Helvetia Cup
| Formerly | Nations Cup |
|---|---|
| Sport | Badminton |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Founder | Hans Peter Kunz |
| Folded | 2007 |
| Countries | EBU member nations |
| Confederation | European Badminton Union |
| Most titles | West Germany (12 titles) |
The Helvetia Cup or European B-Team Championships was a European mixed team championship in badminton. The first Helvetia Cup tournament took place in Zurich, Switzerland in 1962, when it was still known as the Nations Cup (German: Nationen Cup im Badminton).[1] The tournament took place every two years from 1971 until 2007, after which it was dissolved.
History
Prior to the creation of the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships in 1972, excluding the Thomas and Uber Cup European qualifiers, there was no official team event that gathered teams from Europe to compete. In 1962, the former president of the Swiss Badminton Union, Hans Peter Kunz envisioned a tournament titled the Six Nations Cup to gather national teams across Europe to complete in the tournament as well as to strengthen the overall popularity of badminton in the region.[2][3] Kunz invited teams from Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and West Germany to compete in the inaugural edition of the championships, with France subsequently withdrawing from the tournament.
The first eight years of the championships saw participation grow from six teams to eight teams with the arrival of debuting teams including Czechoslovakia, Finland, Norway and Wales. From the mid-1980s onwards, the tournament served as the qualifying rounds for the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships. In 2007, the tournament was scrapped, making the 2007 Helvetia Cup the last edition of the tournament.
Format
1962–1970: Group stages and knockout elimination
For the first six editions of the Helvetia Cup, teams are divided into two groups and competed in the group stages play in a round-robin format to determine their ranks in their specific group. The teams are then drawn to face teams in the same position in the other group in a single-round elimination to determine their final rankings.
In 1968, the elimination rounds were changed to a knockout format where the top two teams in each group advanced to the last four knockout stages while the remaining teams in the group competed in the classification rounds.
1971–1999: League system
Following the arrival of new teams in 1971, the format was changed into a league system format where teams are drawn into groups based on their performances in the group stages. Teams that top their group will advance to the final round which was played in a round-robin format while the remaining teams are relegated to compete in a round-robin classification round.
2001–2007: Return of the knockout system
The league format was reverted into the knockout stage format in the 2001 Helvetia Cup and became the main format used for the next few tournaments.[4]
Results
Past winners
Teams that have reached the top four
The list below shows the teams that have placed fourth or higher in the history of the Helvetia Cup. West Germany tops the list with 12 titles, winning every Helvetia Cup the team has participated in. The list is followed by Poland, France, Iceland and the Soviet Union with two titles each. The Netherlands are the team with the most runners-up finishes in the Helvetia Cup, coming second to West Germany in every edition where the team reached the final two.
| Team | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Top 4 total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Germany | 12 (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1983, 1987) | N/a | N/a | N/a | 12 |
| Poland | 2 (1989, 1991) | 3 (1993, 1999, 2005) | 1 (1985) | 1 (1981) | 7 |
| France | 2 (1997, 2003) | N/a | 1 (1993) | N/a | 3 |
| Iceland | 2 (1999, 2007) | N/a | N/a | N/a | 2 |
| Soviet Union | 2 (1977, 1979) | N/a | N/a | N/a | 2 |
| Netherlands | 1 (1985) | 7 (1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971) | 2 (1964, 1968) | 1 (1963) | 12 |
| Ireland | 1 (1981) | 4 (1977, 1979, 1991, 2007) | 5 (1983, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995) | 1 (1975) | 11 |
| Norway | 1 (1975) | 3 (1968, 1973, 1981) | 1 (1979) | 1 (1970) | 6 |
| Austria | 1 (1993) | 1 (1963) | 10 (1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1983, 1991) | 4 (1964, 1968, 1983, 1987) | 16 |
| Spain | 1 (2001) | 1 (2005) | N/a | 2 (1997, 1999) | 4 |
| Czechoslovakia | 1 (1973) | N/a | N/a | 2 (1969, 1977) | 3 |
| Czech Republic | 1 (2005) | N/a | 2 (2001, 2003) | N/a | 3 |
| Ukraine | 1 (1995) | N/a | N/a | 1 (1993) | 2 |
| Wales | N/a | 4 (1983, 1985, 1987) | 2 (1970, 1981) | 4 (1979, 1989, 1991) | 10 |
| Portugal | N/a | 2 (1997, 2001) | 2 (1999, 2005) | 1 (2003) | 5 |
| Belgium | N/a | 1 (1964) | 2 (1963, 1971) | 6 (1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1985, 2005) | 9 |
| Slovenia | N/a | 1 (2003) | N/a | 1 (2001) | 2 |
| Yugoslavia | N/a | 1 (1975) | N/a | 1 (1973) | 2 |
| Bulgaria | N/a | 1 (1995) | N/a | N/a | 1 |
| Finland | N/a | 1 (1989) | N/a | N/a | 1 |
| Switzerland | N/a | N/a | 1 (1997) | 2 (1995, 2007) | 3 |
| East Germany | N/a | N/a | 1 (1977) | N/a | 1 |
| Estonia | N/a | N/a | 1 (2007) | N/a | 1 |
References
- ^ Helvetia Cup in EuropeanBadminton.org Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Governance - History & Yearbook - Corporate - Fan Zone". Corporate. Retrieved 2026-05-09.
- ^ "Badminton - Cup der Nationen". Die Tat. 1962-03-09. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-06-09 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
- ^ Helvetia Cup in Badminton.de Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine