The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a prestigious multi-sport event organized by the European Olympic Committees for young athletes aged 14 to 18. Its aim is to promote the Olympic values and provide youth athletes with their first taste of an international, multi-sport competition in an Olympic-like setting. EYOF 2025 will take place from 20–26 July in Skopje, North Macedonia, and will feature 15 different sports disciplines, including badminton.
As one of Europe’s largest youth events, EYOF offers young talents a unique international platform to compete, grow, and embrace the Olympic spirit as they progress on their journey toward elite-level competition.
The format of the EYOF badminton competition differs slightly from traditional tournaments. In both men’s and women’s singles, players compete in group stages consisting of 8 groups, while the mixed doubles event will follow a standard knockout draw. Please note that men’s and women’s doubles will not be contested at this event.
The badminton event is open to U17 players and will showcase some of Europe’s most exciting young prospects. Over the past two weeks, the first edition of Badminton Europe’s youth initiative Team Europe was held in Vejen, Denmark – and several of the top-seeded players for EYOF 2025 also participated in this training camp. You can read more about Team Europe here.
Among those who took part in the camp is Belgium’s Lea Dauphinais, the top seed in women’s singles and a bronze medallist at the 2024 European U15 Championships. In mixed doubles, Bulgaria’s Elena Popivanova and Georgi Rubtsov lead the seeding and are joined by a strong field. Rubtsov is also seeded in men’s singles, along with Daniel Leonovic (Lithuania), Milan Zeisig (Germany), and Santiago Araujo (Switzerland). But there are many other strong young players ready to compete for the title in Skopje, and we look forward to following them all.
The full draw and match schedule can be found here. Please be aware that match times may be subject to change, and efforts are being made to provide a more accurate schedule as soon as possible.
