Badminton Europe's history

Badminton Europe (BEC) was founded at Frankfurt am Main, in west Germany in September 1967, at a meeting of representatives from eleven national organisations. It was convened by the Deutscher Badminton Verband (DBV) on the suggestion of IBF, after the DBV had proposed that an official European Championships should be staged.

The eleven countries all became founder members of the EBU. They were Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, Federal Republic of Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Both Scotland and Wales indicated their approval of the formation of the Union.

The first President of then called EBU was H.P. Kunz of Switzerland, with Stellan Mohlin of Sweden and Hermann Brohl of West Germany making up a small committee of three, responsible for general management. It was agreed to affiliate the Union as an international member of the IBF and to seek sanction or the first European Championships in West Germany in April, 1968.

From 11 members in 1967 Badminton Europe has grown to 51. From the early days development and creating European events have been key. When Stellan Mohlin took over the presidency in 1969, he recruited Emile ter Metz of the Netherlands as the first Honorary Secretary and also as Honorary Treasurer of the Union.

In close co-operation with Josef Benes of Czechoslovakia, ter Metz organised a system of reciprocity, which enabled players from Eastern Europe to play in the West without having to worry about hard currency restrictions. Eastern members from time to time hosted EBU events, and in this way, generally, paid back.