What is All England Badminton?

The All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England, is also commonly referred to as the ‘unofficial’ World Championships. It is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments and considered as the Wimbledon of badminton. Played annually, it developed after the success of the world's first tournament held in Guildfordin way back in 1898. The tournament was successfully organised on April 4, 1899 with competitive events in men's doubles, women doubles and mixed Doubles. The men and women singles were added the following year. The first three tournaments were named "The Open English Championships".

Since 1902 the official name of the tournament changed to "The All England Championships". It was eventually considered (especially after the first Thomas Cup series in 1949) the unofficial world championship of the sport until 1977 when the International Badminton Federation launched its official championships. Since 1984 the tournament has been exclusively sponsored by Yonex.

The tournaments were halted twice: during World War I from 1915 to 1919 and World War II from 1940 to 1946.

For many years Wembley Arena in London was synonymous with All England Badminton Championships. Since, 1994, it is hosted at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.