Florian Hempel qualified for the 2024 Darts World Cup at the last minute, giving Germany a fifth starter for the first time ever. The Cologne native won the PDPA Qualifier and is now taking part in the Alexandra Palace in London.
Hempel won his final against the top seeded Scot Alan Soutar 7:5. Pascal Rupprecht (6:7 against Croatian Boris Krcmar) and Daniel Klose (5:7 against Englishman Darren Webster) narrowly missed qualification.
Before Hempel, Gabriel Clemens, Martin Schindler, Ricardo Pietreczko and Dragutin Horvat had already qualified for the World Cup, which runs from December 15th to January 3rd. Four actors were the maximum from a German perspective until the upcoming edition. For the 33-year-old Hempel, the success comes as a surprise after a rather weak season. However, the former handball goalkeeper was also there at the 2022 and 2023 World Cup. In 2022 he reached the third round.