Jonny Clayton and Lisa Ashton became the latest players to seal their qualification for the Grand Slam of Darts last weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The newly-expanded 48-player tournament returns to the WV Active Aldersley from November 14-22, as the sport\u2019s biggest names battle it out for the iconic Eric Bristow Trophy and a share of \u00a31 million in prize money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clayton confirmed his Wolverhampton return after storming to victory at the Swiss Darts Trophy, producing a host of superb performances to claim his first ranking title of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Welshman averaged 102.70 across the tournament in Basel, defeating Maik Kuivenhoven, Rob Cross, Karel Sedlacek, Gian van Veen and Luke Humphries to triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clayton will subsequently make his eighth Grand Slam of Darts appearance next month, as he bids to progress beyond the quarter-finals for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ashton, meanwhile, will feature in her sixth Grand Slam campaign, having sealed her qualification via the PDC Women\u2019s Series rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former Women\u2019s World Matchplay champion was a runner-up to Beau Greaves on the Women\u2019s Series rankings, but with Greaves already assured of her spot, Ashton will also return to the West Midlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending Grand Slam champion and World Champion Luke Littler headlines this year\u2019s confirmed field, alongside newly crowned World Grand Prix champion Humphries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finalists from PDC televised events over a 12-month period automatically qualify, with Dutch number one Van Veen and three-time champions Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen also set to star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three-time finalist James Wade will make his 19th<\/sup> appearance, with World Series Finals champion Ross Smith and Players Championship Finals runner-up Nathan Aspinall assured of their qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional qualification spots are allocated to secondary and affiliate tours, including last year\u2019s World Youth Championship runner-up Greaves and this year\u2019s finalists Cam Crabtree and Jan Schmidt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sebastian Bialecki\u2019s Development Tour domination has earned the Polish ace a first Grand Slam outing, while Joe Hunt will also make his debut after securing top spot on the Challenge Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paolo Nebrida and Adam Sevada will also make maiden Grand Slam appearances, courtesy of their PDC Asian Championship and North American Championship victories respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The winners of the PDC Nordic & Baltic Championship and ANZ Premier League will also earn spots, with the European Championship winner and runner-up guaranteed of a place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any remaining qualification places – up to a maximum of 40 players – are then handed out to 2026 European Tour event winners and then Players Championship event winners, in PDC Ranking order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wessel Nijman \u2013 an eight-time winner on the PDC ProTour in 2026 \u2013 is amongst the list of confirmed qualifiers, which includes Josh Rock, Luke Woodhouse and Krzysztof Ratajski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris Dobey and Cameron Menzies will feature after winning a brace of Players Championship titles each, with Ryan Searle, Jermaine Wattimena and Cross also earning call-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin Doets\u2019 impressive campaign will be rewarded with a Grand Slam debut, while Andrew Gilding, Jeffrey de Graaf, Gabriel Clemens and Sedlacek have all qualified as Players Championship winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite winning a maiden Players Championship title in July, as the lowest-ranked winner of a ProTour title, Henry Coates is not yet certain of a spot in Wolverhampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Should the winners of the year\u2019s final European Tour event, four Players Championship events and the European Championship winner and runner-up not be pre-qualified and all higher ranked than Coates, he will miss out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tour Card Holder Qualifier for the Grand Slam will take place on Friday November 6 in Leicester, guaranteeing at least eight qualifiers to finalise the 48-player field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there are less than 40 pre-qualified players by November 6, the number of places available in the Tour Card Holder Qualifier will be increased appropriately to complete the field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jonny Clayton and Lisa Ashton became the latest players to seal their qualification for the Grand Slam of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-16628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t