compatriot Jimmy van Schie at the 34th and final Players Championship tournament of the year was enough for “Barney” to complete his qualification. His 34th World Cup participation is also the sole record. Englishman Steve Beaton, who retired in 2014, also played 33 World Cups.

Van Barneveld, world champion in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007, could also be the oldest participant in the field at the 2027 Darts World Cup starting on December 11th, at 59 years old. Last year, only Paul Lim (then 71 years old) from Singapore and the Englishman Mervyn King (59) were older. Neither has been able to qualify for the World Cup so far. For van Barneveld, however, it will probably also be the last world championship given the increasing level of performance on the tour.

The then postman celebrated his World Cup debut in 1991 with the British Darts Organization (BDO), and there would probably be 35 participations today had he not prematurely ended his career after his first round exit at the 2020 World Cup against the American Darin Young. He missed the 2021 World Cup, but then returned to the tour.

Pietreczko is missing a win, Ricky Evans is threatened with elimination from the World Cup

Bitter from a German perspective: Ricardo Pietreczko reached the round of 16 at the Players Championship 34, but lost to Luke Humphries despite a 105 average and thus missed out on taking part in the Players Championship Finals. “Pikachu” just needed one more win. Four Germans will be taking part in the World Cup dress rehearsal in Minehead on November 27th: Gabriel Clemens, Max Hopp, Niko Springer and Martin Schindler.

Pietreczko, the German number three, has qualified for the World Cup for the fourth time. Overall, Black-Red-Gold could field a record line-up at Alexandra Palace with nine to 13 participants.

However, some other big names have to tremble: Dimitri van den Bergh, Ryan Meikle, Wesley Plaisier and Nick Kenny were denied qualification via the Pro Tour rankings. Besides major winner van den Bergh, the most prominent name in the field of failures is Ricky Evans. Like the others, the crowd favorite has one last chance on November 30th. Four tickets will still be awarded for the Tour Card Holder Qualifier.