The World Junior Teams Championship is a bridge competition for zonal teams of players up to about 25 years old.
Zonal signifies both organization by the World Bridge Federation (WBF) and qualification in eight WBF zones; for example (2006, 2008), six teams qualify from 'Europe' defined by European Bridge League membership. Zones may require national representation; for example, the six European teams must represent six member nations of the EBL.
The oldest event, sometimes called the Junior Teams without qualification, dates from 1987 with some changes in definition. Today that is the "open" u-26 tournament (Juniors) in contrast to the u-26 for women (Girls), the open u-21 (Youngsters) and the open u-16 (Kids). It has been held every two years, odd-number years to 2005, even years from 2006-2018, and odd years from 2023 onwards. Competitors vie for the Ortiz-Patiño Trophy, formerly presented by WBF President Emeritus Jaime Ortiz-Patiño (1930–2013) who conceived the idea while serving as WBF President in 1985. The even-year tournaments officially constitute the World Youth Teams Championships for so-called juniors, girls, and youngsters. The entries are national teams, representing countries affiliated with the WBF via membership in the eight geographical "zonal organizations". Moreover, they must qualify within their zones, usually by high standing in a zonal championship tournament that is limited to one team per member nation.
The 2008 junior teams championships were part of the inaugural World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, China. Denmark won its second gold medal, beating Poland in the final, while Norway won the bronze. The 1st Games also included under-28 and under-21 team championships won by Norway and France. Under-21 and u-26 are part of the WBF youth program (namely, two of the three World Youth Teams Championships) but u-28 is not.
In 2010 Israel defeated France in the Juniors final while China won the bronze medal. The event was part of the newly christened World Bridge Series that also included World Young Ladies Teams and under-21 World Youngsters Teams, both won by Poland.These 2010 events were the inaugural youth team championship for women and the fourth biennial rendition for under-21 teams (now won by Poland, Israel, France, and Poland). World Youth Team Championships to Date (2010). World Bridge Federation. Confirmed 2011-07-11. This WBF table heads the columns 'Juniors', 'Youngsters', and 'Girls'.
In 2011, at the 2nd World Youth Congress, "Ned Juniors" comprising four players from the Netherlands won the main teams event, a six-day tournament with 27 entries. Ned Juniors won the full-day 56-deal final by 131 to 60 IMPs against "Arg Uru" from Argentina and Uruguay. Meanwhile, "Ned Rum", with one Dutch pair and one transnational pair from Romania and the United States, won third place against "France".Results (F=final), ... —it really is the final scoreboard for this event, not the 9th European Champions' Cup ...
Arg Uru led the preliminary round-robin from which eight teams advanced to full-day knockout matches, and its second-place finish matched that by Argentina in 1989, the best finish for any youth players from outside Europe and North America.
The World Youth Congress, rebranded to the World Youth Transnational Championships in 2022, occurs in years between World Junior Team Championships. This tournament is transnational: pairs and teams comprising players from different bridge nations are eligible to enter. Prior to 2026, medal ceremonies raise the national flag and play the national anthem of the gold medal winner if the team national in composition. In the 2026 World Youth Transnational Championships, the World Bridge Federation instead chose to play the anthem of the World Bridge Federation.
Scope
The Junior Teams event (or tournament in a narrow sense) officially became part of the plural "World Youth Teams Championships" when a tournament for under-21 players was initiated. Beginning 2009, teams events were added to the WBF youth program for odd-number years, contested immediately prior to the older events for pairs in the newly christened "World Youth Congress".
Odd-year teams events are distinct from the older series of teams championships (now biennial in even years) and even-year pairs events are distinct from the older series of pairs championships (now biennial in odd years). Some conditions differ.
This article covers all "world championships" for youth teams while World Junior Pairs Championship covers all "world championships" for youth pairs or individuals.
Results
The World Youth Teams Championships now comprise four concurrent events or flights: the original Juniors, the Youngsters from 2004, the Girls from 2010, and the Kids from 2015.
Since the first iteration of the World Youth Team Championships, the format has been that of a round-robin, out of which a certain number of teams qualify to the knockout stage. However, this number has changed depending on the total number of teams. The1987 iteration qualified only 2 teams into the knockout, while the 2025 iteration qualified 8 teams into the knockout in each category.
Juniors The Netherlands won the inaugural world championship for junior teams in 1987 and won the Bermuda Bowl in 1993 with three of the recent junior players: De Boer, Leufkens, and Westra. No other junior teams champions have so quickly won the Bermuda Bowl.
