The Players' Championship, currently known as the Princess Auto Players' Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the final event of the Grand Slam of Curling tour, and is formerly the championship of the World Curling Tour season.
From 2016 to 2019, it was the penultimate slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors".[1] The event was one of the original Grand Slam events when they were instituted in the 2001–02 season for men and for the 2006–07 season for women.
The event began as the "VO Cup" before the Grand Slam era in 1993, as part of the very first World Curling Tour season.[2] The event was known as the VO Cup for two seasons before title sponsor Seagram's Distillery pulled out.[3] With no sponsor, the 1995 event was saved at the last minute, and continued the next season thanks to a TV deal with TSN.[4]
From 2007 to 2009, it was a qualifying tournament for the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, and had barred foreign teams from entering (unlike the other Slams). Scotland's Eve Muirhead became the first non-Canadian skip to win the event in 2013, while Sweden's Niklas Edin became the first non Canadian skip to win the men's event in 2017.
To date, Edmonton's Kevin Martin has won the most Players' Championships with 8. On the women's side, Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones (and her long-time second, Jill Officer) have won the most championships with 6.
The top 12 teams on the men's and women's WCT year-to-date rankings respectively qualify for the event. Teams that decline their invitations are replaced by the next highest ranked team.[7]
Format
Since 2023, and from 2014 to 2021, the event featured 12 teams split into two pools of six which compete in a round robin, with the top six teams advancing to a single game elimination playoff. In 2021, the number of teams earning playoff berths was reduced from eight.[8][9] The 2022 event was a triple knockout.
Brad Gushue
Silvana Tirinzoni
