Badminton has several major tournaments that take place throughout the year. There are team events as well as individual events where some of the top-ranked shuttlers/pairs compete against each other.
Among these, there is one competition contested between men’s national badminton teams. Which competition, you ask?
It’s the Thomas Cup! This is a biennial tournament played between 16 teams.
In this article, we’ll glance at the Thomas Cup, including its history and format.
Thomas Cup: History
The first-ever Thomas Cup took place in England in 1949. But it was back in 1939, when the idea of starting the Thomas Cup came forward.
England’s Sir George Alan Thomas was the brainchild behind the tournament’s idea. He was a successful shuttler from the early 1900s.
Thomas wanted to start a badminton competition on the lines of tennis’ Davis Cup and football’s FIFA World Cup. The Badminton World Federation (then International Badminton Federation) appreciated Thomas’ proposal during their general meeting in 1939.
So Sir Thomas arranged a trophy for the competition, which was later named after him. Things started moving, and the first tournament was to take place in 1941-42, but the Second World War put the plan on hold for almost eight years.
After a long wait, the Thomas Cup got off the floor in 1949 with 10 participating nations. The teams were split into three regional zones, where they played on a knockout basis.
The United States of America progressed from the American Zone, with Denmark advancing from the Europe Zone. Malaysia got a direct entry into the main event as they were the only team from the Pacific Zone. In the final, Malaysia defeated Denmark to claim the inaugural Thomas Cup.
After that, the tournament took place every three years until 1982. Since the 1982 edition, though, the Thomas Cup has been played every two years.
Thomas Cup: Qualification and Participating Teams
Since 2016, a total of 16 nations have been participating in the Thomas Cup. The defending champions and hosts earn direct qualification for the main event.
Eleven of the remaining 14 spots are filled through regional qualifiers, with four teams each from Asia and Europe and one each from Africa, Oceania, and Pan America. The remaining three spots go to the next-best teams on the BWF World Team rankings.
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Thomas Cup: Current Format
The 16 teams are put into four groups of four teams each. During the group stage, teams play against their group opponents once.
When they face off in the group stage, they play five matches, with three singles and two doubles. Teams need to win at least three matches to win the round.
The top two teams from each group then proceed to the quarter-finals. The knockout stage, involving quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final, also has five matches per round. But if a team wins the first three matches or gets a lead of 3-1 in the fourth match, then the remaining matches don’t take place.
The quarter-final winners then advance to the semi-finals. Then the final pits the two semi-final winners against each other to determine the Thomas Cup winner.
Thomas Cup: Winners
Indonesia are the most successful men’s team in the Thomas Cup. They have lifted the trophy 14 times. China follow them closely, with 11 titles.
Here is the list of Thomas Cup winners:
| Team | Titles |
|---|---|
| Indonesia | 14 |
| China | 11 |
| Malaysia | 5 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| Japan | 1 |
| India | 1 |
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