Entries Grand Slam of Darts last chance qualifier: Gary Anderson skips as Bunting joins former champions Smith and Van Barneveld in fight for Wolverhampton return
PDC
The 2026 Grand Slam of Darts qualifier takes place in Leicester on Friday. A total of 91 players will compete for the last ten places in the televised tournament in Wolverhampton. The field includes several big names.
ADVERTISEMENT
The qualifier will be played at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester. The ten players who earn a place will compete in the Grand Slam of Darts at WV Active Aldersley from 14 to 22 November.
Stephen Bunting is the highest-ranked player in the world rankings competing on Friday. Danny Noppert is another notable entrant. The Dutchman reached the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts last year, but this time must come through the qualifier to secure his place.
Two former winners, Raymond van Barneveld and Michael Smith, will also step up to the oche. Peter Wright, who has reached the Grand Slam final three times, will also be bidding to qualify.
The field also includes Dirk van Duijvenbode, who reached the semi-finals of this year's World Matchplay, and Australian number one Damon Heta.
Peter Wright is a former Grand Slam finalisf
Other familiar names stepping up to the oche include Dave Chisnall, Joe Cullen, Daryl Gurney, Ryan Joyce, Ritchie Edhouse and Michael Smith. Mike De Decker, Kim Huybrechts and Dimitri Van den Bergh will be flying the Belgian flag, but notably two-time world champion Gary Anderson will not be present, as his Grand Slam absence is confirmed.
Grand Slam of Darts qualifier entrants
ADVERTISEMENT
| Keane Barry |
| Owen Bates |
| Stefan Bellmont |
| Filip Bereza |
| Tom Bissell |
| Andy Boulton |
| Bradley Brooks |
| Stephen Bunting |
| Stephen Burton |
| Dave Chisnall |
| Joe Cullen |
| Niall Culleton |
| Mike De Decker |
| Jeffrey de Zwaan |
| Cor Dekker |
| Brendan Dolan |
| Tavis Dudeney |
| Ritchie Edhouse |
| Ricky Evans |
| Adam Gawlas |
| Rhys Griffin |
| Dominik Gruellich |
| Daryl Gurney |
| Stefaan Henderyck |
| Damon Heta |
| Justin Hood |
| Max Hopp |
| James Hurrell |
| Kim Huybrechts |
| Ryan Joyce |
| Tytus Kanik |
| Nick Kenny |
| Mervyn King |
| Christian Kist |
| Marvin Kraft |
| Maik Kuivenhoven |
| Darius Labanauskas |
| Chris Landman |
| Sietse Lap |
| Adam Leek |
| Adam Lipscombe |
| Jim Long |
| Thomas Lovely |
| Oskar Lukasiak |
| Martin Lukeman |
| Mickey Mansell |
| Shane McGuirk |
| Ryan Meikle |
| Arno Merk |
| Alexander Merkx |
| Danny Noppert |
| William O'Connor |
| Rob Owen |
| Adam Paxton |
| Ricardo Pietreczko |
| Darryl Pilgrim |
| Wesley Plaisier |
| Benjamin Pratnemer |
| Samuel Price |
| Madars Razma |
| Cristo Reyes |
| Greg Ritchie |
| Rusty-Jake Rodriguez |
| Stephen Rosney |
| Callan Rydz |
| Connor Scutt |
| David Sharp |
| Michael Smith |
| Carl Sneyd |
| Alan Soutar |
| Jeffrey Sparidaans |
| Niko Springer |
| Mensur Suljovic |
| Tom Sykes |
| Tyler Thorpe |
| Viktor Tingstrom |
| Thibault Tricole |
| Raymond van Barneveld |
| Dimitri Van den Bergh |
| Jurjen van der Velde |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode |
| Jimmy van Schie |
| Marvin van Velzen |
| Mario Vandenbogaerde |
| Richard Veenstra |
| Adam Warner |
| Leon Weber |
| Lukas Wenig |
| Ian White |
| Scott Williams |
| Peter Wright |
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Probably i will receive a lot of backlash and hate for this reaction, but well, so be it. I am more than sick and tired of those lies of you Barry Hearn. How dare you defend yourself over the back of Fallon’s son! He has a disability and not an illness, so let me correct that for you! I know because I have the exact same disability. I have tried to reach out to Fallon in the past, and offered her to help her and her son, because I was struggling with the same problems, and I understood the boy. I wanted him to have finally someone who understood him. However she told me that she did not want my help, and I have respected Fallon’s choice. I have never asked Fallon for money. They don’t need money in that case. I only ever wanted the best for Fallon and Rory, but I have to be honest about the situation. Fallon should tell the true story and not be forced to tell lies. I don’t hate Fallon, and I don’t begrudge or envy a single penny that she gets, but this situation/case is just not fair. I hate the lies and the dishonesty and injustice. I don’t want Fallon to be hated because there is an unfair disadvantage created. Don’t proclaim your false lies over the back of Rory! I only stand for integrity and justice. I am precisely the one who always sticks up for Fallon. And you don't, you don't give a damn about them. You were never there for them, and now you only want to save your own position! You are just trying to talk your way out of your own bad behavior at the expense of someone with a disability. And to Fallon, I don’t know if this may ever reach you, and you read it, but I want you to know I love you and I love your son Rory very much, I am sorry how things developed and went. I hope you and Harriet are still friends. I am sorry if I were too persistent to you, or you experienced it that way, but it was never my intention. Please understand I have autism as well. As Barry Hearn would say, I am only just a human being too, and I also make mistakes and misjudge things sometimes. I promise you I did everything out of the deepest love and care for you and Rory. If I were you, I should just keep all the money, only please never be dishonest or tell lies anymore for Barry Hearn, or anyone else. I hope you have the best life, and I wish nothing more than the best for you. I have always loved the two of you. Farewell.Hiddo05-11-2026
- She is a professional. If darts is her income, she is a professional. Same as Adrian Lewis, Martin Adams. A tour card just means someone can play on the PDC tour. You could even make a case that Clayton wasn't a professional (until recently I believe) because he had employment elsewhere.BandB04-11-2026
- She's technically not a professional though as she doesn't hold a pro tour card.mr-pablo04-11-2026
- Such a shame that lakeside has been reduced to this. Fantastic venue,and previously a great tournament. Not any morerick6703-11-2026
- Seems to me that the top 16 players pick and choose whatever they want to play. Good,all the money will get spread out more. They get more money from exhibitions than tournaments so let them all withdrawrick6703-11-2026
- Play all legs and the winners split the pot. Luke gets the lot of he wins them all. If your occupation is darts player you can't enter, regardless of ability.BandB01-11-2026
- I'm quite a jaded person all things considered, but to be honest I found Beat Luke Littler to be pretty entertaining. It certainly wasn't seamless, which is to be expected given the lack of precedence, but I actually think the pacing was pretty good, the production was impressive, and there was a good sense of humour and levity to it. I think it was a very ambitious undertaking but one that, for the most part, paid off. I liked the system with the four pots and I think it added to the drama and intrigue. I enjoyed seeing the diverse range of entrants and learning about their backstories. I think the interactivity was pretty clever and well-integrated. The panel was a little incoherent at times; Lee Mack shone however, and his improvisational skills were appreciated during some more awkward interstitial moments. As far as the darts is concerned, it was a shame that the format didn't allow Littler to get into full flow. You obviously don't want him to steamroll everyone but you want to feel like you're getting the full Littler package rather than seeing him struggling to get out of first gear. I will say that his leg against Jayden Walker was very impressive, but it was mostly downhill from there. The attraction revolves around Littler being this untouchable, indomitable force, yet the format doesn't really allow him to fulfil that characterisation. As for Fallon Sherrock, she was mightily impressive and deserved the victory. It is a testament to her unshakeable character that she was able to bang in a 14-darter under such mind-bending pressure. Everything that has been said about the misleading marketing is valid, though they were clear about their eligibility criteria and were able to offload the responsibility somewhat by bringing the viewers into the decision-making process in real time. What is clear though, is that Fallon played the game according to the rules, and she should not be criticised for that, much less abused. I will admit though that it is a kick in the teeth for those true amateurs who committed time and money to the course, and I would also question those who think pub players would have no chance, given that some of Littler's winning legs were dispatched in 7 visits to the board! The great thing about darts is that it isn't so much that amateurs cannot replicate the feats of brilliance pulled off by professionals of the sport, than it is that they simply cannot replicate the consistency of their output, something that this format almost entirely removes from the equation. It should also be noted that, financially, Fallon certainly stands to benefit much less in relative terms from the paycheque than would your average pub thrower, as I'm sure she nets a fair income from the lucrative exhibition circuit alone. What I do hope is that she might use this as an opportunity to really build up a head of steam heading into the new season, as it seems long overdue that she come through Q-School and really take it to the pros on a week-in week-out basis, but whatever she chooses to do, she has certainly achieved enough already for one if not several lifetimes, so who am I to dictate terms? To conclude though, I will state once again that I found Beat Luke Littler to be a pretty enjoyable evening of entertainment. I do feel for the contestants who never actually had the chance to try their luck against the world #1, although I suppose it comes with the format, but all which inevitably raises the question: will Netflix be tempted to do it all again next year? It's hard to say. Whether it would be financially viable, I can't weigh in there. One point I have been making though, and which I touched on earlier, is that the entire concept relies on a public perception that Littler is more or less unbeatable, and that certainly hasn't been the case of late. If the execs had been trying to pitch the show in recent months while Littler has seemed vulnerable, rather than when he was mopping up almost every major title on the calendar, it would certainly be a tougher sell. We will have to see in about 6 months' time whether Littler can still reliably command perception as a near-unstoppable force in darts, and then we'll have a clearer idea about whether we should expect a second helping. Even as a one-off experiment though, and with all the controversy taken into account, I still don't think they disgraced themselves by any means, and that will probably be my lingering assessment of the event when all is said and done.Deduce635801-11-2026
- Fair play to Fallon. But...shows the mockery when a professional players wins what was meant to be an amateur v Pro event, Littlers performance was poor, and what about the players who didn't get a game? Would have been better if the pot was split amoungst all the winners and they all got a leg.BandB31-10-2026
- Not even slightly interestedrick6730-10-2026
- And yet the PDC has decided to aggravate this problem by doubling the Players Championship Finals field from 2027. I can't imagine there will be fewer withdrawals next year with even less reason to turn up. I can only hope that a whole slew of Challenge Tour top-up players receive enough prize money in the absence of much of the elite, that some of the more complacent among them struggle to scrape into even a heavily diluted field! More semi-pro players will get to test their mettle, but the standard of competition will be much inferior. It could hardly be said that the Players Championship series will provide an opportunity for darts' second string to test their Tour Card credentials anymore, but at least it will underscore the achievements of those Challenge Tour players of current and previous years, who were able to prove themselves as more than capable of competing with, and beating, the elite of the sport on a consistent basis, and reaping the due rewards.Deduce635828-10-2026