Grand Slam of Darts 2026 Schedule: Dates, New 48-Player Format and How Players Qualify

The Grand Slam of Darts 2026 takes place from Saturday 14 to Sunday 22 November at WV Active Aldersley in Wolverhampton. It marks the tournament’s 20th anniversary, and the PDC has used the occasion to make the biggest change in its history: the field grows from 32 players to 48.

On this page

1. Grand Slam of Darts 2026 schedule
2. Grand Slam of Darts 2026 format: 16 groups of three
3. How players qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts 2026
4. Grand Slam of Darts 2026 prize money
5. Can anyone stop Littler?
6. Why Wolverhampton?
7. Grand Slam of Darts FAQ

Dates and venue are listed on the official PDC tournament calendar.

Grand Slam of Darts 2026 schedule

Start times are converted to your time zone automatically: UK time

The group stage fills the first weekend and the early part of the week, with the knockout rounds building towards finals night on Sunday 22 November. The PDC releases the day-by-day order of play after the group draw, which normally takes place shortly before the tournament. We will add session times here as soon as they are published, converted to your own time zone like every time on this site.

Worth knowing if you are watching from abroad: the UK is on GMT throughout the Grand Slam, so there is no clock change to catch you out. A 19:00 UK evening session is midnight in Pakistan, 00:30 in India and 14:00 in New York.

Grand Slam of Darts 2026 format: 16 groups of three

For most of its history, the Grand Slam used eight groups of four. With 48 players that no longer works, so the 2026 event moves to 16 groups of three. The top 16 qualifiers are seeded using the PDC rankings, and the groups are drawn in bracket order, which keeps the strongest seeds apart until later rounds.

The group stage has always been the Grand Slam’s signature — short matches, real jeopardy and the chance for a qualifier to knock out a world-class name. Group games have traditionally been best of nine legs, with the matches getting longer in the knockouts and the final played over 31 legs. The PDC has confirmed the 16-group structure; finer details such as exactly how players progress from groups of three will be confirmed before the event.

How players qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts 2026

The Grand Slam is different from almost every other event on the calendar. It rewards winning rather than ranking. There are three routes in.

1. Finalists of PDC televised events (up to 24 places)

Winners and runners-up of the PDC’s televised events over the previous 12 months qualify automatically. That includes the World Championship, the previous Grand Slam, Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, World Masters, UK Open, European Championship, Players Championship Finals, World Series Finals and the World Cup.

Several players have already locked in their places: Luke Littler (world champion), Gian van Veen (World Championship runner-up), Luke Humphries (2025 Grand Slam runner-up) and Nathan Aspinall (2025 Players Championship Finals runner-up). Because Littler has won so much, many of the titles he holds do not create a new qualifier — which opens more spots further down.

2. Additional qualifiers (up to 12 places)

This is where the Grand Slam’s variety comes from. Places are reserved for:

• World Youth Championship finalists (2025 and 2026)
• The winners of the Development Tour and Challenge Tour rankings
• The Women’s World Matchplay winner and the Women’s Series rankings winner
• Winners of the PDC Asian Championship, North American Championship, PDC Nordic & Baltic Championship and the ANZ Premier League

Beau Greaves has already qualified through this route as 2025 World Youth Championship runner-up.

3. Tour Card Holder Qualifier

Any remaining places go to a Tour Card Holder qualifier, held on Friday 6 November in Leicester.

Grand Slam of Darts 2026 prize money

The PDC raised the Grand Slam prize fund to £1 million from 2026, putting it level with the World Matchplay and behind only the World Championship and Premier League. The bigger field means more players than ever leave Wolverhampton with a cheque.

Can anyone stop Littler?

Littler has won the last two Grand Slams and has had a remarkable 2026. History suggests the Grand Slam is still the Major most likely to throw up a surprise, because group matches are short and a slow start can be fatal. With 16 groups of three, there is even less margin: one bad night could be enough to go home.

The main threats remain Luke Humphries, who reached last year’s final, and Gian van Veen. Watch, too, for whoever wins the European Championship in late October — that title brings an automatic place and plenty of momentum. Our European Championship 2026 guide has the details.

Why Wolverhampton?

The city has hosted the Grand Slam since the first edition in 2007, first at the Civic Hall and now at Aldersley. The only exception was 2020, when the pandemic moved it to Coventry. The venue is a short drive from the city centre, with good rail links from Birmingham and London.

Looking further ahead, the 2027 Grand Slam moves a week earlier, to 6–14 November 2027 in Wolverhampton. All 2027 dates are in our darts schedule 2027.

For every other event before Christmas, see the full darts schedule 2026–27.

Grand Slam of Darts FAQ