Learn about how our rating system works.

Traditional ranking systems

Most local tournaments use a system similar to that used by the Badminton World Federation's World Ranking system.

This is suitable for players seeking to rise through regional, state, country and international tournaments.

However, the vast majority of players are enthusiasts, and this system results in a mismatch between ranking points and player ability.

BWF World Ranking

Many badminton ranking systems follow the BWF World Ranking system.

Traditionally players earn ranking points by playing sanctioned tournaments, imitating the professional system. These points would disappear after one year.

However unlike professionals who need to enter tournaments to keep up their world ranking and income, non-professionals may enter tournaments seldomly or once every few years.

Even if tournaments are 'graded', players often encounter opponents (smurfs) who are well beyond their skill brackets, resulting in a sub-optimal tournament experience.

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels

Outside of tournaments, clubs and socials often specify the level of the players at their sessions, generally beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

It is also common in online forums to see further breakdowns into 'low' or 'high', such as 'low-intermediate' or 'high-beginner' levels.

While this appears logical, the definition of each level is often subjective, if not inconsistent across clubs.

Esports-style MMR

Esports have long used innovative ranking systems to match players of similar skill levels.

Unlike traditional ranking systems where points are cumulative over a year, modern MMR systems seek to determine players' current skill level, updating with every verified match.

This means that higher-ranked players winning against lower-ranked players don't necessarily gain points, as they probably should have won anyway.

Conversely, lower-ranked players winning against higher-ranked players gain more points as they have demonstrated that they are better than their current rank.

This helps to overcome some of the problems with traditional ranking systems identified above.

OpenSkill

OpenSkill is a modern MMR system that uses a Bayesian approach to determine the skill level of players.

It is a probabilistic model that uses the results of matches to update the skill level of players.

For those interested, you can read more about it in the OpenSkill documentation.

How MMR works

Of course, MMR systems require a critical mass of players and verified matches to be effective.

This is why Courtex is introducing an Esports-style MMR system for badminton players: