Players' Championship


The Players' Championship is one of the final events on the World Curling Tour and is a part of the Grand Slam of Curling.
It is the second to last slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors". 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.

History

The event began as the "VO Cup" before the Grand Slam era in 1993, as part of the very first World Curling Tour season. A women's event was introduced in 2006.
From 2007 to 2009, it was a qualifying tournament for the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, and had barred foreign teams from entering. 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 have won the most championships with 6.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both the 2020 Players' Championship and the 2020 Champions Cup were cancelled.

Qualification

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.

Format

The 12 teams are split into two pools of six which compete in a round robin. The top 8 teams advance to a single game elimination playoff. The event has been held in its current format since 2014.

Past champions

Men

Women