While we’ll sometimes get lucky and find badminton live streaming for a single match available for free, it’s hard to count on if there’s a particular match that you’re looking forward to watching.
It’s even worse if you’re traveling as the matches are shown on different channels in every country, often with commentary in the local language rather than with BWF’s English commentary.
When I’m traveling, and there’s a match I’d like to see, I often find myself stressfully switching between the channels at the hotel in the hopes of catching it.
If not, it turns into a frantic search online for an article that can guide me as to which channel shows it in that country, and I’m left hoping that I’ll have access to it.
Alternatively, it’s my lucky day and I’m able to find a way to stream it live online in time before it begins. Often means signing up for an expensive TV subscription for a month or more, when visiting my family, just to watch a single game.
How to watch badminton live
It was when I wanted to watch the Japan Open with my family that someone suggested using a VPN, as I was explaining how I’d sometimes be able to catch the official BWF stream on Youtube for free in certain countries.
I dismissed the idea at first because it seemed too easy. Surely it couldn’t be that simple?
But after giving it a shot, it turned out to work flawlessly. I was surprised.
The question is which country to log on to to access BWF’s free live streaming. I’ve found it to be available from Slovakia but there might be other countries as well.
My favorite VPN
I’ve tried a few different VPNs over the years. At this point, I’m most happy with NordVPN because of the simple interface both on mobile and desktop.
I can’t remember having any issues with the connection speed while streaming a match, which is a problem with some VPN providers. At the same time, they offer access to a ton of countries (including Slovakia at the time of writing this).
Their price and discounts are also in line with all the other top-tier VPNs out there. I’ve found them to be affordable, especially when purchasing their two-year package.
The 5 steps to badminton live streaming
Here are the steps to make it work.
- Purchase a VPN like NordVPN (it costs just a few dollars per month)
- Install the Chrome browser extension or mobile app
- Log in
- Connect to a country like Slovakia
- Search for BWF’s live channel on Youtube (they have a subsection called “live” where the upcoming matches appear)
Here’s an example from selecting the country when using the browser extension (step 4) after logging in.
After a few seconds, it’s connected.
After connecting, it’s time to fire up Youtube (step 5) and look for BWF’s badminton live streaming.
It takes about the same amount of time as it does to read this article.
If you’re tech-savvy, I bet you can find illegal pirate streams to watch your favorite matches for free. But I doubt it’s worth the hassle considering all the spammy ads, popups, and other shady stuff happening in the background as you watch.
Not to mention that the connection might get cut at any point if things get overloaded. Imagine a match at 19-20 in the third set and then the connection crashes. Not ideal.
While I can’t make any promises on their behalf, I’ve used NordVPN for about a year at this point and have been happy enough with the experience that I’ve also purchased some of their other products. They even offer a money-back guarantee within the first 30 days.
If you’re curious, you can see the current pricing by clicking below.
I’ll receive a small cut if you decide to buy (the price is the same for you) — that’s how I’m able to test badminton gear without gear sponsors or a biased opinion.