The BWF World Championships is a badminton tournament organized by the Badminton World Federation. It's the most prestigious badminton competition, offering the most ranking points, along with the Summer Olympics badminton events introduced in 1992. The winners of the tournament are World Champions of the sport and are awarded a gold medal.
The tournament started in 1977 and was held once every three years until 1983. However, the International Badminton Federation faced difficulty in hosting the first two events as the World Badminton Federation, which later merged with the IBF to form one badminton federation, hosted the same tournament a year after the IBF World Championships with the same goals.
Since 1985, the tournament became biennial and played once every two years until 2005. Starting 2006, the tournament was changed to an annual event on the BWF calendar, except during Summer Olympic years.
Editions YearEditionHost cityHost countryDatesTop Nation1977IMalmö (1) Sweden (1)3–8 May (1)1980IIJakarta (1) Indonesia (1)27 May – 1 June (1)1983IIICopenhagen (1) Denmark (1)2–8 May (1)1985IVCalgary (1) Canada (1)10–16 June (2)1987VBeijing (1) China (1)18–24 May (3)1989VIJakarta (2) Indonesia (2)29 May – 4 June (4)1991VIICopenhagen (2) Denmark (2)2–8 May (5)1993VIIIBirmingham (1) England (1)31 May – 6 June (2)1995IXLausanne (1) Switzerland (1)22–28 May (3)1997XGlasgow (1) Scotland (1)24 May – 1 June (6)1999XICopenhagen (3) Denmark (3)16–23 May (1)2001XIISeville (1) Spain (1)3–10 June (7)2003XIIIBirmingham (2) England (2)28 July – 3 August (8)2005XIVAnaheim (1) United States (1)15–21 August (9)2006XVMadrid (1) Spain (2)18–24 September (10)2007XVIKuala Lumpur (1) Malaysia (1)13–19 August (11)2009XVIIHyderabad (1) India (1)10–16 August (12)2010XVIIIParis (1) France (1)23–29 August (13)2011XIXLondon (1) England (3)8–14 August (14)2013XXGuangzhou (1) China (2)5–11 August (15)2014XXICopenhagen (4) Denmark (4)25–31 August (16)2015XXIIJakarta (3) Indonesia (3)10–16 August (17)2017XXIIIGlasgow (2) Scotland (2)21–27 August (18)2018XXIVNanjing (1) China (3)30 July – 5 August (19)2019XXVBasel (1) Switzerland (2)19–25 August (1)2021XXVIHuelva (1) Spain (3)12–19 December (2)2022XXVIITokyo (1) Japan (1)22–28 August (20)2023XXVIIICopenhagen (5) Denmark (5)21–27 August (2)2025XXIXParis (2) France (2)25–31 August (21)2026XXXNew Delhi (1)India (2)17–23 August (3)
Venues The table below gives an overview of all host cities and countries of the World Championships. The most recent games were held in Copenhagen. The number in parentheses following the city/country denotes how many times that city/country has hosted the championships. From 1989 to 2001 the world championships were held immediately after the Sudirman Cup at the same location.
Winners summary
As of 2025, only 22 countries have achieved at least a bronze medal in the tournament: 11 from Asia, eight from Europe, two from North America and one from Oceania. Africa is the only confederation that has not won a medal. Canada is the newest country to win a medal in 2025.
At the age of 18, Ratchanok Inthanon became the youngest winner of a singles title at the Championships. Ratchanok was less than 3 months older than Jang Hye-ock was when she won the women's doubles title at the 1995 Championships.
Most successful players Several players have won gold medals in more than one category in a World Championship; this includes: Lene Køppen, 1977, mixed doubles and women's singles Christian Hadinata, 1980, men's doubles and mixed doubles Park Joo-bong, 1985 & 1991, men's doubles and mixed doubles Han Aiping, 1985, women's singles and doubles Ge Fei, 1997, women's doubles and mixed doubles Kim Dong-moon, 1999, men's doubles and mixed doubles Gao Ling, 2001, women's doubles and mixed doubles Zhao Yunlei, 2014 & 2015, women's doubles and mixed doubles Seo Seung-jae, 2023, men's doubles and mixed doubles
From 1977 up to 2001, the medals were usually divided among five countries, namely China, Korea, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia. However, in 2003, the winners included seven countries and in 2005 and 2025 the medal board contained a record high of ten countries.
Tony Gunawan also bears the distinction of winning a gold medal in Men's Doubles, representing two countries, 2001 partnering with Halim Haryanto for Indonesia and in 2005 partnering with Howard Bach to give the United States its first medal in the competition.
The 2005 edition also brought new faces to the mixed doubles event which had been dominated by China and Korea since 1997. With the retirement of defending champions and two-time winners Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min (Korea), Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir won Indonesia's first mixed doubles gold since 1980 when Christian Hadinata/Imelda Wiguna won it last for Indonesia.
