Preben Nøies has passed away peacefully on 25 February 2021 at the age of 75, from cancer.

When Preben Nøies at the age of 15 broke his leg, Danish badminton lost a promising junior player but possibly won much more, as Preben decided to follow his ambition to become a first-class badminton umpire.  And he did.

Already experienced, Preben Nøies joined the first official BWF Umpire Training Course during the World Championships in Copenhagen 1983 and came out on top as a BWF Certificated Umpire.  In the following almost twenty years he umpired all the top events in the world, with the WS Final of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as the pinnacle of his career.

Well before Preben Nøies retired at the turn of the century, Badminton Europe and BWF started to use him as an Assessor and trainer of future generations of international umpires.  He served in this capacity until a few years ago. Many of the best umpires of today, and certainly all the Danish BWF Umpires, owe a lot of their skills to the training and advice received from Preben in the early part of their career.

Preben Nøies was also a recognized referee, ending his international referee career at the 2008 European Championships in his homeland’s Herning. In 2019, it all ended where it started – when Preben was refereeing the U17 Danish Junior Cup in Hvidovre – hosted by his club, Hvidovre BC.

Up until the end of 2019, Preben Nøies was part of Badminton Europe’s Umpire Assessment Panel, a panel which he served greatly for many years and was recognized as a highly valued member. 

Preben Nøies was a very gifted person, always dedicated to help others, especially the umpires all over the World.  He will always be remembered as a very special humane person, open-minded, straight-forward and helpful.

The badminton community all over the World has lost a great friend and an amazing colleague – Preben Nøies will be missed by many.

May Preben rest in peace, and may his legacy live on amongst the many technical officials around the globe.