Christo Popov: Badminton Champion – 4 Facts You Need to Know

Coming from a great badminton family, Frenchman Christo Popov (23) achieved a real feat by dominating the world’s elite in his sport to win the World Tour Finals, the equivalent of the Masters in tennis, on Sunday.

Christo Popov has just signed the greatest individual performance in the history of French badminton. The 23-year-old badista, however, arrived as an outsider at the World Tour Finals, bringing together the eight best players of the year in Hangzhou (China), with the unenviable status of the only qualifier not to have won a tournament in 2025.

But the Fosséen tamed the big names one by one, dismissing four of the five best in the world up to the number one and reigning world champion, the Chinese Shi Yu Qi, dominated in the final by a supercharged Christo Popov on the road to the biggest title of his career (21-19, 21-9), Sunday December 21. A consecration for him and his family, entirely devoted to badminton.

Bulgarian by birth, Southerner by adoption

Christo Popov is reaping the rewards of a long family affair. His parents, Bulgarians and themselves badminton players, settled in Fos-sur-Mer in 2004, and still live there with their three children: Boris (16 years old), regional badminton champion in Benjamins, Toma Junior (27 years old), 15th player in the world, and therefore Christo (23 years old). Their father and coach, Toma Popov (52 years old), was Bulgarian badminton champion then national coach, like their uncle Mihail (49 years old), whose children Maria (12 years old) and Maïkel (16 years old) also practice the discipline. Their mother, Tzvetonira Popov, is a national referee.

Despite their place among the world’s elite, Toma Junior and Christo still favor their family environment at Insep, and regularly compete with the Ditch club in Top 12 matches, the elite of French interclub competitions. “In the evening, when we come home, it’s really our home. We’re with our friends, our family”confided Christo Popov to franceinfo: sport in January 2024.

European champion siblings

Christo Popov is the only top player listed in the top 20 in both singles and doubles, along with his brother Toma Junior. The elder right-hander and the younger left-hander became European doubles champions last April, dominating in the final another French pair composed of Léo Rossi and Eloi Adam (12-21, 21-18, 21-18).

Playing at a very high level in doubles and singles is a rarity in this extremely physically demanding discipline, and sometimes costs Christo and “Tomi” precious energy during tournaments. But the brothers love playing together, much more than against each other: “We hate it [s’affronter]admitted Christo to franceinfo: sport last August. Because that means it’s the end of the competition for one of us. It always leaves us with a bitter taste and we hope to meet as little as possible in our careers, except in the final.”

Deprived of the Paris Games by his elder

Although he is ahead of him today in the world hierarchy, Christo Popov was not always superior to his brother. It was also he who stole her qualification for the Paris 2024 Games. “The goal is to take them both to the Olympics and aim for a podiumconfided their father and coach Toma Popov a few months before the Games. They have the capabilities. If one of them is not qualified… Toma will not take it so kindly because he is the eldest. Christo says it’ll be fine, but I know that’s not true.”

Finally, the eldest had won the only ticket awarded to a Frenchman, due to their ranking outside the top 16 in the world at the time, by reaching the final of the European Championship. Christo consoled himself by participating in the doubles with his brother, who also became the first Frenchman to come out of the Olympic group stage individually.

Home Worlds with a taste of unfinished business

After missing the individual qualification for the Paris Games, Christo Popov had a unique opportunity to make up for it in the capital, which was hosting the Badminton Worlds for the second time in August 2025. “With quarter-finals, we can talk about good competition and progress in French badmintonhe declared before the competition. With medals, a real success. […] In recent years, we have made a big leap and my brother and I are delighted to be part of this collective, but we are missing the Holy Grail: medals at the Games or the world championships.”

Without being infamous, his career did not live up to his own expectations: eliminated in the second round in doubles with his brother, he was then beaten in the third round of the individual competition by number one Shi Yu Qi (22-20, 13-21, 18-21), launched towards his first world title. A few months later, his revenge was taken, and in style.