If you want to watch badminton matches during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, you'll find everything you need to know in this guide, and you'd better hurry up as the matches have already begun.
US: Peacock | NBC
UK: iPlayer | BBC (free with license fee) | Discovery Plus
AU: Stan Sports | 9Now (free)
Watch abroad with a VPN
If you want to watch the 2024 Olympic badminton in the UK or Australia, you'll be glad to know that you can do so for FREE on iPlayer and 9Now respectively. If you're abroad when the games are going on, you can watch the 2024 Olympics from anywhere by using a VPN.
The Olympic badminton competition marks the racquet sport's eleventh appearance at the Summer games, including its first two contests in 1972 and 1988 where it was a demonstration sport.
China has dominated the Olympic badminton matches, getting the most medals in the last six Summer Olympics, but with 49 nations fielding players for the five badminton events, that could change in 2024.
So here's how to watch the Olympic badminton matches, ready for when they begin on Saturday, July 27.
How to watch Olympic badminton in the US
The best way to watch the 2024 Olympic badminton in the US is on Peacock, which is streaming every sport taking place.
Peacock is also set to offer loads of features so Olympic fans can watch as much as possible: Live Actions will let you set prompts to jump to new activites that are starting or jump to an overview, Discovery Multiview will let you stream four sports at the same time and you can also create a viewing schedule, search by sport or athlete and keep up to date with all the medals and awards that have been issued.
Each month, Peacock costs $5.99 for its ad-enabled tier, and you can drop ads for $11.99 monthly. An annual plan costs the same as 10 months, so $59.99 for ad-enabled and $119.99 for ad-free. This is after a price change in August 2023 so it's unlikely the price will go up again before the games.
How to watch Olympic badminton in the UK
In the UK there's no way to watch any particular Olympic sport, so you'll have to hope that its general channels decide to show Olympic badminton.
The BBC is airing the Olympics, and it'll be showing them in two ways: firstly split between BBC One and BBC Two, and secondly on iPlayer with a stream called Olympics Extra.
So at any time the BBC will be showing two different sports, and if you want to watch the badminton you'll have to hope that the BBC is showing it. At least the BBC's two options are free if you pay license fee.
Thankfully, there is another option that'll let you see the sports. Discovery Plus is set to show a lot more of the Olympic games, and while it usually costs £6.99 per month for its Standard plan, a temporary deal lets you sign up for £3.99 monthly until the end of the year.
How to watch Olympic badminton in Australia
You will be able to watch the Olympic badminton matches online in Australia by relying on the free streaming service 9Now, which is accessible on most modern smart devices like your phone, tablet, TV or computer.
9Now is set to host live streams of each Olympic sport including the Olympic badminton, so it should be the first port of call for fans of sports.
The TV channel Nine will also show some some Olympic coverage and highlights, but you'll have to use 9Now for a reliable stream of a specific sport like badminton.
How to watch Olympic badminton everywhere else
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch Olympic badminton, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite sports, show or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
Olympic badminton schedule
Here's the schedule for the Olympic badminton event stages of play, with times in CET (one hour ahead of the UK, 6 ahead of ET, 9 ahead of PT and eight behind AEST).
For many stages, especially the first few days of group stages, play will continue from 8:30 am all day.
Saturday, July 27
- 8:30 am: men's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: men's doubles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's doubles group play stage
Sunday, July 28
- 8:30 am: men's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: men's doubles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's doubles group play stage
Monday, July 29
- 8:30 am: men's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: men's doubles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's doubles group play stage
Tuesday, July 30
- 8:30 am: men's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's singles group play stage
- 8:30 am: men's doubles group play stage
- 8:30 am: women's doubles group play stage
Wednesday, July 31
- 8:30 am: men's singles group play
- 8:30 am: women's singles group play
- 7:30 pm: mixed doubles quarter-finals
Thursday, August 1
- 8:30 am: men's singles round of 16
- 8:30 am: women's doubles quarter-finals
- 1 pm: men's singles round of 16
- 1 pm: men's doubles quarter-finals
- 6:30 pm: women's singles round of 16
- 6:30 pm: mixed doubles semi-finals
Friday, August 2
- 8:30 am: men's doubles semi-finals
- 8:30 am: women's doubles semi-finals
- 3 pm: men's singles quarter-finals
- 3 pm: mixed doubles finals
Saturday, August 3
- 8:30 am: women's singles quarter-finals
- 3 pm: women's doubles finals
Sunday, August 4
- 8:30 am: men's singles semi-finals
- 8:30 am: women's singles semi-finals
- 3 pm: men's doubles final
Monday, August 5
- 9:45 am: women's singles final
- 2:30 pm: men's singles final
All you need to know about the Olympic badminton
When does the Olympic badminton begin?
The first matches of the 2024 Olympic badminton tournament will take place on Friday, July 27, the day after the opening ceremony of the games.
Which events make up the 2024 Olympic badminton?
There are five different events, and therefore five sets of medals, making up the 2024 Olympic badminton competition. They are:
- Men's singles
- Women's singles
- Men's doubles
- Women's doubles
- Mixed doubles
Where does the Olympic badminton tournament take place
The Olympic badminton tournament will take place at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, which is north of Paris.
The Arena was created specifically for the 2024 Paris Olympics, as it'll host badminton as well as Rhythmic Gymnastics, but it'll continue to act as a hub for sports beyond the games.
How to watch other Olympic sports
If you want specific information on other Olympic sports, here are guides we have to the other activities which will be shown as part of the Paris Olympic games:
