Explained: 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships

Table Tennis 28 Apr 26

An expanded ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships sees 64 teams fighting for global glory over 13 days in North East London.

The British capital will be the centre of the table tennis world with lots of exhilarating action in store.

The format

England have been drawn into Stage 1A in both the men’s and women’s draws and are guaranteed a place in the Stage 2 knockouts.

Better performances in the first stage for England will hand the hosts a more favourable seeding in the Round of 32.

Wales’ women, however, will have to fight for a place in the second round in Stage 1B as only group

winners and the best second-place finishers will progress.

The 14 group winners, with four teams in each group, will be joined by the six best second-place teams as automatic qualifiers to the knockouts.

The remaining eight second-place finishers will be whittled down to the final four teams to enter the draw.

England will play all their fixtures at OVO Arena Wembley through Stage 1A and Stage 2 while Wales kick off their campaign at the Copper Box Arena.

The Round of 32 commences on Monday 4 May, with Wales’ first match on the opening day of the tournament on Tuesday 28 April. England’s squads start their home tournament on Saturday 2 May.

England’s draw

England’s men have been drawn into a challenging and extremely competitive Group 1.

The hosts start on 2 May at 12:30pm against 11-time defending champions China, who have won gold on every occasion since 2001.

The 2016 bronze medallists next play 2022 bronze medallists Sweden, at 7:30pm later that evening.

A tie with 10-time medallists this millennium Korea Republic, at 5pm on Sunday 3 May, concludes a fierce set of opening fixtures all on Table 1.

Meanwhile, England women meet another Asian giant, getting going against Japan at 10am on Saturday 2 May on Table 2.

The Japanese have been silver medallists behind China for five consecutive championships.

The challenges continue at 5pm on Table 1, facing three-time defending European titleholders Germany who earned bronze in the 2022 edition.

France at 12:30pm on Sunday 3 May on Table 3 rounds off the group stage.

Wales’ Fixtures

Wales kick off life in Group 11 with a clash against Nigeria and will be keen to get off to a winning start.

From there, they will take on Uzbekistan on Wednesday 29 April at 7:30pm on Table 11 before they round off their group stage campaign on Friday 1 May at 12:30pm against Australia on Table 5.

Centenary history

This year’s event marks 100 years since the inaugural edition was held in London with just seven men’s teams taking part.

Hungary took the first-ever title after beating Austria 5-4 in the play-off match for the gold medal.

Eight years later, the first women’s team event was held in Paris, and it was Germany who took the gold medal with Hungary having to settle for silver.

In the men’s team game, Hungary were the initial dominant force in the sport as they claimed 11 crowns between 1926 and 1952, with them winning a 12th in 1979.

Japan enjoyed five of their seven crowns during the 1950s while Sweden were the team to beat in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

But the most decorated men’s country is China, who have won 23 championships since 1961, last missing out on top spot on the podium in 2000 where they came second behind Sweden.

England have one title to their name from when they won in 1953.

China are the most formidable side in women’s team table tennis too, and like their male counterparts, have also won 23 crowns.

Since 1975, China’s women have won all but two of the championships on offer, back in 1991 when Korea took the spoils and in 2010 which resulted in a maiden title for Singapore.

Japan are among China’s nearest challengers and won eight crowns between 1952 to 1971.

Romania also enjoyed a successful 1950s, the decade in which they won all of their five championships while England’s women went back-to-back in 1947 and 1948.

Since 2003, the individual and team events have been held separately every other year with the former taking place in odd-numbered years and the latter being staged in even-numbered years.

How to Watch

All the action will be live on WTT YouTube.

Sportsbeat 2026.