Strongest Thomas, Uber and Sudirman Cup Lineups in 21–0
Which national badminton lineups are strongest in 21–0? Compare each country’s best eligible year across all three team Cups.
A Cup tie offers five routes to a point. One outstanding singles player cannot
fill every slot, so these tables compare complete five-card lineups by their
average displayed game rating. Each association appears once per Cup, using
its strongest eligible country-year in the bundled 1990–2026 dataset.
These are simulated game lineups, not
official Cup squads, historical Cup finishes, or forecasts. Every card in a
listed lineup belongs to the same association and year, but that year need
not have hosted an actual Cup edition.
Thomas Cup
Three men’s singles cards and two men’s doubles pairs. China 2011 leads by average game rating. The comparison covers 236 eligible country-years across 19 associations, keeping each association’s strongest year.
Three women’s singles cards and two women’s doubles pairs. China 2010 leads by average game rating. The comparison covers 203 eligible country-years across 17 associations, keeping each association’s strongest year.
One card from each of the five disciplines. China 2011 leads by average game rating. The comparison covers 292 eligible country-years across 25 associations, keeping each association’s strongest year.
Sudirman Cup: top five national game lineups
Rank
Association
Best year
Average rating
1
China
2011
94.1
2
Japan
2019
90.1
3
Korea
2015
89.1
4
Denmark
2013
87.3
5
Indonesia
2023
85.7
China 2011: see all five cards
China 2011 — Sudirman Cup lineup
Slot
Player / pair and season
Game rating
XD
ZHANG Nan / ZHAO Yunlei (2011)
93.3
MS
LIN Dan (2011)
96.0
WS
WANG Yihan (2011)
93.2
MD
CAI Yun / FU Haifeng (2011)
93.0
WD
WANG Xiaoli / YU Yang (F) (2011)
94.9
Japan 2019: see all five cards
Japan 2019 — Sudirman Cup lineup
Slot
Player / pair and season
Game rating
XD
Yuta WATANABE / Arisa IGARASHI (2019)
89.3
MS
Kento MOMOTA (2019)
95.3
WS
Nozomi OKUHARA (2019)
90.9
MD
Hiroyuki ENDO / Yuta WATANABE (2019)
84.9
WD
Yuki FUKUSHIMA / Sayaka HIROTA (2019)
90.2
Korea 2015: see all five cards
Korea 2015 — Sudirman Cup lineup
Slot
Player / pair and season
Game rating
XD
KIM Ha Na / KO Sung Hyun (2015)
90.9
MS
LEE Hyun Il (2015)
88.7
WS
SUNG Jihyun (2015)
87.1
MD
YOO Yeon Seong / LEE Yong Dae (2015)
93.7
WD
JUNG Kyung Eun / CHANG Ye Na (2015)
85.0
Denmark 2013: see all five cards
Denmark 2013 — Sudirman Cup lineup
Slot
Player / pair and season
Game rating
XD
Joachim FISCHER NIELSEN / Christinna PEDERSEN (2013)
92.9
MS
Jan O JORGENSEN (2013)
87.3
WS
Tine BAUN (2013)
82.9
MD
Mathias BOE / Carsten MOGENSEN (2013)
87.5
WD
Kamilla Rytter JUHL / Christinna PEDERSEN (2013)
86.2
Indonesia 2023: see all five cards
Indonesia 2023 — Sudirman Cup lineup
Slot
Player / pair and season
Game rating
XD
Pitha Haningtyas MENTARI / Rinov RIVALDY (2023)
78.8
MS
Jonatan CHRISTIE (2023)
90.9
WS
Gregoria Mariska TUNJUNG (2023)
86.5
MD
Marcus Fernaldi GIDEON / Kevin Sanjaya SUKAMULJO (2023)
We use the same eligible player and pair repositories and fixed-year roster
builders as the game. Thomas and Uber lineups select three distinct singles
players and two distinct partnerships. Sudirman selects the strongest eligible
card in each discipline. A country-year is excluded if it cannot fill all
five positions under those rules.
The game validates distinct partnerships, rather than requiring every doubles
athlete to appear only once. A player may therefore occur in more than one
pairing or discipline. These tables describe the game’s roster model, which
does not enforce every real-world Cup selection rule.
We average the five displayed card ratings with equal weight, compare all
eligible country-years, and keep the best year for each association. The top
five associations are shown for each Cup. Sorting uses the mean before
one-decimal rounding; exact ties prefer the more recent year, then the
association code. This editorial comparison is not the game’s internal
seeding calculation or a simulated win-probability table.
Why depth matters more than a headline name
In Thomas and Uber, compare the second and third singles cards as well as the
leading pair. In Sudirman, look for the discipline where a strong team is most
vulnerable. A high team average is a useful starting point, but three narrow
rubber wins still beat two dominant ones in a knockout tie.
Open the five-card lineups to compare the slots. A balanced team can have more
possible routes to three wins; a team with a weak average can still match up
well in the specific rubbers it needs. Ratings influence rallies without
guaranteeing the result.
Use historical teams to plan your legends draft
The tables hold every card to one year so the comparison is consistent. Your
legends draft can combine different seasons, and the mixed-country legends
option can go beyond a single national team. Use these lineups as a benchmark
for depth, then build around the cards you are actually offered.
All eligible country-years are considered here. The opponent field in a game
uses its own era quotas and selection rules, so a listed lineup is not
guaranteed to appear in your tournament. Incomplete historical coverage also
limits which teams can be assembled: absence from this list does not establish
that a country had a weak real-world team.
