Badminton may not be as lucrative as other sports in the world, but some players are worth millions of dollars. The biggest players get sponsorships, brand deals and other forms of earnings. And a big part of their earnings is the prize money from tournaments played.
Every player who participates in a tournament gets a prize money for advancing in certain rounds. The further he goes, the higher the prize money. Here is a list of the world No. 1 badminton players and how much they earned in a calendar year. We have included earnings from this year as well since only a limited number of tournaments were played.
1. Tai Tzu Ying, Chinese Taipei
This 26-year-old player won 3 titles in 2019 including the Malaysia Open and Denmark Open. She won the All England this year. Of all the tournaments she participated in, she earned a total income of 399,900 USD.
2. Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, China
The pair won 6 titles in 2019 including the World Tour Finals, China Open and the All England. This year they won the 2020 Thailand Masters. Their total prize earning was 487,168 USD.
3. Kento Momota, Japan
The 25-year-old player won 11 titles in 2019 which is a world record. His titles including the All England, World Tour Finals and the World Championship. This year he won the Malaysia Masters as well. Momota’s total prize earnings stood at 566,900 USD. Note that there is no prize money in the World Championships tournament.
4. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Indonesia
The Minions won 8 titles in 2019 including the Fuzhou China Open, Indonesia Open and Japan Open. This year they won the 2020 Indonesia Masters. Their total income stood at 578,833 USD.
5. Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong, China
The mixed doubles pair won 7 titles in 2019 including World Tour Finals, China Open and the World Championships. This year they won the Indonesia Masters and Malaysia Masters. They earned a total of 598,776 USD. This is the highest amongst all the top players.