Coach betting during competition? The World Badminton World Illegal Sports Betting Scandal...BWF punishes Danish star-turned-coach

Nov 11, 2025

Joakim Persson as a player. Photo courtesy =BWF

An illegal betting case of a participant in a badminton international competition has been revealed, causing a stir.

According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on the 11th, the Independent Hearing Panel (IHP), which deals with violations of the federation's sports ethics, recently suspended former Danish national team coach Joakim Persson for four years on charges of illegal betting.

Persson, who retired after playing until 2021, is the best men's singles legend in Danish badminton, once ranked 7th in the world in 2009. However, he was forced out of his gambling habit.

According to the IHP's decision on the case, Persson was found to have cheated while participating as a Danish men's singles coach at the Japanese Open (Super 750) held in Yokohama, Japan in August last year. While watching the game from the stands, he reportedly bet on the game by opening a sports betting app on his phone. The online betting account was opened under a borrowed name.

BWF website announcing disciplinary action against Joachim Persson

The cheating was discovered when a player from another country who was watching from the stands around Persson witnessed it, filmed a video of the betting scene and reported it to the BWF. As a result of investigating the two videos reported by BWF, it was confirmed that illegal betting activities were true, including matches between Persson's mobile phone betting app and actual progress.

It is estimated that there have been more betting by Persson before, but the IHP's confirmation alone showed that it made a profit of 9,821 kroner (about 2.2 million won) by betting 650 to 700 kroner (about 140,000 won to 150,000 won) in nine bets.

The BWF, which judged it to have violated the ethical obligations of sportspeople and the 「Regulations on the Prevention of Game Manipulation」, launched a hearing procedure for an accurate fact-finding investigation, but Persson remained insincere in response. The BWF has requested acceptance of the investigation through personal emails and the Danish Association on several occasions, but Persson has never responded. The BWF ordered the attendance of a face-to-face survey along with an extension of the response deadline, but was also ignored.

Joakim Persson profile on the BWF homepage.Capture BWF homepage

The BWF, which wasted 10 months, eventually referred the case to the IHP in May, and Persson reportedly did not respond to requests for some kind of 'trial attendance' and clarification materials notified by the IHP. In the end, the IHP decided to suspend the qualification for a total of four years, including two years for illegal betting and two years for violating the duty of integrity in the investigation process.

The BWF set the level of disciplinary action in light of the fact that it did not engage in gross corruption, such as manipulating the outcome of the game in which Persson participated as coach, and made relatively small bets", he explained.

Persson was also disciplined for his involvement in a betting case in 2019 when he was active. At the time, Persson was offered two match manipulations around 2015, and he was accused of not immediately reporting to the BWF.Even then, Persson was suspended for one year and six months and fined $4,500 (about 6.53 million won) for responding unfaithfully to the BWF's investigation. During the investigation at the time, it was revealed that he consistently made sports bets from 2003 to 2016.

The BWF said it has notified Persson of its decision and can appeal to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.