BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 preview: Full schedule, and how to watch live action
Thirty-two of the world’s best badminton teams will gather this week in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, for the men’s and women’s team world championships: the 2024 BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals, which run from 27 April through 5 May.
The competitions will be available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices (territorial restrictions may apply).
This will be the 33rd Thomas Cup, the team world championships for men, and the 30th Uber Cup for women. India and Republic of Korea are the respective defending champions, while hosts China are perennial threats to take the titles, having won 10 Thomas and 15 Uber Cups in history.
Aside from the defending champions and hosts, the remaining teams qualified for the competition through performances in their continental championships or the world rankings.
Notably, this tournament will be the last time we will see former men’s world number one Momota Kento play internationally. The Japanese shuttler has announced his retirement from international badminton effective the end of the Thomas Cup.
BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 format
In each tournament, the 16 qualified teams have been split into four groups of four. Each group-stage tie will feature five individual matches, even if the overall team match result is decided earlier. The top two teams per group qualify for the quarter-finals.
From the knockout rounds onwards, team matches will be played as best-of-five individual matches, meaning the tie ends as soon as one team wins three individual matches.
Three singles and two doubles rubbers are played in each tie, alternating between singles and doubles rubbers.
Teams and players to watch at 2024 Thomas Cup
Hosts China will be easy favourites alongside to make it through Thomas Cup Group A, which includes relative badminton minnows Australia, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at 33rd in the world; Republic of Korea; and Canada. China can count on a strong lineup including world number two Shi Yuqi and world number six Li Shifeng.
Fourth seeds Japan lead Group B and will be hoping to be able to send Momota out on a high. The Japanese have only won one title in their history, in 2014, and are hoping for a first final visit since 2018.
Group C is a real Group of Death in the Thomas Cup, featuring the most successful team in competition history, Indonesia, and defending champions India. Indonesia are third seeds and the likes of Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting will hope to help the side win a record-extending 16th title. Also in the group are England and Thailand, the latter of whom can count on reigning singles world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Meanwhile, a Lee Zii Jia-led Malaysia come up against a strong Danish side including the likes of world number one Viktor Axelsen and world number four Anders Antonsen, while Hong Kong, China will also have designs on making it out of the group.
Teams and players to watch at 2024 Uber Cup
China, Republic of Korea, Japan, and Thailand are the four seeded teams in the competition and on paper have the best chances. The former three are also the three most successful teams in the history of the Uber Cup, winning 24 of the 29 titles between them, having also won the three most recent titles.
The Thais have never won the Uber Cup and will be relying on consistent output from their players, being able to count four women in the world top 20 singles and two doubles pairs in the top 15.
But the Uber Cup will not have every player in the world’s top 20 in attendance. European champion Carolina Marín is not in Chengdu, with Spain having withdrawn from the tournament prior to the draw.
Ultimately, the likes of Olympic champion Chen Yufei (China), world champion An Seyoung (Rep. of Korea), and former world number one Yamaguchi Akane (Japan) should carry their teams far again.
Full schedule for 2024 Thomas Cup (men’s team)
All times China Standard Time (UTC +8 hours)
Saturday 27 April
- 8:30am Group D: Malaysia v Hong Kong, China
- 8:30am Group A: Republic of Korea v Canada
- 1:00pm Group A: People’s Republic of China v Australia
- 1:00pm Group D: Denmark v Algeria
- 6:00pm Group C: Indonesia v England
- 6:00pm Group C: India v Thailand
Sunday 28 April
- 8:30am Group B: Japan v Czechia
- 1:00pm Group D: Denmark v Hong Kong, China
- 1:00pm Group B: Chinese Taipei v Germany
- 1:00pm Group A: Republic of Korea v Australia
- 6:00pm Group A: People’s Republic of China v Canada
- 6:00pm Group D: Malaysia v Algeria
Monday 29 April
- 9:30am Group C: Indonesia v Thailand
- 9:30am Group C: India v England
- 5:00pm Group B: Japan v Germany
- 5:00pm Group B: Chinese Taipei v Czechia
Tuesday 30 April
- 9:30am Group A: Canada v Australia
- 9:30am Group D: Hong Kong, China v Algeria
- 5:00pm Group A: People’s Republic of China v Republic of Korea
- 5:00pm Group D: Denmark v Malaysia
Wednesday 1 May
- 5:00pm Group C: Indonesia v India
- 5:00pm Group B: Japan v Chinese Taipei
- 5:00pm Group C: Thailand v England
- 5:00pm Group B: Germany v Czechia
Thursday 2 May
- 5:00pm: Quarter-finals
Friday 3 May
- 5:00pm: Quarter-finals
Saturday 4 May
- 5:00pm: Semi-finals
Sunday 5 May
- 6:00pm: Final
Full schedule for 2024 Uber Cup (women’s team)
All times China Standard Time (UTC +8 hours)
Saturday 27 April
- 8:30am Group A: People’s Republic of China v Singapore
- 8:30am Group C: Japan v Uganda
- 1:00pm Group C: Indonesia v Hong Kong, China
- 1:00pm Group A: India v Canada
- 6:00pm Group D: Republic of Korea v Mexico
- 6:00pm Group D: Denmark v United States
Sunday 28 April
- 8:30am Group B: Chinese Taipei v Malaysia
- 8:30am Group A: India v Singapore
- 8:30am Group B: Thailand v Australia
- 1:00pm Group A: People’s Republic of China v Canada
- 6:00pm Group D: Denmark v Mexico
- 6:00pm Group D: Republic of Korea v USA
Monday 29 April
- 9:30am Group C: Japan v Hong Kong, China
- 9:30am Group B: Chinese Taipei v Australia
- 5:00pm Group B: Thailand v Malaysia
- 5:00pm Group C: Indonesia v Uganda
Tuesday 30 April
- 9:30am Group A: People’s Republic of China v India
- 9:30am Group D: Republic of Korea v Denmark
- 5:00pm Group A: Canada v Singapore
- 5:00pm Group D: United States v Mexico
Wednesday 1 May
- 9:30am Group C: Japan v Indonesia
- 9:30am Group B: Thailand v Chinese Taipei
- 9:30am Group B: Malaysia v Australia
- 9:30am Group C: Hong Kong, China v Uganda
Thursday 2 May
- 9:30am: Quarter-finals
Friday 3 May
- 9:30am: Quarter-finals
Saturday 4 May
- 9:30am: Semi-finals
Sunday 5 May
- 9:30am: Final
How and where to watch BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 live
The BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 will be live streamed on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices as well as on the BWF YouTube (all subject to territorial restrictions), as well as broadcast on various TV partners.
In Malaysia, Astro Arena and Astro SuperSport will broadcast the competition. In Singapore, SPOTV will show the event.
You can also keep up to date with all the action through Olympics.com's daily round-ups from Chengdu.