The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious in badminton, offering the most ranking points, together with the Summer Olympics badminton tournaments which was introduced in 1992. The winners of this tournament are also crowned as "World Champions" of the sport, and are awarded a gold medal.

The tournament started in 1977 and was held once every three years until 1983. However, the IBF (International Badminton Federation) faced difficulty in hosting the first two events as the World Badminton Federation (which later merged with the IBF to form one badminton federation) hosted the same tournament a year after the IBF World Championships with the same goals.

Since 1985, the tournament became biennial and played once every two years until 2005. Starting 2006, the tournament was changed to an annual event on the BWF calendar. The tournament is not held during the Summer Olympics years to avoid schedule conflicts.

**VM i badminton**

VM i badminton er verdensmesterskapet i badminton og det mest prestisjetunge arrangementet innen sporten. Turneringen arrangeres annethvert år, og samler verdens beste badmintonspillere.

**Historie**

VM i badminton ble første gang arrangert i 1977 i Malmö, Sverige. De første turneringene var åpne for alle spillere, men fra 1983 ble turneringen delt inn i to nivåer: VM og VM for juniorer.

**Format**

VM i badminton består av fem øvelser: singel for menn og kvinner, dobbel for menn og kvinner og mixed dobbel. Turneringen spilles over flere runder, og vinnerne av hver øvelse kåres i en finale.

**Sted**

VM i badminton arrangeres på ulike steder rundt om i verden. Noen av de mest kjente vertsbyene er:

* Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1980, 1988, 1992, 2007, 2017)
* København, Danmark (1983, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2009, 2014)
* Glasgow, Storbritannia (1997)
* Hyderabad, India (2009)
* Jakarta, Indonesia (1989, 2015, 2023)

**Norske deltagere**

Norge har hatt flere sterke badmintonspillere gjennom tidene. Blant de mest kjente er:

* Christian Tandberg (VM-bronse i singel i 1980)
* Trond Wærnes (VM-bronse i singel i 1987)
* Stig Roar Husby (VM-bronse i dobbel i 1993)

**Rekordholdere**

De mest suksessfulle spillerne i VM i badminton er:

* Lin Dan (Kina): 5 VM-titler i singel
* Li Xuerui (Kina): 2 VM-titler i singel
* Zhao Yunlei (Kina): 4 VM-titler i dobbel og mixed dobbel
* Fu Haifeng (Kina): 3 VM-titler i dobbel og mixed dobbel