STAR DARTS PREVIEW: 2026 Grand Slam of Darts

This week another huge darts major gets underway with the Grand Slam of Darts kicking off on Saturday in Wolverhampton, writes EMILY WALLIS.

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It’s going to be an extremely exciting month for fans with the Grand Slam on this weekend and all next week, then the Players Championship Finals the following weekend and we’re also now just under a month away from the World Darts Championship!

The Grand Slam is one of the biggest tournaments of the year and unique as it kicks off with a group stage format before going into the knockout stage.

It’s also got an extremely unique qualifying criteria which means we miss out on seeing some of the bigger names but get to watch some of the lesser-known players and more international players too, which gets us even more excited for the World Championship.

The Grand Slam has had a couple of slight changes this year as it has been expanded to a 48-player field. This means there are now 16 groups of three instead of eight groups of four. Therefore, each player will have a minimum of two games instead of three previously and only the winner of each group progresses into the next round so we could be in for some surprise results.

Luke Littler has won the tournament for the last two years and it has been ‘Luke dominated’ for a few years with Luke Humphries winning it in 2023. Other players who are in it this year with good records and previous winners are Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen, both having won it three times.

There are 16 players in the field making their debut in the tournament including some big names like Kevin Doets and Niels Zonneveld who qualified through winning on the Pro Tour and Euro Tour respectively. Both have had brilliant years so it will be interesting to see how they get on in Wolverhampton.

There are some other interesting debutants who earnt their place in the Grand Slam by winning on the Pro Tour including Charlie Manby, Henry Coates and, our most recent and final Pro Tour winner of 2026, Tommy Morris. Amazingly, Morris has qualified for all three of the remaining majors this year and he doesn’t even have a tour card! He played outstandingly to win in Leicester last week, beating Luke Humphries in the final and many will be looking forward to seeing how he copes on a big stage.

Other players and big names we are so used to seeing in the major tournaments had to rely on the Tour Card Holder Qualifier to make this year’s Grand Slam, including Stephen Bunting and Joe Cullen but did so well and are in the field with a shout. Other big names fell at the first hurdle in the TCH Qualifier and won’t be in Wolverhampton such as Danny Noppert and Damon Heta.

Overall, it’s an interesting field and I can’t wait for it to all kick off on Saturday afternoon!

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The Group Stage

The draw came out earlier this week and it really can’t get much tougher than Group A, it features Luke Littler, Niels Zonneveld and Beau Greaves!

Obviously, this is a tournament that Littler loves as he has only played in it in the last two years and is undefeated. As mentioned, Zonneveld is having a brilliant year and is one of the only players to beat Littler this year on the Euro Tour which is a similar format.

Of course, Beau Greaves needs no introduction and has gone from strength to strength in 2026 since winning her tour card, she really can beat the best and has proven that multiple times. Again, she beat Littler in a similar format in the World Youth Championship semi-final last year so she knows how to do it but just must handle the pressure of the big stage.

Luke Littler is the most likely winner but is in far from his best form and the best of nine format in the group stage doesn’t suit him as much as the longer format matches do.

There’s plenty of value to be found with Star Sports if you think Zonneveld or Greaves can pull it off and come through the group, it’s one that I’m thoroughly going to enjoy watching.

All the groups are interesting, and another one that looks very close is Group J with Luke Woodhouse, Krzysztof Ratajski and Tom Sykes who are all playing very well at the moment.

From Group F, I think Charlie Manby can win his group and make it to the next round. He’ll face Ryan Searle and Andrew Gilding in the group who will both be tough opponents and experienced too however, for me, aren’t in the best form.

Manby has proven himself on the big stage reaching the last 16 of the World Championship last year and has recently come into some very good form winning his first Pro Tour a couple of weeks ago.

He is priced at 39/20 with starsports.bet for the group which I think he will come through.

Star Sports also have enhanced multiples for the group winners on the website. Of those, I think Josh Rock (Group C) and Rob Cross (Group G) both to win their group is good value at 11/2 with starsports.bet.

Josh Rock hasn’t had his best year in 2026 but has a brilliant record in the Grand Slam making it out of his group three times out of four attempts.

He also has a good record against Kevin Doets, who he will face in his group, having beaten him both times they have played each other.

His other opponent in the group is Tommy Morris, mentioned earlier, which could be a tough game but I think Rock’s big stage experience could swing it in his favour.

Rob Cross has the best record of qualifying from the group stage in the Grand Slam out of anyone in the tournament! He has played in it eight times and made it into the next round every time.

He should beat Anton Ostlund, who is another debutant in the tournament, although Jonny Clayton will be a big test. I think the records can speak for themselves though and Cross can continue his perfect record in the group stage.

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Outright

Looking past the group stage and at the tournament as a whole, Littler is the outright favourite and priced at 11/8 with starsports.bet.

This is a tournament he loves and he’ll also be determined to get back on the right path after a few shock defeats in a row now, especially since he has not qualified for the Players Championship Finals in Minehead, this will be the last time we’ll see him play before the World Championship.

However, taking into consideration recent form and the group that he is in, you can definitely take him on at the prices.

Darts so often is all about confidence and no one is more confident at the moment than Luke Humphries.

He flew through to win the Grand Prix with relative ease in October and since, he made the final of the last Euro Tour of the year, unfortunately had to withdraw from the European Championship due to illness and then came back to win on the Pro Tour in Leicester last week and made the final the following day too.

He said himself after winning that Pro Tour that he wasn’t expecting much but wanted to see where his game was at after having a short break due to that illness.

He should come through his group where he’ll play Joe Cullen and Paolo Nebrida and as we saw a few years ago when he won the Grand Prix, he runs with it when he has confidence and I think we could go on to see him lift the trophy in Wolverhampton once again next weekend. He is 18/5 outright with starsports.bet.

It’s also worth noting that Star Sports have boosted a couple of players outright on the website including Gerwyn Price from 9/1 into 11/1, a three-time winner of this tournament and someone who has made loads of major finals this year.

As always, there will be boosts and specials on the Star Sports website each day to check out.

Bring it on!

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RECOMMENDED BETS
BACK Luke Humphries to win outright 2pts at 18/5 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Charlie Manby to win Group F 2pts at 39/20 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK Josh Rock (Group C) & Rob Cross (Group G) both to win group 1pt at 11/2 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

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