Year, Site, Entries Juniors Medalists 1987Results & Participants , 1st World Youth Team Championship, 1987. WBF. Amsterdam, Netherlands
5 teams 1. Netherlands Wubbo de Boer, Jan Jansma, Enri Leufkens, Marcel Nooijen, Rob van Wel, Berry Westra 2. France Bénédicte Cronier, Alexis Damamme, Christian Desrousseaux, Franck Multon, Jean-Christophe Quantin, (François Crozet)* 3. USA Guy Doherty, Jon Heller, Billy Hsieh, Asya Kamsky, Aaron Silverstein 1989Results & Participants , 2nd World Youth Team Championship, 1989. WBF. Nottingham, England
8 teams 1. Great Britain John Hobson, Derek Patterson, John Pottage, Andrew Robson, Gerald Tredinnick, Stuart Tredinnick 2. Argentina Alejandro Bianchedi, Marcelo Cloppet, Juan Quitegui, Claudio Varela, (Alexis Pejacsevich, Leonardo Rizzo)* 3. France Alexis Damamme, Christian Desrousseaux, Pierre-Jean Louchart, Franck Multon, Jean-Christophe Quantin 1991Results & Participants , 3rd World Youth Team Championship, 1991. WBF. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
12 teams 1. USA 2Martha Benson, John Diamond, Jeff Ferro, Brian Platnick, Wayne Stuart, Debbie Zuckerberg 2. Canada Mark Caplan, Fred Gitelman, Bronia Gmach, Geoff Hampson, Michael Roberts, Eric Sutherland 3. Australia Robert Fruewirth, Matthew Mullamphy, Peter Newman, John Spooner, Ben Thompson, Jim Wallis 1993Results & Participants , 4th World Youth Team Championship, 1993. WBF. Aarhus, Denmark
15 teams 1. Germany Guido Hopfenheit, Marcus Joest, Klaus Reps, Roland Rohowsky, (Rolf Kühn, Frank Pioch)** 2. Norway Lasse Aaseng, Geir Helgemo, Svein Gunnar Karlberg, Espen Kvam, Jørgen Molberg, Kurt-Ove Thomassen 3. USA 1 Jeff Ferro, Eric Greco, Leni Holtz, Rich Pavlicek Jr., Kevin Wilson, Debbie Zuckerberg 1995Results & Participants , 5th World Youth Team Championship, 1995. WBF. Bali, Indonesia
12 teams 1. Great Britain Jeffrey Allerton, Danny Davies, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Phil Souter, Tom Townsend 2. New Zealand David Ackerley, Ashley Bach, Ishmael Del'Monte, Nigel Kearney, Charles Ker, Scott Smith 3. Denmark Freddy Brøndum, Mathias Bruun, Nicolai Kampmann, Lars Lund Madsen, Morten Lund Madsen, Jacob Røn 1997Results & Participants , 6th World Youth Team Championship, 1997. WBF. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
18 teams 1. Denmark Freddy Brøndum, Mik Kristensen, Lars Lund Madsen, Morten Lund Madsen, Mikkel Bensby Nøhr, Jacob Røn 2. Norway Boye Brogeland, Thomas Charlsen, Espen Erichsen, Christer Kristoffersen, Bjørn Morten Mathisen, Øyvind Saur 3. Russia Arseni Chour, Youri Khiouppenen, Jouri Khokhlov, Dmitri Lobov, Alexander Petrunin, Boris Sazonov 1999Results & Participants , 7th World Youth Team Championship, 1999. WBF. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
16 teams 1. Italy Bernardo Biondo, Mario D'Avossa, Riccardo Intonti, Matteo Mallardi, (Furio Di Bello, Stelio Di Bello)** 2. USA 2 Tom Carmichael, Eric Greco, Chris Willenken, Joel Wooldridge, (Chris Carmichael, David Wiegand)* 3. Denmark Gregers Bjarnarson, Anders Hagen, Kasper Konow, Mik Kristensen, Morten Lund Madsen, Mikkel Bensby Nøhr 2001Results & Participants , 8th World Youth Team Championship, 2001. WBF. Mangaratiba, Brazil
