Christo Popov (born 8 March 2002) is a French

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player who affiliate with Fos club. He won the men's doubles gold at the 2025 European Championships with his brother

Toma Junior Popov Toma Junior Popov (born 29 September 1998) is a French badminton player. Partnered with his brother Christo Popov, he won the men's doubles gold at the 2025 European Championships. He competed at the 2018 Mediterranean Games and claimed the men ...

. He also won a silver in the men's singles and a bronze in the men's doubles at the

2023 European Games The 3rd European Games (), also known as the 2023 European Games or Kraków-Małopolska 2023, was an international multi-sport event held from 21 June to 2 July 2023 in Kraków and Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Małopolska, Poland. It was the first ...

. He became the first Frenchman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Open. Christo Popov was the boys' doubles European U15 and U17 Junior Champions, also won the boys' singles silver medals at the 2018 European and 2019 World Junior Championships. He reached a career high as boys' singles World Junior number 1 in January 2020. He then clinched the boys' singles title at the 2020 European Junior Championships.

Early life

Christo Popov was born in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Bulgaria. He comes from a family featuring other professional badminton players. His father, Thomas, played for and coached the Bulgarian national team; his mother, Tzvetomira, was a national badminton referee; and his older brother,

, was a 2017 European Junior Champion.

Career

Christo Popov started playing badminton at the age of 5. He won the European U15 and U17 Junior Champions in the boys' doubles event with Kenji Lovang in 2016 and 2017 respectively, also finished as boys' singles U15 runner-up in 2016. He later won the boys' singles silver medals at the 2018 European and 2019 World Junior Championships. He managed to win the 2017 Italian Junior International, Danish Junior Cup, also 2018 and 2019 Hungarian Junior International. At the age of 16, he already won the senior international tournament at the 2018 Bulgarian Open in the men's doubles event with his brother

. Christo Popov topped the boys' singles World Junior Ranking on 7 January 2020. He won the men's singles in the 2020 French national championships and in doing so became the youngest ever winner of the competition At the 2020 European Men's and Women's Team Badminton Championships he won the bronze medal with the French national team. In March 2020, he claimed his first BWF Junior International Grand Prix title by winning the Dutch Junior tournament. At the 2020 European Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland, Popov claimed three medals, winning a gold in the boys' singles, a silver in the team, and a bronze in the mixed doubles events. In 2021, Popov opened the season by participating at the European Mixed Team Championships together with the French national team. The team finished as the finalist and won the silver medal. In May, he received the BEC Young Player of the Year and European Fan Player of the Yeat by the Badminton Europe. At the 2021 Spain Masters, he finished as a men's doubles semi-finalist, losing to the eventual winner, Indonesia's Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Rambitan. In 2024, Christo won two Super 300 Titles, both achieved in Germany which are the German Open and the Hylo open. In the German Open, he defeated Danish Rasmus Gemke in two straight sets. Later in November, he defeated his own older brother

in the Hylo Open finals. In 2025, he managed to win the gold medal in the men's doubles and a bronze in the men's singles at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Achievements

European Games

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

European Championships

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

BWF World Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

European Junior Championships

''Boys' singles'' ''Mixed doubles''

BWF World Tour (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...

(BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the BWF World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (4 titles, 2 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF Future Series The BWF Future Series is a grade 3 and level 3 tournaments part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and International Series (level 2), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

BWF Junior International (5 titles, 4 runners-up)

''Boys' singles'' : BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament : BWF Junior International Challenge tournament : BWF Junior International Series tournament : BWF Junior Future Series tournament

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popov, Christo 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Sofia Bulgarian emigrants to France Sportspeople from Bouches-du-Rhône French male badminton players Badminton players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players for France Badminton players at the 2023 European Games European Games silver medalists for France European Games bronze medalists for France European Games medalists in badminton 21st-century French sportsmen