Forum Horsens, an indoor sports arena with a 4000-seating capacity in Horsens, Denmark, has been selected to host the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals 2026 alongside the European Badminton Championships 2025.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) met in China to finalize the hosting rights to Horsens, Denmark, for the two prestigious events.
Horsens, a city known for its large-scale concerts and cultural festivities in the past, is poised to host these badminton championships for the very first time.
Sven Serre, who was elected as the new President of the Badminton Europe Confederation (BEC) in April 2023, was delighted to have the prestigious competitions back in the homeland.
"We are pleased to have awarded Denmark the hosting rights for the individual European Championships. Denmark is a leading badminton nation with a passionate fan base, and we expect fantastic support from the audience,” Sven Serre stated on the official Badminton Europe website.
"With Denmark's solid experience in hosting major championships, as we saw at the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen, we are confident that this will be an enormously successful event,” he added.
Europe to host Thomas Cup and Uber Cup for the 4th time
This will be the fourth instance of Denmark hosting the Thomas & Uber Cup in its 75-year European history. Denmark was awarded the event in 2020 but was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19.
Prior to the hosting of the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, Denmark will host the Badminton European Championships in 2025. Badminton Denmark president Kristian Phil had his say on hosting two championships in two years.
"We are thrilled about the awarding of the two championships, with the European Championships next year followed by an even bigger event the Thomas & Uber Cup in 2026," Kristian Pihl told the Badminton Europe website.
Furthermore, Pihl stated that these badminton events align perfectly with their long-term goals to bring more such championships to Denmark in the future.
Notably, Denmark hosted the European Badminton Championships in 1996 and 2008, while the most recent campaign took place in Kolding in 2017. Denmark is yet to win in the Uber Cup. However, the nation clinched the Thomas Cup silverware in 2016.
Hi-Tech Zone Sports Centre Gymnasium in Chengdu, China is currently hosting the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2024. India are the defending champions of the Thomas Cup, having defeated Indonesia in the Thomas Cup 2022 Finals.
On the other hand, South Korea are the reigning champions of the Uber Cup after winning the 2022 campaign over China.