The World Bridge Federation (WBF) organises all the official World Championship events.
The most famous of these is the Bermuda Bowl, a world open teams championship, so named because it was first held in Bermuda in 1950. Great Britain won the Bermuda Bowl in 1955.
For many years now, the Bermuda Bowl has taken place in alternate years, and apart from special arrangements for North America, teams can only play in the Bermuda Bowl having already done well in a zonal championship, such as the European teams Championship.
Running alongside the Bermuda Bowl and with equivalent qualification criteria are three other teams events.
The longest running of these is the Venice Cup, which is a world women’s teams championship. This started in 1974 in Venice. Great Britain won the Venice Cup in 1981 and again in 1985. Seniors compete for the D’Orsi Seniors Bowl, first held in 2001 and won by England in 2009. The most recent addition is the Wuhan Cup for Mixed Teams, first held in 2019.
The World Youth Teams Championships, which started in 1987, are also biannual but do not take place at the same time as the other teams events. Great Britain won in 1989 and won again in 1995.
Every 4 years, starting in 1960 and traditionally in the same years as the Olympic games, the WBF holds a direct entry equivalent of the above events, where all countries can take part without having to qualify via a zonal championship.
The WBF also organises nationally representative pairs events in various categories as well as transnational pairs and teams events.
