ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals 2026: Teams and players taking part, format, how to watch live

The Swaythling Cup and Corbillon Cup are up for grabs starting this week as the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals 2026 take place in London, England, from 28 April through 10 May.

People's Republic of China's dominance of table tennis means they are the multi-time defending champions in both events; the last time a different team won a world title was 2010, when Singapore won the women's crown in Moscow. Sweden were the last nation to beat China in a men's final, in 2000 in Kuala Lumpur.

Discover the format of the tournament as well as which teams and players are competing in the 2026 edition.

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ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals 2026 format

The 64 competing teams in each of the men's and women's events have been split into 16 groups of four teams each. The top two seeded groups, featuring the top seven teams plus hosts England, start in Stage 1a; the remaining teams play in Stage 1b.

Stage 1b is the first round of each tournament, with 14 groups of four teams each playing each other once. The 14 group winners, plus the six best second-placed teams (determined by win-loss ratio in team matches and individual matches), qualify for Stage 2. The remaining eight second-placed teams play an extra preliminary round of matches to determine four further qualifiers.

Stage 1a, meanwhile, takes place as a seeding round with two groups of four teams playing each other once. All eight teams progress to Stage 2.

Stage 2 is where the main draw starts, with a knockout single-elimination bracket reducing teams from the round of 32 onwards to the final.

Each team match is comprised of a best-of-five singles rubbers, with the match ending on one team winning three individual matches.

World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals 2026: Teams and players to watch

Unsurprisingly, all eyes will be on China again as they look to continue their remarkable run in both competitions. On the men's side, they are led by world no.s 1 and 5 Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong, although Wang and world no.15 Liang Jingkun are the only returning members from the side which won the 2024 world title. The Chinese women's team is noticeably stronger: the top four in the world — Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong, and Kuai Man — are joined by world no.8 Wang Yidi in a fearsome lineup.

Men's Olympic silver medallists Sweden have world no.2 Truls Möregårdh and 2019 singles world silver medallist Mattias Karlsson among their squad, which also includes Möregårdh's Olympic teammates Anton Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson. France, led by the Lebrun brothers Félix and Alexis, will look to repeat their 2024 world team silver performance. All five of the French squad are in the world top 30. Japan also have a strong roster with five top-30-ranked men, including world no.s 4 and 7 Harimoto Tomokazu and Matsushima Sora.

Republic of Korea, Germany, and Chinese Taipei make up the other seeded teams alongside hosts England — and all three will have aims of at least reaching the semi-finals to take home a medal.

From Stage 1b, world no.3 Hugo Calderano is the headline name, with Brazil finding themselves in Group 4 as favourites to proceed to Stage 2 past Hungary, Puerto Rico, and Uzbekistan.

Japan would appear to be the strongest challengers to China in the women's competition. Four of their five women are ranked in the world's top 16: Harimoto Miwa, Hayata Hina, Hashimoto Honoka, and Nagasaki Miyu — at world numbers 6, 11, 14, and 16 respectively.

Republic of Korea took Olympic bronze at Paris 2024 but would appear to face a tougher ask this time with the turnover in their squad. Their top-ranked player Shin Yubin, the world no.12, is the only constant from the 2024 World and Olympic squads. Germany, a traditional European stronghold in table tennis, look well-placed to mount a challenge alongside neighbours France. The Germans have Sabine Winter (9) and Ying Han (19) in the world's top 20 on their roster, while the French also have two top-30 players: Jia Nan Yuan (23) and Prithika Pavade (29).

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