The future of European badminton will be travelling to Finland to fight for the 2020 European Junior Championships titles.

In February 2021 Finland will be hosting the European Mixed Team Championships, but the Finnish badminton fans do not need to wait that long to see top quality badminton in “the land of a thousand lakes”.

Today Badminton Europe and Badminton Finland are happy to announce that the 2020 European Junior Championships will take place at Pajulahti Sports Institute in Lahti, Finland.

The European Junior Championships returns to Finland, who hosted the event in 1983 and again in 2011. Nine years ago players such as Carolina Marin, Viktor Axelsen, Kim Astrup and Line Kjaersfeldt claimed the titles.

A crucial Championships
On 22 June 2020, the Polish Badminton Association informed Badminton Europe that it unfortunately was not able to host the 2020 European Junior Championships which was due to be held in Gliwice, Poland.

This was obviously extremely unfortunate – especially for the many players for whom this is one of the major events that they are looking forward to in their career. Therefore, Badminton Europe is pleased that Badminton Finland have agreed to welcome up to 350 players from all over Europe from 29 October until 7 November 2020. 

- The new leadership in Finland has already shown that they want to bring the European top players to the country by hosting the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships. I am grateful that Badminton Finland is ready to host our future stars too, BEC Deputy General Secretary, Jimmy Andersen said.

- This is the peak for this generation of players. This Championships are crucial for the young players and they deserve to compete on this level at a European Championships one last time before they go out of the junior age group, he added.

New Marin and Axelsen?
Former winners of the European Junior Championships include current stars such as Carolina Marin (ESP), Viktor Axelsen (DEN), Mia Blichfeldt (DEN), Chris Adcock (ENG), Selena Piek (NED), Stefani & Gabriela Stoeva (BUL) and Anders Antonsen (DEN), and in Finland they are happy to get the opportunity to welcome the future stars of Europe.

- Badminton Europe faced a sudden challenge with the European Junior Championships due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we were able to identify a solution to the situation and we are pleased to welcome the junior players to Finland in October, Ville Valorinta, CEO of Badminton Finland, said.

- We look forward to having the best European junior badminton players in Lahti for both team and individual competitions following the footsteps of Viktor Axelsen and Carolina Marin, who were the champions when this tournament was organized last time in Finland in 2011, he added.

Do you remember the winners of the European Junior Championships? Take a trip down memory lane here