The Badminton World Federation (BWF) manages professional badminton tournaments globally. Every badminton season features a range of tournaments of different tiers where players compete to improve their ranking.
When the season ends, the eight best players and pairs in singles and doubles respectively, qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals. This tournament is held each year in December. The first edition of the event took place in 2018. The 2018 and 2019 editions were played in Guangzhou. The 2020 and 2022 editions were held in Bangkok, whereas the 2021 edition was held in Bali. Starting from 2023 till 2026, the tournament is set to be staged in Hangzhou.
No more than two players or teams can compete from the same member nation. If there is a tie in the rankings between two teams or players, then the selection of the player or team is based on two criteria:
- The number of tournaments played by a player or team
- The player or team who collected more ranking points starting from 1st July of the annual season
The eight chosen players and teams are divided in two groups. The players play each other in a round-robin format. At the end of the league stage, the top two teams and players qualify for the knockout round (semis followed by final).
The player who wins gets 12,000 ranking points and the runner-up finishes with 10,200 points. The semifinalists, third in league, and fourth in league get 8400, 7500, and 6600 points respectively.
China has produced 11 winners across all disciplines in the tournament whereas Japan, Denmark and South Korea has produced 4 winners each.
