Badminton World Federation

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Badminton World Federation
AbbreviationBWF
Formation5 July 1934;91 years ago (1934-07-05)
Founded at Cheltenham, England
Type Sports federation
Headquarters Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Membership202 member associations
President
Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul
RevenueUS$6.9 million [1] (2023)
ExpensesUS$28.27 million [1] (2019)
Website bwfbadminton.com

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 nations: Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales. In 1981, the IBF merged with the World Badminton Federation, and on 24 September 2006, at the Extraordinary General Meeting in Madrid, the name of the organization was changed to Badminton World Federation. [2]

Contents

When the BWF was founded, its head office was located in Cheltenham, UK. It was then relocated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 1, 2005. [3] Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul of Thailand is the current president. [4] The BWF has 202 member associations around the world, organized into five continental confederations. [5]

Continental federations

Map of the world with five confederations International Badminton Federation member nations.svg
Map of the world with five confederations

The BWF works in co-operation with regional governing bodies to promote and develop the sport of badminton around the world, they are: [6]

RegionConfederationMembers
   Asia Badminton Asia (BA)45
   Europe Badminton Europe (BE)53
   Americas Badminton Pan America (BPA)38
   Africa Badminton Africa 49
   Oceania Badminton Oceania (BO)17
Total202

Presidents

Below is the list of presidents since 1934: [7]

No.YearsNameCountry
11934–1955 George Alan Thomas Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
21955–1957 John Plunkett-Dillon Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland
31957–1959Brigadier Bruce Hay Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
41959–1961 A. C. J. van Vossen Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
51961–1963 John McCallum Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland
61963–1965 Nils Peder Kristensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark
71965–1969 David Bloomer Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
81969–1971 Humphrey Chilton Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
91971–1974 Ferry Sonneville Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia
101974–1976 Stuart Wyatt Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
111976–1981 Stellan Mohlin Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
121981–1984 Craig Reedie Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
131984–1986 Poul-Erik Nielsen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark
141986–1990 Ian Palmer Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
151990–1993 Arthur Jones Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
161993–2001 Lu Shengrong Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
172001–2005 Korn Dabbaransi Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand
182005–2013 Kang Young-Joong Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
192013–2025 Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark
202025– Patama Leeswadtrakul Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand

Rankings

The BWF World Ranking and BWF World Junior Ranking are introduced to determine the strength of the players. BWF World Ranking is used for determining the qualification for entry and seeding for the BWF-sanctioned tournament. The points awarded is based on the final results of each tournament participated for the past 52 weeks. Junior Ranking consists of players under 19 years old.

Tournaments

Grade 1 (S-Tier)

The BWF regularly organises seven major international badminton events and two events for para-badminton:

Major tournaments:

Other major tournaments:

Para major tournaments:

Event(s) are no longer held regularly:

Grade 2 (A-Tier)

Grade 2 tournaments, known as BWF World Tour was sanctioned into six levels with different world ranking points awarded, as order they are:

The events that were formerly held from 2007 to 2017 are:

Grade 3 (B-Tier)

Grade 3 tournaments, known as Continental Circuit was sanctioned into three levels with different world ranking points awarded, as order they are:

Awards

The BWF bestows special honours onto players, umpires, sponsors, and other individuals for their achievement in badminton or for their contributions to badminton. [9]

Over the years, the organization has had several logos. Originally it used the IBF logo. As the BWF, a new logo was adopted in 2007. [10] In 2012 it adopted a new, streamlined logo. [11]

Aborted clothing rule

The BWF and Octagon developed a rule that women badminton players must wear dresses or skirts "to ensure attractive presentation." It was included in the official rulebook in 2011, but was dropped before it was supposed to go into effect in 2012. [12] [13]

Publications

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Perelman, Rich (24 May 2020). "Who's in the money? EXCLUSIVE analysis of our survey of International Federation finances". The Sports Examiner. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  2. "Madrid Welcomes Badminton World Federation". BadmintonAsia.org. 29 September 2006. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  3. "BWF Council / Executive Board". BWF. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  4. "Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul Confirmed BWF President-elect". bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  5. "BWF–Memberships". BWF. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  6. "BWF Members by Continental Confederation". BWF. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  7. "IBF/BWF Office Baerers (since 1934)". BWF. Retrieved 11 March 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. "World Senior Championships". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  9. "Awards". BWF. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  10. Lacroix, Yves (15 June 2007). "EXCLUSIVE – BWF Unveils New Logo Today". Badzine. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  11. "BWF rebrand and launch new logo: Modern, Strong, Efficient". Badminton World Federation. 26 May 2012. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  12. "In Badminton, Pants Are Back". HuffPost. 31 May 2011.
  13. "Badminton shelves rule requiring women wear skirts". NBC News. 4 June 2012.