The ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup Macao 2024 is finally here! Staged from Monday 15th April to Sunday 21st April at the illustrious Galaxy Arena, Macao, this marks the long-awaited return of the singles World Cup after a three-year hiatus. With a brand new playing format, fans can expect to be captivated throughout the tournament. Before the action kicks off, here are all the essential information you need to know.

When and where?

The Galaxy Arena, Macao will be lit up with table tennis action from Monday 15th April to Sunday 21st April. Further information is available here.

Who will be playing and who to watch out for?

With a new qualification system, this year we will see an expanded field of 48 players per event category compared to previous World Cups, setting the stage for an exciting return of the singles World Cup and promising more intense action than ever before. The full player list is available on the event page.

Here are some exciting names for you to look out for in the coming week.

The 2020 Men’s and Women’s World Cup champions will be returning to defend their titles, with Fan Zhendong aiming for a record breaking fifth Men’s World Cup title and Chen Meng seeking to continue her streak with a second Women’s World Cup title.

Joining them are the current World No. 1’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha as well as the current World Youth Champions Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.

Included in the mix are several promising young talents ready to take the World Cup by storm, including France’s Felix Lebrun who has rapidly ascended the world rankings in the past year and Egypt’s Hana Goda who made headlines in 2022 after winning the ITTF African Cup at just 14 years of age. Read more here.

What’s at stake?

On top of the prestigious Evans and Hammarlund Cup, there is a share of a USD 1,000,000 prize pool to be won.

What is the new playing system?

The tournament will be split into two stages, with players split into 16 groups of three in Stage 1. The top 4 seeds are automatically placed in Groups 1 to 4 and the remaining players will be drawn into the groups. Matches in Stage 1 will consist of four games, with final rankings based on win-loss ratios. The winner of each group will qualify for Stage 2 which will consist of a knockout draw.

For more details about the new playing format, click here. 

Where to watch?

Here are the broadcasters list for the ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cup 2024

• ECLAT KOREA
  • Exclusive – South Korea
• TV TOKYO
  • Exclusive – Japan
• SuperSport
  • Exclusive – Sub-Saharan
•  RMC Sport
  • Exclusive – France and French Overseas
  • Territories: Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana/Guiana, Reunion, Mayotte, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia), Andorra, Monaco
  • Non-exclusive: Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, Mauritius
• Antenna Play
  • Exclusive – Romania

 When will the Stage 1 draw take place?

The draw of groups for Stage 1 will take place on Sunday 14th April at 15.00 (local time). Catch it live on ITTF YouTube’s Account.