Luke Littler will begin the defence of his Grand Slam of Darts title on Saturday, 14 November, chasing a third straight crown at a tournament he has never lost a match in.

The 2026 edition, which runs until Sunday, 22 November at WV Active Aldersley in Wolverhampton, is the biggest in the event's history. The field has expanded from 32 players to 48, split into 16 groups of three, and the prize fund has risen from £650,000 to £1 million, with £200,000 for the winner and £100,000 for the runner-up.

Littler's record at the event

Littler won the title in each of his two previous appearances, beating Martin Lukeman 16-3 in the 2024 final and Luke Humphries 16-11 in last year's final. Humphries, the 2023 champion, is the only other recent winner in the field, and Littler has yet to taste defeat in Wolverhampton.

The defending champion has been drawn in Group A alongside Beau Greaves and Niels Zonneveld, and he opens against Greaves in the evening session on Saturday. Greaves, a three-time women's world matchplay champion, beat Littler when the pair met in last year's World Youth Championship semi-finals, so the opening-night meeting is a genuine test rather than a gentle start.

Qualifiers decided in Leicester

The final places in the 48-player field were settled at a qualifier in Leicester, where 91 tour card holders chased the last spots. Stephen Bunting headlined the successful players, never averaging under a tonne as he beat Arno Merk, Callan Rydz and Jimmy van Schie.

Joe Cullen took one of the other places by beating former world champion Michael Smith 5-3, after Smith had led 3-0. It means Smith will miss the Grand Slam for the first time since 2016. Dave Chisnall lost 5-2 to Bradley Brooks and misses out for a second straight year, Mike De Decker was beaten 5-3 by Alan Soutar, and three-time finalist Peter Wright lost 5-2 to Oskar Lukasiak and is absent again. Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld also missed out, while Gary Anderson did not attend the qualifier.

When the tournament is decided

The group stage is followed by a last-16 round starting on Wednesday, 18 November, with the quarter-finals split across Friday, 20 November and Saturday, 21 November. Finals day is Sunday, 22 November, with the semi-finals from 1pm and the final from 7.30pm, when the winner lifts the Eric Bristow Trophy.

Littler starts as the favourite, but the expanded field and the new group format give more players a route into the knockout stages. Sky Sports set out the schedule, the expanded 48-player format and the £1 million prize fund, and DartsNews reported the qualifier results from Leicester, including Bunting's wins and Smith's defeat to Cullen.