Badminton under the BWF Laws of Badminton.

Which Laws, which edition

The Laws of Badminton are Section 4.1 of the Badminton World Federation's Statutes. The BWF's own websites returned an access error to every request made for this site, so the text quoted here is a copy of the Laws marked "In Force: 29/05/2023, Version 2.1". The BWF's laws page, as summarised in search results and reproduced by the independent site worldbadminton.com, says that amended Laws were adopted on 25 April 2026, take effect on 4 January 2027, and that the 2025 Laws apply until then. The 2025 text itself could not be opened, so it was not confirmed that every figure below is unchanged in that edition. For the equipment Laws, the 2023 copy and worldbadminton.com's reproduction of the 2026 text give the same figures.

What the Laws say the game is

• Singles is one player on each side; doubles is two (Definitions).
• A rally runs from the service until the shuttle stops being in play (Definitions).
• At the instant of service the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 m from the court surface (Law 9.1.6). In wheelchair badminton it must be below the server's armpit (Law 9.1.6.1).
• Clauses printed in italics apply only to Para badminton, so one set of Laws covers both.

The BWF reported on 2 May 2025 that its annual general meeting had permanently banned the spin serve by rewriting Law 9.1.5, so that the server's racket must first hit the base of the shuttle. That report was seen only in a search summary; the BWF page could not be opened.

The court and the net (Law 1)

The court's length and widths appear only in the Diagram A drawing, which did not come through as text. A secondary source, worldbadminton.com as summarised in search results, gives a doubles court of 13.40 m by 6.10 m; that was not confirmed from the BWF diagram. Para badminton uses other courts for some classes; see wheelchair and para play.

Scoring in force now: 3 x 21 (Laws 7 and 8)

• A match is the best of three games unless otherwise arranged.
• The winner of every rally scores a point.
• A game goes to the first side to 21 points. At 20-all the first side to lead by two wins; at 29-all the side scoring the 30th point wins.
• The winner of a game serves first in the next.
• Players change ends after the first game, after the second if a third is needed, and in the third game when a side first reaches 11 points (Law 8).

The change to 3 x 15, from 4 January 2027

BWF members voted at the 87th Annual General Meeting to adopt 3 x 15 scoring; USA Badminton confirmed the adoption and the 4 January 2027 start date on 28 April 2026. Search summaries of the BWF's announcement place the meeting in Horsens, Denmark, on 25 April 2026 and say the new format replaces the 3 x 21 system used since 2006. The vote was reported as 198 to 43, above the required two-thirds, in search summaries of the BWF's announcement and of the New Straits Times; the BWF page could not be opened, so the count is unconfirmed.

The Badminton Association of India's circular of 20 May 2026, summarising the BWF change, describes the new system:

• Best of three games, with a point on every rally.
• Games to 15; at 14-all a two-point lead wins.
• A cap at 21: at 20-all the next point wins.
• A 60-second interval when the leading side reaches 8 points; in the third game, ends change when a side first reaches 8.
• The 120-second intervals between games are unchanged, and the game winner still serves first in the next game.

Search summaries of BWF pages, which could not be opened, say the BWF Council proposed the change in February 2026 after trials at selected national and Grade 3 tournaments and at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Guwahati, India, and that 3 x 21 is kept as an alternative scoring option after the change. Both points are unconfirmed. India's federation applied 3 x 15 to its domestic under-13, under-15 and under-17 ranking events and championships from July 2026, according to the same circular.

The five events

Badminton has five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The BWF keeps a separate world ranking list for each (World Ranking System, GCR Appendix 6, section 1.1); see rankings explained.

Racket and shuttle rules, including how the Laws test a shuttle's speed, are on the badminton rackets and shuttles page. Who runs the sport is on badminton bodies and tours.