Below is the list of the most successful players ever, with 3 or more gold medals. RankPlayerMSWSMDWDXDTotal1 Lin Dan55 Zhao Yunlei235 Park Joo-bong2354 Cai Yun44 Chen Qingchen44 Fu Haifeng44 Gao Ling314 Jia Yifan44 Zhang Nan134 Liliyana Natsir44 Hendra Setiawan4412 Ge Fei213 Guan Weizhen33 Han Aiping213 Huang Sui33 Huang Yaqiong33 Li Lingwei213 Lin Ying33 Yu Yang33 Zheng Siwei33 Mohammad Ahsan33 Akane Yamaguchi33 Kim Dong-moon123 Seo Seung-jae213 Carolina Marín33 Below is the list of the most successful player(s) in each category (listed according to their last title): CategoryPlayerTotalYearMS Lin Dan52006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013WS Akane Yamaguchi32021, 2022, 2025 Carolina Marín32014, 2015, 2018MD Cai Yun42006, 2009, 2010, 2011 (with Fu Haifeng) Fu Haifeng42006, 2009, 2010, 2011 (with Cai Yun) Hendra Setiawan42007 (with Markis Kido), 2013, 2015, 2019 (with Mohammad Ahsan)WD Chen Qingchen42017, 2021, 2022, 2023 (with Jia Yifan) Jia Yifan42017, 2021, 2022, 2023 (with Chen Qingchen)XD Liliyana Natsir42005, 2007 (with Nova Widianto), 2013, 2017 (with Tontowi Ahmad) MS: Men's singles; WS: Women's singles; MD: Men's doubles; WD: Women's doubles; XD: Mixed doubles
National teams
Most titles China have been the most successful country in the World Championships since its inception in 1977. They have won the tournament 21 times. The first time was in 1983 at their debut.
Most gold medal sweeps China have taken all five gold medals at three occasions: 1987, 2010 and 2011. They are the only ones to have done so at any single championship.
Nation gold medals and tournament wins Below is the gold medalists shown based by category and countries as of 2026 BWF World Championships. Ranking by total number of gold medals. Two shared gold medals count as one in total. BOLD means winner of championship.
Half a medal comes from two player from each own nation playing a double, which is allowed in individual tournaments under BWF. As late as 2026 Aline Müller from Schwitzerland and Kelly van Buiten from the Netherlands played a womens double together. RankNationGold medals by yearTotal goldTournaments won 77 80 83 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 01 03 05 06 07 09 10 11 13 14 15 17 18 19 21 22 23 25 26 1| | |2 |3 |5 |4 |3 |1 |1 |3 |2 |3 |3 |2 |4 |3 |4 |5 |5 |2 |3 |3 |2 |2 |1 |1 |2 |1 |2 |1 73 21 2|1 |4 |1
|3 |2 |1 | |2 | |2 | |2
|2 | |1 |1 | |1
| 23 3 3|
|2 | |1 |2 | |1 | |2 | |1
|1
|3 |1 |2 163 4|3 | |1
|0.5 |1 |1 |1 | |1
|1
|1
|1
| 11.51 5|1
|1 |2 |2 |2 |1 | |1 | 102 6|
|1 |1 | |1
| 30|
|1
|1 | |1 | | 308| |1 |0.5
|1
| 2.509|
|2 20|
|1 | |1 |2011|
|1
| 10|
|1
| 10| | |0.5
|0.5
| 10|
|1
| 10
Korea won on the superior of two silver medals to China's one and thus Korea became the overall winner. China won on superior of four silver medals to Indonesia's one and thus China became the overall winner. China won on the superior of two silver medals to Indonesia's none and thus China became the overall winner. China won on superior of four bronze medals to Japan's two and thus China became the overall winner. Korea won on superior of one bronze medal to France's none and thus Korea became the overall winner.
Disciplin win per country Men's singles RankNation778083858789919395979901030506070910111314151718192122232526Total1XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX152XXXXXX63XXXX44XX25 X1 X1 X1
Women's singles RankNation778083858789919395979901030506070910111314151718192122232526Total1XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX152XXXX43XXX34XX2XX2XX27X1X1
Men's doubles RankNation778083858789919395979901030506070910111314151718192122232526Total1XXXXXXXXXX102XXXXXXXXX93 XXXXXX64XX25 X1 X1X1
Women's doubles RankNation778083858789919395979901030506070910111314151718192122232526Total1XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX242XXX33XX24X1
Mixed doubles RankNation778083858789919395979901030506070910111314151718192122232526Total1XXXXXXXXXX102XXXXXX63XXXXX54X/XX3.55/X1.56X 1X 1\\1X1
Medal table Total medals
Medal by discipline Men's singles
Due to the disqualification on suspicion of violation of anti-doping regulations, the 2014 silver medalist Lee Chong Wei was stripped of his medal and thus the medal count does not add up.
Women's singles
Men's doubles
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
See also BWF World Junior Championships BWF World Senior Championships
References
External links