Tomorrow, the Azerbaijan International 2026 begins in the beautiful city of Baku, the same city that hosted last year’s European Mixed Team Championships.

At the same time, this tournament serves as the final stop before attention turns to Istanbul, Türkiye next week for the 2026 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships. Several players we expect to see in action in Istanbul are also competing in Azerbaijan. Among them are the top two seeded Finnish men’s singles players, Joakim Oldorff and Kalle Koljonen, along with Sweden’s Gustav Björkler, Germany’s Matthias Kicklitz, and England’s Harry Huang.

In women’s singles, Yvonne Li is the top seed. Also competing are Czech players Petra Maixnerová and Tereza Švábíková, Germany’s Miranda Wilson, and third seed Kaloyana Nalbantova. All are players we hope to see in Istanbul next week — something we will know for certain on Wednesday when the participating nations announce the players who will represent their countries at the 2026 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships.

One pair we unfortunately will not see in Istanbul, but who are competing in Azerbaijan, are the top-seeded Scottish Grimley brothers. Another brother pairing in the draw is the third-seeded Jiří Král / Ondřej Král.

In mixed doubles, the top seeds are Callum Hemming and Estelle Van Leeuwen, while Spain’s Rubén García and Lucía Rodríguez are seeded second.

Overall, it is a very strong field competing in Azerbaijan, and many exciting matches await. The full schedule and draw can be found here.

All matches can be watched live and free on BadmintonEurope.tv.