Team Europe
Team Europe represents the pinnacle of badminton excellence, bringing together the continent's top youth athletes. This High Performance programme focuses on nurturing talent, providing athletes with the resources, coaching, and support needed to achieve their full potential. Through strategic development, cutting-edge training, and a competitive environment, Team Europe aims to dominate international competitions and elevate European badminton to new heights.
2025 saw the launch of Badminton Europe's new youth talent initiative - Team Europe. Badminton Europe are confident that more European badminton talents have the potential to develop into international top players, and seeks to encourage and facilitate this development through Team Europe.
Purpose
The Team Europe project has multiple aims:
- Identifying European youth badminton talents with the potential of being globally competitive as an elite player
- Develop players to become independent, reflective and self-driven individuals
- Nurture, support and guide the identified talents on their journey from talent to elite player through a holistic approach with on-court and off-court topics being addressed at training camps and consultancy activities
- Develop a strong connection between European top-talents which they can benefit from in training activities and during international competitions
- Support the growth and development of the coaches working with talents on a daily basis
The Team Europe project will provide the opportunity for more players to have the chance to fulfil their dream of becoming international top players and represent themselves, their Members and European badminton globally.
The Team Europe project – more than just training camps
European top talents will come together twice per year in high-performance training camps designed to elevate their game. Beyond on-
court training, players will engage in classroom-based education covering topics such as building a career in sports, entrepreneurship, and performance optimisation. The camps will also foster cross-border relationships and strengthen connections between players across Europe. The players' coaches will also be invited to the camps to discuss optimal talent development and to network with other talent coaches.
The project will be driven by three Team Captains, who all have an exceptional strong theoretical and practical background for working with players at the specific age groups. The three Captains are:
- U21 group: Anu Nieminen, Finland
- U19 group: Sune Gavnholt, Denmark
- U15-17 group: Jose Antonio Crespo, Spain
In between camps consultation meetings will be offered by the Team Europe Captains to the players and the players' coaches.
The Team Europe Captains will be supported by the BEC Development & High-Performance Senior Officer: Jonathan Søgaard, Denmark.
How will the Team Europe project help develop European talents?
The Team Europe project must be seen and understood in the context of Europe having highly talented junior players, who are already practicing in well-functioning and sustainable training environments or having the aspiration to join such a sustainable training environment. The activities, support and guidance provided through the Team Europe project is an add-on to an already strong daily setup for the players and must serve to further strengthen the setup. The Team Europe project is built on strong collaboration between the player, the coaches of the players, the Members and the Team Europe Captains. Only by working together, will we succeed.
Selection of participants
Players can enter the Team Europe project in two ways:
- Finalist at the last European Championships in U15, U17 and U19
- Development potential
First Stops in 2025: Thailand and Denmark
- The U21 group will have an amazing opportunity and travel to Bangkok, Thailand and train for 14 days with the Thai national team from 27 July to 10 August 2025.
- In Vejen, Denmark the U15-U17 and the U19 groups will meet and train together from 3 July to 14 July 2025.
Coming in 2026: Slovenia and Denmark
- All age groups will travel to Laško, Slovenia 12 January to 18 January 2026 for the Team Europe Winter Camp.
- All age groups will travel to Vejen, Denmark 12 July to 21 July 2026 for the Team Europe Summer Camp
If you would like to have more information you can contact us at [email protected]
