Everything you need to know about the 2026 Grand Slam of Darts as World Champion Luke Littler bids to retain his crown at the Aldersley Leisure Village in November.
The Wolverhampton-based venue will once again stage the £650,000 tournament, which is one of the highlights of the PDC's annual calendar.
It starts with a round-robin group stage before the 16 qualifiers head for the knockouts, each with the aim of lifting the coveted Eric Bristow Trophy on Finals Night.
Luke Littler has gone back-to-back at the event, capturing the coveted crown in 2024 and 2025, and is expected to be amongst the field chasing a treble in the new year.
Dates
The 2026 Grand Slam of Darts will get underway on Saturday 14th November, with the event reaching its conclusion on Sunday 22nd November.
Prize Money
Winner (1): | £150,000 |
Runner-Up (1): | £70,000 |
Semi-Final Losers (2): | £50,000 |
Quarter-Final Losers (4): | £25,000 |
Second Round Losers (8): | £12,250 |
Group Stage Winner Bonus (8): | £3,500 |
Third in Group (8): | £8,000 |
Fourth in group (8): | £3,500 |
The bumper £650,000 grand Slam of Darts includes a £150,000 top prize, whilst the runner-up will take home a cool £70,000.
There are rewards in the group stages too, with the fourth placed players taking home £3,500, significantly less than the £8,000 available for those who finish third.
Group winners will also be guaranteed £12,250 should they be beaten in the second round, as well as a £3,5000 group winners bonus.
Venue & Location
The 2026 Grand Slam of Darts will take place at the Aldersley Leisure Village, in Wolverhampton.
Formerly at the Civic Hall, the City of Wolverhampton has been the tournament's home since the first staging of the event in 2007.
The only year it left Wolverhampton was in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was staged at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Line-up and Qualifying
The Grand Slam of Darts is one of the most difficult tournaments to qualify for on the PDC calendar.
Players gain automatic qualification by virtue of winning or reaching the final of a major ranking event in the 12 months leading up to the Grand Slam of Darts.
If that list produces fewer than 16 players, the field will be filled via the reserve list, which contains players who have won on the European Tour during the 12 month period.
Eight more spots are filled by the Grand Slam of Darts Tour Card Qualifier, which is a one day event and open to all PDC Tour Card holders, who have not already secured qualification.
The final eight places are occupied by PDC secondary and affiliate tours, with the winner of the PDC World Youth Championship amongst the eight.
Other qualifiers will come from the Women’s World Matchplay, CDC Continental Cup and PDC Asian Championship, whilst the top ranked player on each of the Challenge Tour, Development Tour and PDC Women’s Series will also secure Grand Slam of Darts qualification.
Grand Slam of Darts 20256 Draw
The draw for the 2026 Grand Slam of Darts will take place once all 32 competitors have been confirmed, likely a couple of weeks ahead of the start of the event.
Format and Rules
During the group stage of the competition all four players in each group will face each other once, with two points up for grabs for each match winner and zero points for the loser.
The top two players in each group will advance to the second round, with players ranked third and fourth eliminated from the competition.
To split a two-way points tie for any position within a group, the following process will be used:
- Leg Difference
- Group Match winner
To split a three-way points tie for positions within a group, the following process will be used:
- Leg Difference
- Legs Won
- Legs Won Against Throw
- Tournament Average
If there is still a tie for one or more places, there will be a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out between the relevant players to determine final standings, with the highest aggregate score over nine darts being used to separate the players.
In the event a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out finishes level between two or more players, those players who have tied on the most points will continue to throw three darts each in the same order until one player scores more points than the other player(s) with their three darts.
The competition will then revert to a standard knockout format from the second round onwards.
History
The Grand Slam of Darts was first introduced into the darting calendar back in 2007 as a non-ranking event which invited the best players from two of the sport's governing bodies - the PDC and BDO - to take part.
The BDO is no more however, and the 2022 event marked the first time that the field was made up entirely of PDC card holders.
Phil Taylor won the first three editions of the Grand Slam of Darts, added a fourth title in 2011 and two more in 2013 and 2014, making him a six-time winner, whilst Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price have each won the tournament three times.
Luke Littler reigned supreme in both 2024 and 2025 and is expected to be back in Wolverhampton as he seeks a hat-trick in 2026.
Grand Slam of Darts previous winners list
