The Uber Cup is a women’s team competition in badminton. The idea of Uber Cup was conceived in 1956 by Betty Uber, who wanted a similar team event for women like the Thomas Cup. Betty herself was a reputed player, who won 13 titles (1 singles, 4 doubles, 8 mixed doubles) at the All England Open Badminton Championships. She made the first draw of the inaugural edition of the Uber Cup.
The Uber Cup was held every three years till 1981. Starting in 1984, the event is scheduled along with Thomas Cup and is held every two years. The winner of the competition gets the 20-inches high Uber Cup.
A total of 16 teams qualify for the Uber Cup. Slots are allotted which are filled by winning continental championships and through team rankings. The host nation and the defending champions are automatically qualified. Winners from the African and Pan American tournaments are given one slot each. Four slots are available for the best performing teams in the Asian qualification competition. The remaining teams are qualified based on their BWF team rankings.
A total of 12 players are chosen to represent their nation at the Uber Cup. The 16 teams are divided into four groups. The top two teams from each group contest the quarterfinals. Each tie features three singles and two doubles matches. Except the knock-out stages, all league matches have to mandatorily play the five scheduled matches of a tie. This is because in cases of a tie in the group standings, the number of matches and games won proves to be decisive.
The Uber Cup has been won by China 15 times. The next best team is Japan with 5 titles, followed by USA and Indonesia with 3 titles each.
