Greece national badminton team

The Greece national badminton team (Greek: Εθνική ομάδα Αντιπτέρισης της Ελλάδας) represents Greece in international badminton team competitions.^[1] The team is controlled by the Hellenic Badminton Federation, the governing body for badminton in Greece. Greece made their first appearance in the Sudirman Cup in 1997.

Greece

Association	Hellenic Badminton Federation (HBF)
Confederation	BE (Europe)
President	Ioannis Kapos
BWF ranking
Current ranking	111 8 (2 January 2024)
Highest ranking	53 (5 January 2012)
Sudirman Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 1997)
Best result	Group stage
European Men's Team Championships
Appearances	3 (first in 2006)
Best result	Group stage
European Women's Team Championships
Appearances	2 (first in 2006)
Best result	Group stage
Helvetia Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 2003)
Best result	Group stage

At the European stage, Greece has hosted the first edition of the European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships in 2006 which granted the national men's and women's team qualification. The team have yet to qualify for the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships. The team also competed in the Helvetia Cup in 2003 and 2005 but did not reach the semi-finals.

Greece also competes in the Balkan Badminton Championships and has also made several bronze medal finishes at the Balkan Team Championships.

History

While badminton is said to have history that can be traced back to Ancient Greece, competitive badminton was unknown in the country until the early 1990s.^[2][3] Following the formation of the Hellenic Badminton Federation on April 1993, Greek players began competing in international tournaments.^[4][5][6]

Men's team

Greece first competed in qualifying for the 1998 Thomas Cup in Sandefjord. Placed in Group D with Belarus, Peru and the United States, the team lost all their matches 5–0 to their opponents and were eliminated in the first round.^[7]

In 2006, Greece competed in the 2006 European Men's Team Badminton Championships and was placed into Group 5 with the Netherlands, Norway and Spain. The team lost 5–0 to all three teams and was eliminated in the group stages.^[8] The team made another two appearances at the European Men's Team Championships in 2008 and 2010 but failed to advance to the knockout stages.^[9]

Women's team

In 2004, Greece competed in the 2004 European Uber Cup Preliminaries. The team lost 5–0 to Iceland and Germany but managed to win a match in a 4–1 loss against the Norwegian women's team.^[10] At the 2006 European Women's Team Badminton Championships, the team were eliminated in the group stages.

Mixed team

In 1990, the Greek mixed team competed in the invitational Balkan Cup tournament in Varna, Bulgaria. In the group stage, the team finished third in their group after losing to Romania and Yugoslavia, then placed sixth on the overall rankings after losing 10–0 to Malta.^[11] In 1997, the team made their debut at the Sudirman Cup. The team defeated 4–1 to Lithuania, 5–0 to Estonia and 3–2 to Armenia but defeated Chile 5–0 to finish in 58th place.^[12]

At the Balkan Championships in 2005, Greece finished in third place at the Balkan Championships for the first time after defeating Moldova 3–1 in the bronze medal match.^[13] In 2009, the team reached the semi-finals of the Balkan Championships but lost 3–0 to Bulgaria.^[14] In 2011, the team played in the semi-finals of the Balkan Championships against Turkey and almost qualified for the final but eventually lost 3–2 to their opponents.^[15]

Competitive record

Thomas Cup Year Round Pos 1949 to 1996 Did not enter 1998 Did not qualify 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Did not enter 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 To be determined 2028 2030

Uber Cup Year Round Pos 1957 to 2002 Did not enter 2004 Did not qualify 2006 2008 Did not enter 2010 Did not qualify 2012 Did not enter 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 To be determined 2028 2030

Sudirman Cup Year Round Pos 1989 to 1995 Did not enter 1997 Group stage 58th 1999 Did not enter 2001 Group stage 49th 2003 Group stage 43rd 2005 Did not enter 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 To be determined 2029

European Team Championships

Men's team Year Round Pos 2006 Group stage 25/32 2008 Group stage 23/28 2010 Group stage 23/28 2012 Did not enter 2014 2016 2018 2020 2024 2026 To be determined 2028 2030

Women's team Year Round Pos 2006 Group stage 15/21 2008 Did not enter 2010 Group stage 19/24 2012 Did not enter 2014 2016 2018 2020 2024 2026 To be determined 2028 2030

Mixed team Year Round Pos 1972 to 2025 Did not enter 2027 To be determined 2029

Helvetia Cup

Year	Round	Pos
1962 to 2001	Did not enter
2003	Group stage	16th
2005	Group stage	18th
2007	Did not enter

Balkan Badminton Championships

Mixed team

Year	Round	Pos
1992	Fourth place	4th
1993	Fourth place	4th
1995	Fourth place	4th
1997	Fourth place	4th
1998	Fourth place	4th
1999	Fifth place	5th
2000	Fourth place	4th
2001	Fourth place	4th
2002	Fourth place	4th
2003	Fifth place	5th
2004	Fifth place	5th
2005	Third place	3rd
2006	Did not enter
2007	Fourth place	4th
2008	Fourth place	4th
2009	Semi-finals	4th
2010	Did not enter
2011	Semi-finals	3rd
	Group stage (Team B)	6th
2012	Group stage	7th
2013	Group stage	5th
2014	Semi-finals	4th
2016	Did not enter
2018	Semi-finals	4th
	Group stage (Team B)	6th

**Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Junior competitive record

Suhandinata Cup

See also: BWF World Junior Championships

Year	Round	Pos
2000 to 2024	Did not enter
2025	To be determined

European Junior Team Championships

See also: European Junior Badminton Championships

Mixed team

Year	Round	Pos
1975 to 2007	Did not enter
2009	Group stage	29th
2011	Did not enter
2013
2015	Group stage	31/32
2017	Did not enter
2018
2020
2022	Group stage	25/32
2024	To be determined

Finlandia Cup

Mixed team

Year	Round	Pos
1984 to 1996	Did not enter
1998	Group stage	22nd
2000	Did not enter
2002	Group stage	12th
2004	Did not enter
2006

Balkan Junior Team Championships

Mixed team

Year	Round	Pos
1992	Did not enter
1993
1994
1995	Fourth place	4th
1996	Third place	3rd
1997	Fourth place	4th
1998	Fourth place	4th
1999	Fifth place	5th
2000	Fifth place	5th
2001	Fourth place	4th
2002	Fourth place	4th
2004	Fifth place	5th
2005	Fifth place	5th
2006	Did not enter
2007	Semi-finals	4th
2008	Fourth place	4th
2010	Group stage	5th
	Group stage (Team B)	6th
2011	Group stage	5th
2012	Fourth place	4th
2013	Fourth place	4th
2015	Group stage	5th
2016	Semi-finals	4th
2017	Semi-finals	3rd
2019	Did not enter

**Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Coaches

The following shows a list of coaches for the Greece national badminton team.

Current coaches

• Vasilis Xanthou (2004–present)^[16]
• Alexandros Kantzoglou (2009–present)^[17]
• Charalambos Iordanou
• Athena Hadjistyllis

Former coaches

• Panagiotis Goudentzikis (1991–2003)
• Kesov Nenko (2003–2005)
• Petar Dimov (2004–2012)

Players

Current squad

As of 2 January 2024

Men's team

Name	DoB/Age	Ranking of event
		MS	MD	XD
Stamatis Tsigkirdakis	(1992-10-16) 16 October 1992 (age 32)	-	-	-
Marios Michail Boulios	(2000-03-21) 21 March 2000 (age 24)	-	-	-
Paschalis Melikidis	(1998-10-30) 30 October 1998 (age 26)	1735	-	-
Axilleas Tsartsidis	(1996-10-20) 20 October 1996 (age 28)	1735	-	-
Metzelos Sotiropoulos	(2005-09-19) 19 September 2005 (age 19)	-	-	-
Georgios Tsiolis	(2002-02-23) 23 February 2002 (age 22)	-	-	-

Women's team

Name	DoB/Age	Ranking of event
		WS	WD	XD
Grammatoula Sotiriou	(2002-04-18) 18 April 2002 (age 22)	311	-	-
Theodora Lambrianidou	(2002-02-14) 14 February 2002 (age 23)	-	-	-
Antonia-Petroula Vlachantoni	(2004-06-29) 29 June 2004 (age 20)	-	-	-
Athanasia-Paulina Vlachantoni	(2004-06-29) 29 June 2004 (age 20)	-	-	-
Theodora Fragoulidou	(2001-10-20) 20 October 2001 (age 23)	986	-	-
Dimitra-Kalomira Kroystalli	(2001-03-17) 17 March 2001 (age 23)	-	-	-

References

1. Populorum, Mike. "Archiv SudirmanCup". sbg.ac.at. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
2.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Battledore and Shuttlecock". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 534.
3. "BADMINTON". Άνεμος Χανίων (in Greek). 2017-12-03. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
4. akikidis (2018-08-28). "Αντιπτέριση ή Μπάντμιντον ένα άθλημα με ιστορία χιλιάδων ετών". MegaraTV (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
5. "Μπάντμιντον". www.sport24.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
6. "Παγκόσμιο Τουρνουά Badminton για πρώτη φορά στην Κρήτη | 18-21 Οκτωβρίου 2018". Επιμελητήριο Χανίων (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
7. "IBF changes qualifying stage draws". www.worldbadminton.com. 1998-01-04. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
8. "Badminton: Teams overtuigend in ouvertures". volkskrant.nl. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
9. "Nederlandse badmintonners naar kwartfinale EK | Sport Overig". nu.nl. Retrieved 2025-02-11.
10. "SPORT". Trønder-Avisa. 2004-02-14. p. 25. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
11. World Badminton (PDF). Vol. 18 (2nd ed.). International Badminton Federation. p. 11.
12. "World Team Championships: Korea surprises Denmark in semis". worldbadminton.com. 23 May 1997. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
13. "Men's & Women's Balkan Badminton Championships 2005". badminton.gr. Archived from the original on 2006-02-13. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
14. "Uspeh na Balkanijadi u Bugarskoj". Badminton Savez Srbije (in rs-rs). Retrieved 2025-02-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
15. Team, Onsports (2011-10-25). "Μετάλλια στους Βαλκανικούς μπάντμιντον". Onsports.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
16. thanasis (2023-01-09). "Σχετικά με τον Εθνικό Μπάντμιντον". M.Γ.Σ ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥΠΟΛΗΣ (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-02-16.
17. "BEC - Development - COMEBA - Greece". development.badmintoneurope.com. Retrieved 2025-02-16.