All BWF Tournament Levels Explained: Grades, Points & Prize Money
BWF has many different tournaments each year, not all of them are equally prestigious or award the same number of ranking points. What is the difference between all the tournament grades? This article will explain it to you in detail so you know exactly when to be hyped for a new tournament coming up.
Overall these are the tournament grades used by BWF from lower ranked to higher-ranked:
| Grade | Tournament level | Minimum prize money | Winner ranking points | Estimated tournaments per season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | Future Series | Under $10,000 | 1,700 | 35 |
| International Series | $10,000 minimum | 2,500 | 34 | |
| International Challenge | $20,000 minimum | 4,000 | 41 | |
| Grade 2 | BWF Tour Super 100 | $120,000 minimum | 5,500 | 10 |
| BWF World Tour Super 300 | $250,000 minimum | 7,000 | 10 | |
| BWF World Tour Super 500 | $500,000 minimum | 9,200 | 9 | |
| BWF World Tour Super 750 | $950,000 minimum | 11,000 | 6 | |
| BWF World Tour Super 1000 | $1,450,000 minimum | 13,500 | 4 | |
| BWF World Tour Finals | $3,500,000 | 14,000 | 1 | |
| Separate | Continental Championships | Varies by continent | 4,000–12,000 | 5 (one on every continent) |
| Grade 1 | World Championships | No prize money | 14,500 | Normally yearly* |
| Olympic Games | No prize money | 14,500 | Every 4 years* |
** The BWF World Championships are normally not held in an Olympic year. The Olympic Games are a separate Grade 1 event.
For teams, there are several other categories:
Thomas and Uber Cup
Sudirman Cup
And also there are more categories for the youth circuit. They follow a similar structure as the senior circuit. This article does not go further in depth for youth tournaments. Below you can find each category explained in detail:
Grade 3: Continental Circuit
Grade 3 is the BWF Continental Circuit. These tournaments are under the control/management structure of the relevant Continental Confederation, but the actual tournament organiser is commonly the national badminton association/member association. These are the lowest level of tournaments to start from as an international badminton player. In these tournaments you do not make much money, most of the time the costs are higher than the income for these players. These tournaments are an important entry point into international badminton. Players can use them to build their World Ranking and eventually gain entry into higher-level BWF World Tour tournaments. For each of these tournaments there is often a qualification if you do not have ranking points yet, so you can still participate even without having played a tournament ever.
Grade 2: BWF World Tour
Once a player has gotten enough ranking points, they can enter the World Tour tournaments. Often there is space for only 32 players or pairs, but a few places are reserved for qualification, depending on the level of tournament. These are the tournaments you can watch live on BWF channel on YouTube or the local broadcaster who bought the rights for the tournament. There are 30 HSBC BWF World Tour tournaments including the World Tour Finals, plus ten BWF Tour Super 100 tournaments. Therefore it is not always the full 32 best players who show up for the lower tournaments. But for Super 1000 and Super 750 it is required to compete for the top 15 in singles and top 10 in doubles. They also need to compete in 2 of the 9 Super 500 tournaments. The eight best-performing players or pairs in each discipline on the BWF World Tour rankings qualify for the season-ending World Tour Finals, where there is the biggest prize money to be won and a lot of points for the ranking. Unlike regular World Tour events, the World Tour Finals starts with a group stage. The eight qualified players or pairs in each discipline are divided into two groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals.
Continental Championships
There are also every year the Continental Championships in each continent. This is not hosted by BWF but the continental federation. BWF assigns different World Ranking point levels to each Continental Championship. In 2026, Asia awards the most points with 12,000 for the winner, followed by Europe with 9,200, Pan America with 7,000, and Africa and Oceania with 4,000. Prize money also varies considerably between continents. There are also Continental Team Championships, which often act as qualification tournaments for the Thomas Cup, Uber Cup and Sudirman Cup. The number of teams that qualify differs by continent and competition.
Grade 1: Major Events
The BWF World Championships are the highest-level individual championships organised by BWF. They are normally held every year except in Olympic years. The Olympic Games are a separate Grade 1 event, but they award the same maximum number of BWF World Ranking points as the World Championships. The Olympics have different entry criteria from the World Championships, and national governing bodies may also have their own selection requirements. This makes it so only two players or pairs from a country are allowed to join in a single event if they are in the top 16 for singles and top 8 for doubles, otherwise only one player/pair is allowed to enter.
So it is theoretically possible for the world number 3 to be excluded for the Olympics if the number 1 and number 2 are from the same country. The Olympics and World Championships do not have any prize money, since the players are in it for the prestige. However, this is a controversial point among players. The most points can be won in a single tournament at the World Championships.
Team Tournaments
For teams of countries, there are the Sudirman Cup and the Thomas/Uber Cup. These are both held every two years, with every year switching between Thomas/Uber and Sudirman. These can be considered the World Championships for national teams. Where the Sudirman Cup is played with both men’s and women’s in one team. And Uber only with female players and Thomas only with male players. To qualify as a team for the team events, there is a qualification in each continent, and some countries are already in the tournament, the defending champion and the host country. Besides those 2, the remaining places are awarded according to the BWF World Team Ranking. There is no prize money for these events but there are points to be gained for individual ranking. BWF uses a special formula based on the player's existing ranking-point average and the ranking points of their opponent.
Conclusion
So now you know all the different levels of tournaments there are in the BWF. If you want to have a look on the event calendar, you can click this link. Have fun watching the tournaments! No tournament at the moment? Then you have more time to read some of the other articles on the site.
