Denmark and England: the most dominant nations in the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships
The European Mixed Team Badminton Championships is the biggest event of badminton in Europe. It has a rich history of almost four decades, as the first edition took place in 1972. The leading 32 countries of Europe participate in this prestigious event.
Twelve countries, so far, have organised all the 21 editions of this event. Denmark and England are the nations with the most number of title wins, in this team event tournament.
The first edition of the European Mixed Team Championships was organised in 1972, at Karlskrona, Sweden. In the opening edition, England grabbed the top position by beating Denmark in the final. Austria hosted the second edition of the championships in 1974.
The result of the second edition also remained the same, as England once again defeated Denmark and became European Champions for the second consecutive time.
In 1976, Ireland organised this European mixed team event. This time, Denmark defeated England in the final and became the European champion for the first time.
In 1978, England hosted the event and won the title on home soil by beating Denmark in the final. In 1980, Netherlands was the hosting country and Denmark claimed the title by beating England in the final. In 1982, the event took place in West Germany and
for the first time in the history of this tournament, Denmark failed to reach in the final.
The final was played between England and Sweden, where the English shuttlers found no difficulty to beat the Swedish players. In 1984, England became the host of the event for the second time and again won the final against Denmark.
In 1986, in Sweden, Denmark clinched the title by beating the English team in the final showdown. The following edition in 1988 took place in Norway, where England failed to qualify for the final. Denmark and Sweden contested for the crown and Denmark emerged
as the winners. In 1990, the event was played in Moscow, Soviet Union. The result remained the same, as Denmark again defeated Sweden to lift the title.
However, in 1992, at Glasgow, Scotland, Sweden destroyed the superiority of Denmark and England in the European Mixed Team event, when the Swedish team defeated Danish shuttlers in the final and became the new European champions.
In the next version of this tournament in 1994, at Den Bosch, Netherlands, Sweden successfully defended their title by beating the same country in the final. In 1996, Denmark hosted the event for the first time. Denmark took revenge of their previous losses
by beating Sweden in the title match.
Since 1996, Denmark remained the unparalleled claimer of the title, as Danish players have improved the quality of their game and left the rest of the European countries far behind. In 1998, Denmark defeated England at Sofia, Bulgaria. In the 2000 edition,
the English team met with the same fate in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2002, in Sweden, England suffered with their third consecutive defeat by the hands of Denmark. The 2004 version of this event was won by Denmark against Netherlands at Geneva, Switzerland. Netherlands,
again met with the same result in the 2006 edition of this event.
In 2008, Denmark won the title against England on home soil. In 2009, the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships took place in England. Denmark, for the first time, defeated the English team in England. The 21st edition of this event took
place in Netherlands in 2011, where Denmark remained the dominant country in Europe by beating Germany, in the final of the event.
Tags: