Following a strong 2024/25 BUCS season, which included a 2nd place finish for the men's and a historic 1st place finish for the women's in the Premier South, UCL Badminton Club qualified for the EUSA European Universities Championships 2025 in Madrid, Spain. This is an outstanding achievement, with only the best in European University Sport invited!
What is EUSA and the European Universities Championships?
EUSA is the European Universities Sports Association, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. EUSA is the governing body for university sports in Europe, coordinating competitions and representing university sports in relation to European organisations. They are responsible for the organisation of the European Universities Championships and Games.
The Championships take place on a biannual basis, and brings the best University club teams together to crown the best in Europe (sort of like the Champions League in football). In odd years (like this year) the event is a stand-alone competition, while in even years is part of the EUSA Games (a multi-sport event held in one city).
This year's Badminton competition features 19 teams from 15 countries, with the UK represented by UCL and University of Nottingham who are the reigning champions.
How did we get here?
The simple answer is by being one of the best in BUCS! Both the men's and women's earned the right to be here, placing top two in their respective leagues. Only the top two in BUCS Premier North/South are eligible for the Championships. The women's team won a historic Premier South title, beating Bath back to back for the first time and finishing with an unbeaten record of 9 wins, 1 draw. The men's team won 6, drew 2 and lost 2, finishing 2nd and securing qualification.
How did we do?
The club faced Miguel Hernandez University of Elche (ESP) (lost 3-2), Vytautas Magnus University (LTH) (lost 5-0) & University of Bergen (NOR) (won 5-0) in the team event group stages, before triumphing 3-2 against University of Zagreb (CRO) and narrowly losing 3-1 against University of Pecs (HUN) to claim a 12th place finish. This put them above multiple national champions, including Germany, Switzerland and Norway!
What's next?
The club returned from the Championships with two goals in mind, dominate the BUCS Premier South AGAIN and make a run in the BUCS National Championships to qualify for the European University Games in Salerno, Italy!