Triple world champion Nicki Pedersen and Danish champion Niels-Kristian Iversen will spearhead Denmark‰Ûªs Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup defence after the 2013 squads were confirmed.
Iversen looks set to line up on his British Elite League home track King‰Ûªs Lynn for Event 2 on July 15, which sees the Danes ride in white against Great Britain (blue), Sweden (red) and the United States of America (yellow).
The FIM Speedway Grand Prix star is back to skipper the team after lifting the Ove Fundin trophy at Swedish track Malilla last July. Pedersen keeps his place in the squad, along with World Under-21 champion Michael Jepsen Jensen.
Great Britain, managed by Neil Middleditch, are led by individual World Championship contender Tai Woffinden and skipper Chris Harris.
Sweden have three full-time SGP riders in their ranks as skipper Andreas Jonsson, Antonio Lindback and Fredrik Lindgren are all in manager Bo Wirebrand‰Ûªs group.
New USA boss Billy Hamill calls on good friend, double world champion Greg Hancock at the Norfolk Arena. Herbie is joined by skipper Ryan Fisher.
Polish heroes Tomasz Gollob, Jaroslaw Hampel and Krzysztof Kasprzak lead their national side into battle on home shale in Event 1, as the Poles wear yellow helmets to tackle Russia (red), Australia (blue) and Latvia (white) at Czestochowa on July 13.
Russia will enjoy some home advantage as well. They are led by Czestochowa stars Emil Sayfutdinov and Grigory Laguta, as well as ex-Lions racer Artem Laguta.
World champion Chris Holder skippers Australia for the first time and he teams up with fit-again SGP opponent Darcy Ward. Aussie champion Troy Batchelor and Davey Watt are in manager Mark Lemon‰Ûªs squad.
Qualifiers Latvia go into the round with FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championship finalist Andzejs Lebedevs at the helm.
The winners of Events 1 and 2 qualify automatically for the Monster Energy SWC Final, alongside the Czech Republic, who have been seeded into the event as hosts. The second and third-placed teams from both meetings enter the Race Off, with the winners completing the final four.
MONSTER ENERGY FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP SQUADS: - EVENT 1 (ARENA CZESTOCHOWA, CZESTOCHOWA, POLAND ‰ÛÒ JULY 13
RUSSIA (RED): Artem Laguta, Grigory Laguta, Emil Sayfutdinov (captain), Roman Povazhny, Renat Gafurov, Vladimir Borodulin, Andrey Kudryashov, Ilya Chalov, Vitaly Belousov, Victor Kulakov. Team Manager: Igor Dmitriev.
AUSTRALIA (BLUE): Chris Holder (captain), Troy Batchelor, Jason Doyle, Josh Grajczonek, Dakota North, Ty Proctor, Aaron Summers, Darcy Ward, Davey Watt, Cameron Woodward. Team Manager: Mark Lemon.
LATVIA (WHITE): Kasts Puodzuks (captain), Maksims Bogdanovs, Vjaceslavs Giruckis, Andzejs Lebedevs, Jevgenijs Kostigovs. Team Manager: Vladimirs Ribnikovs.
POLAND (YELLOW): Tomasz Gollob (captain), Jaroslaw Hampel, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Adrian Miedzinski, Maciej Janowski, Przemyslaw Pawlicki, Piotr Pawlicki, Patryk Dudek, Krzysztof Buczkowski, Janusz Kolodziej. Team Manager: Marek Cieslak.
MONSTER ENERGY FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP SQUADS: EVENT 2 (NORFOLK ARENA, KING‰ÛªS LYNN, GREAT BRITAIN ‰ÛÒ JULY 15
SWEDEN (RED): Andreas Jonsson (captain), Antonio Lindback, Daniel Nermark, Dennis Andersson, Fredrik Lindgren, Jonas Davidsson, Linus Sundstrom, Peter Karlsson, Peter Ljung, Tomas H Jonasson. Team Manager: Bo Wirebrand.
GREAT BRITAIN (BLUE): Tai Woffinden, Chris Harris (captain), Edward Kennett, Daniel King, Craig Cook, Richie Worrall, Lewis Bridger, Josh Auty, Ben Barker, Kyle Howarth. Team Manager: Neil Middleditch.
DENMARK (WHITE): Niels-Kristian Iversen (captain), Nicki Pedersen, Peter Kildemand, Michael Jepsen Jensen, Kenni Larsen, Hans Andersen, Bjarne Pedersen, Kenneth Bjerre, Leon Madsen, Nicklas Porsing. Team Manager: Anders Secher.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (YELLOW): Ryan Fisher (captain), Greg Hancock, Gino Manzares, Ricky Wells, Billy Janniro, Max Ruml, Aaron Fox, Tyson Burmeister, Scott Campos. Team Manager: Billy Hamill.
Top Image: Denmark will be looking to repeat their success of 2012 when they won the World Cup