17 teams 1. USA 1 Brad Campbell, Joe Grue, John Hurd, John Kranyak, Kent Mignocchi, Joel Wooldridge 2. Israel Asaf Amit, Inon Liran, Yossi Roll, Ranny Schneider, Yaniv Vax, Aran Warzawsky 3. Denmark Michael Askgaard, Gregers Bjarnarson, Kåre Gjaldbæk, Jonas Houmøller, Andreas Marquardsen, Martin Schaltz 2003Results & Participants , 9th World Youth Team Championship, 2003. WBF. Saint-Cloud, Paris, France
16 teams 1. Italy Furio Di Bello, Stelio Di Bello, Ruggiero Guariglia, Fabio Lo Presti, Francesco Mazzadi, Stefano Uccello 2. Denmark Kåre Gjaldbæk, Boje Henriksen, Bjørg Houmøller, Jonas Houmøller, Andreas Marquardsen, Martin Schaltz 3. USA 2 Kevin Bathurst, Joe Grue, John Hurd, John Kranyak, Kent Mignocchi, Joel Wooldridge 2005Results & Participants , 10th World Youth Team Championship, 2005. WBF. Sydney, Australia (Juniors only)
18 teams 1. USA 1 Ari Greenberg, Joe Grue, John Hurd, John Kranyak, Justin Lall, Joel Wooldridge 2. Poland Konrad Araszkiewicz, Krzysztof Buras, Jacek Kalita, Krzysztof Kotorowicz, Piotr Mądry, Wojciech Strzemecki 3. Canada Tim Capes, Vincent Demuy, David Grainger, Charles Halasi, Daniel Lavee, Gavin Wolpert 2006Results & Participants 11th World Youth Team Championships, 2006. WBF. Bangkok, Thailand
18 teams 1. USA 1 Joshua Donn, Jason Feldman, Ari Greenberg, Joe Grue, John Kranyak, Justin Lall 2. Italy Andrea Boldrini, Stelio Di Bello, Francesco Ferrari, Fabio Lo Presti, Alberto Sangiorgio, Matteo Sbarigia 3. Singapore Alex Loh, Choon Chou Loo, Kelvin Ng, Hua Poon, Fabian Tan, Li Yu Tan 2008Results & Participants (Youth Teams events) , 1st World Mind Sports Games, 2008. WBF. Beijing, China
18 teams 1. Denmark Dennis Bilde, Anne-Sofie Houlberg, Jonas Houmoller, Emil Jepsen, Lars Kirkegaard Nielsen, Martin Schaltz 2. Poland Piotr Nawrocki, Michal Nowosadzki, Przemyslaw Piotrowski, Jan Sikora, Artur Wasiak, Piotr Wiankowski 3. Norway Erik Berg, Ivar Berg, Petter Eide, Espen Lindqvist, Allan Livgard, Tor Ove Reistad 2010Results & Participants (Youth Teams events) , 13th World Youth Team Championships, 2010. WBF. Philadelphia, USA
17 teams 1. Israel Eliran Argelazi, Alon Birman, Lotan Fisher, Ron Schwartz, Bar Tarnovski 2. France Thomas Bessis, Christophe Grosset, Nicolas Lhuissier, Cedric Lorenzini, Quentin Robert, Frederic Volcker 3. China Yichao Chen, Junjie Hu, Zisu Lin, Yinghao Liu, Yinpei Shao, Di Zhuo 2012 Results & Participants (Youth Teams events) , 14th World Youth Team Championships, 2012. WBF. Taicang, China
20 teams 1. Netherlands Berend van den Bos, Aarnout Helmich, Gerbrand Hop, Joris van Lankveld, Ernst Wackwitz, Chris Westerbeek 2. Israel Eyal Erez, Lotan Fisher, Gal Gerstner, Moshe Meyuchas, Dror Padon, Lee Rosenthal 3. Australia Adam Edgtton, Nabil Edgtton, Peter Hollands, Justin Howard, Andy Pei-en Hung, Liam Milne 2014 Results and Participants (Youth team Events) 15th World Youth Team Championships, 2014. WBF Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
22 teams 1. Norway Harald Eide, Mats Eide, Kristian Ellingsen, Tor Eivind Grude, Kristoffer Hegge 2. Netherlands Joris van Lankveld, Tobias Polak, Tom van Overbeeke, Ernst Wackwitz, Chris Westerbeek, Ricardo Westerbeek 3. Poland Maciej Bielawski, Pawel Jassem, Michal Klukowski, Slawomir Niajko, Piotr Tuczynski, Jakub Wojcieszek 2016 Results and Participants (Youth Team Events) 16th World Youth Team Championships, 2016. WBF Salsomaggiore, Italy
22 teams