When Hangzhou was announced as the host city of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals (2023-2026), it became part of a journey that can be traced back to Glasgow 69 years ago.

In 1954 the 3,000-seater Kelvin Hall in Glasgow played host to the World Invitation Tournament organised by the Scottish Badminton Union. Held during non-Thomas Cup years, the event prided itself on showcasing the best badminton talent of the day, selected by invitation. The World Invitation, driven by David Bloomer and later, Craig Reedie, ran until 1974 in Glasgow, and while the event itself might bear little similarity with the World Tour Finals of today, it was a trendsetter.

A few other World Invitation tournaments were held in Asia (Jakarta 1972 & 1974; Kuala Lumpur 1975), but with the circuit getting more crowded, it got increasingly difficult to host top-level invitation events.

The Season Finale

The immediate precursor to the current format of the season finale was the World Grand Prix Finals, which invited the top eight players/pairs on the year-end world rankings. Starting in 1983, it went on until 2000.

With the launch of the BWF Super Series (later, Superseries) in 2007, the season finale, called the BWF World Superseries Finals, hosted the top eight players/pairs who had accumulated the highest points from all the Superseries events through the calendar year.

One of the milestones achieved at the BWF Superseries Finals in 2013 was the introduction of the Instant Review System, which has now become an inseparable part of the sport.

A major step up was the hosting of the Finals in Dubai (2014 to 2017), bringing the best badminton players to a city where badminton was in an early developmental stage. The 2014 edition saw a bumping up of the prize money to US$1 million. The staging of the event was to have long-lasting benefits for the entire region.

Revolutionising the Sport

The Superseries circuit, which ran for a decade, was to pave the way for the World Tour, with HSBC as the Principal Global Partner. The global banking group would have a corporate presence across BWF’s entire suite of events – title-sponsoring the new HSBC BWF World Tour and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals for the first four years as well as becoming Premier Sponsor for the BWF Major Championships (World Championships, Sudirman Cup and Thomas & Uber Cup Finals).

Featuring six levels, the series which was initially from 2018 to 2021 (later extended until end-2026), boasted of the season finale with US$1.5 million up for grabs. Guangzhou was to be home for the entire first cycle, given its great enthusiasm for badminton (the city has produced at least eight world champions and two Olympic champions) and HSBC’s focus on the Pearl River Delta.

The HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018 was an event like no other in history. Beginning with a glitzy red-carpet gala for the opening ceremony and player awards, the entire event had a distinct feel to it, with red courts instead of the traditional green. The profile of the event continued to grow with associated activity, with Guangzhou hosting the launch of the AirBadminton Community Project on the sidelines of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019.

The Pandemic Challenge

However, with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting the world in 2020, the BWF decided on a cluster system of tournaments in Bangkok in January 2021 – with two Thailand Opens and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020 – in a safety bubble. The success of this innovative approach during a challenging time helped the circuit keep going even through the worst of the pandemic. This was also followed for the 2021 season, with Bali hosting three back-to-back events culminating in the Finals.

Return to China

The Finals returned to Bangkok for one more edition in 2022, but with top-level badminton returning to China in 2023, the Finals were to find a new home in Hangzhou, the culmination of the new 31-event World Tour calendar. Hangzhou, host of the 19^th Asian Games, won the rights to host the showpiece over the entire four-year cycle.

Following its successful hosting of the Asian Games, Hangzhou has sought to push ahead as a sporting city. BWF, Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government, and Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October 2023 to magnify the impact of Hangzhou’s Asian Games experience, to further strengthen the influence of badminton in the city for the foreseeable future.

For the Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government, this is an opportunity to leverage the prospect of the world’s best players coming to Hangzhou, thereby shaping and fast-tracking the growth and development of its own badminton programme.

Stellar Show in Hangzhou

The HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2023 returned to China after three years, with Hangzhou laying out the red carpet for the participants with a glitzy opening ceremony and welcome gala. The excitement of watching the world’s best players was apparent among the audience, as the massive 10,000-seat venue was packed throughout the week.

Having hosted the 2023 and 2024 editions successfully, Hangzhou is all set for the season finale to wrap up what has been a magnificent 2025 season.