Unfortunately, the global Covid-19 pandemic has forced Badminton Europe, in close cooperation with the Croatian Badminton Association and the local organising committee in Zadar, to postpone the event until 2021, so sadly the players will have to wait a bit longer before they can play at the traditional event. Currently, negotiations are ongoing to see if suitable dates can be found and subsequently announced.

“We are of course sorry that we are not able to organise the event this year – we have all been very much looking forward to Zadar, and so have the many players from all around Europe. But we are pleased to confirm that we are not talking about a cancellation, but a postponement of the event. We owe the many players the organisation of a big badminton festival, and we will do that next year instead. Right now, however, the most important thing is the safety and health of our players and officials, and that we must never forget”, Badminton Europe President, Peter Tarcala, said.

With the World Senior Championships being played in December 2021, there is an opportunity to host the event in May/June 2021, and Badminton Europe is striving to finalise and announce the exact new dates within the coming two to three weeks.

“We have been in close contact with the Croatian authorities around the local restrictions and necessary measures in relation to this event for a long time. It is a huge event with more than 1,500 people attending, but with the measures necessary for hosting an eight-day sports event, a postponement was, unfortunately, the only option”, Jimmy Andersen, Deputy General Secretary at Badminton Europe, commented.

“I will not mention all of the restrictions and measures that would have to be put into place at the event, but having to register each person with name, contact details, signature and temperature measures every single time they just entered the venue – before then assigning them a designated seat in the venue – I think that sums up the situation”, Jimmy Andersen added.

“We were optimistic about having the event organised the whole time, but under the current circumstances, it was simply not possible. We hope that all the players understand the reason why we decided to postpone the event, and I sincerely hope that we are able to make an even better event for them in 2021”, Jimmy Andersen concluded.

The 2021 European Senior Championships will take the same age groups/restrictions into force – so it will be the same age regulations as would have been used if the event had taken place as scheduled in 2020.

Today’s postponement has no effect on the 2020 European Junior Championships in Finland later in the year. Finland currently has a very low number of new infection cases, the participation number is significantly smaller, the event does not involve the elderly generation which was the case for the European Senior Championships and the event in Finland is hosted in an isolated sports centre where the general public will not be able to simply enter. Badminton Europe officials will conduct an onsite visit in Finland during next week, to inspect the facilities and to meet with the local organising committee.