The Sudirman Cup is an international

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

mixed team competition contested by member countries of the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...

, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1989. It used to be held at the same venue for the World Championships in the same year until the International Badminton Federation, now the BWF, decided to split the two tournaments starting from 2003. There are five matches in every Sudirman Cup tie which consists of men and women's singles, men and women's doubles and mixed doubles. The cup is named after Sudirman, a former Indonesian badminton player. The current champion is

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, which won its 14th title at the 2025 tournament in China. There is no prize money in Sudirman Cup; players play for their respective countries and to earn

BWF World Ranking The BWF World Ranking is the official ranking of the Badminton World Federation for badminton players who participate in tournaments sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. It is used to determine the qualification for the BWF World Championships ...

points and national prestige.

Trophy

The Sudirman Cup stands 80 cm high. It is made of 22 carat (92%)

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

-plated solid

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and stands on an octagonal base made of jati wood (Java

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

wood). The body of the Cup is in the form of a

shuttlecock A shuttlecock (also called a birdie or shuttle, or ball) is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. It has an open conical shape formed by feathers or plastic (or a synthetic alternative) embedded into a rounded cork (or ru ...

and is surmounted by a replica of the

Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur (, ), is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, near the city of Magelang and the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesia. Constructed of gray andesite-like stone, the temple consi ...

Temple. The handles are in the shape of stamens, symbolising the seeds of badminton. The Cup was made by Masterix Bandung Company at the price of US$15,000.

Format

Until the 2021 edition, Sudirman Cup was an international competition that does not stage a qualification round. The competing teams are divided into 7 groups based on their performances. Only teams in Group 1 will have a chance to lift the trophy as the teams in other groups fight for promotion. Only six teams compete in Group 1, before it is increased to 8 in 2005 and further increased to 12 teams in 2011. Originally, the teams who finish last in the group were relegated to the lower group for the next edition, except for the last place finishing team in the lowest group. The promotion-relegation system was last used in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and teams competing are now grouped by world rankings. Starting from 2021 a new 16 team competition format is used, consisting of teams qualified from continental mixed team championships and mixed team ranking. However, due to travel and border restrictions arising from the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

affecting the other planned continental team championships, the new format was only able to be fully implemented in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

edition.

Results

Successful national teams

Indonesia initially won the tournament in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. Throughout the history of the tournament, eight countries have reached through to the semifinal round in all tournaments of Sudirman Cup:

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. China is the most successful national team in the Sudirman Cup (14 victories), followed by Korea (4 victories) and Indonesia (1 victory). The tournament has never been won by a non-Asian country, Denmark is the only European country that came close to winning it, in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. Bold text denotes team was host country.

References

External links

Official website
{{Main world championships International badminton competitions World cups Recurring sporting events established in 1989