We’ve met before: England’s record against their opponents in London in 2026 – Table Tennis England

England now know their opponents for Stage 1a of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals – and will need a lively home crowd behind them as they take on some of the most illustrious teams in the world!

Click below to get your tickets!

We’ve scoured the archives to see how England have fared against the same opponents in previous World Cups – and the results throw up plenty of interesting omens!

World Championship statistics courtesy of Matt Solt.

If England need extra inspiration to get positive results from their Phase 1a matches at London 2026, a browse through the archives reveals plenty of success against their opponents at previous World Cups.

Granted, the recent wins have been paltry, but how about this ultimate omen: English men defeated both China and Sweden on their way to becoming world champions in 1953.

Their meeting with China in the group stages in Bucharest was the first time the countries had met at the World Cup, and it was a 5-0 victory for England employing the legendary trio of Johnny Leach, Richard Bergmann and Aubrey Simons.

The same trio had previously inflicted a 5-0 defeat on Sweden and went on to win the coveted Swaythling Cup for the first and only time, beating Hungary 5-3 in the final.

Three years later, at the 1956 edition in Tokyo, England defeated China again, this time 5–2 and with Bergmann, Leach and Brian Kennedy on staff.

Since then, the countries have met six more times, with China winning each time: in 1975, 1977 (in Birmingham), 1981, 1987, 1993 and 1995.

The meeting at OVO Arena Wembley on May 2 will be the first between the countries this century – although they did meet in London in the 2018 Team World Cup, a 3-0 win for China.

England and Sweden are no strangers to World Cup meetings, having faced each other no fewer than 20 times.

The first took place way back in 1928, during the second ever World Cup, when England won 5-0 on Swedish soil in Stockholm.

They didn’t meet until 2022 in Chengdu, a 3-1 group stage win for Sweden.

Adding up these and all intermediate results, both sides have had their share of wins, with Sweden leading 12-8 overall.

England last won in 1981 and Sweden have won all seven since, including in the 1983 semi-finals when England had to settle for a bronze medal. The team consisted of Des Douglas, John Hilton, Carl Prean, Graham Sandley and Douggie Johnson.

They also met in the group stage in Kuala Lumpur in 2016 – England lost the match but eventually reached the semi-finals as Liam Pitchford, Paul Drinkhall and Sam Walker, plus coach Alan Cooke, won the brilliant bronze that remains England’s most recent World Cup medal.

The teams also met in the 2018 quarter-finals, when the same English trio attempted to repeat that feat. It was not to be, as Sweden won 3-0 at home in Halmstad.

The matches against South Korea have been fewer in number and in the six matches played the Koreans have a 4-2 lead: England won in 1956 and 1981, but lost in 1971, 1985 (the 9-10 positional play-off), 1991 and 1993. Once again the meeting at Wembley will be the first time the countries have met this century.

There are also some good signs on the women’s side, not least since the last time Wembley hosted the World Championships, in 1954.

The England team then defeated both Japan and France – and what a victory it was against Japan in the second phase, as twins Diane and Rosalind Rowe combined to reach a 3-2 scoreline in England’s favour.

England were the only team to beat Japan, who went on to lift the Corbillon Cup. There was a three-way countback between the three group winners: Japan, England and Hungary. England took bronze after losing 3-1 to Hungary, while Japan defeated Hungary 3-1.

Earlier, in the group stage, England had defeated France 3-0 on their way to winning all six matches.

That meeting with Japan was one of four in the 1950s: Japan won in 1952 and 1955 and England won the honor in 1954 and 1956.

These are England’s only two wins in thirteen meetings, with Japan winning in 1961, 1965, 1967, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1991 and, most recently, 1995. A first meeting this century beckons at the OVO Arena Wembley on May 2.

The same can be said of England against Germany, a match that has been played fourteen times at the World Cup, but not since 1995. The current scoreline stands at seven wins for each country.

Germany won the first four matches in four consecutive years from 1934, but England then won four matches in a row in 1951, 1953, 1955 and (against East Germany) in 1959.

Since then, honors have been shared with West Germany beating England in 1963 and 1975 and England beating East Germany in 1967 and West Germany in 1971 (taking seventh place) and again in 1979. The most recent meeting was won by the reunified Germany in 1995.

England’s best record against any of their six opponents in Phase 1a is the women’s record against France. They met sixteen times, with England coming out on top in no fewer than twelve of those matches.

England won the first meeting at the 1934 World Cup – the first time the Women’s Team event had been played, at the eighth World Championships in Paris (actually held in December 1933).

France won the next match in 1935, but England went on to record a run of eight consecutive victories: in 1936, 1937, 1947, 1949, 1954 at Wembley, 1973, 1981 and 1985.

France broke the spell in 1991 in the round of 16, but England won twice at the 1993 Championships – in the group stage and again in the play-offs for positions 13-16. France went on to win two of their own in positional play-offs in 1997 (17th-20th) and 2000 (25th-28th).

England won the most recent meeting at the 2010 Championships in a crucial match that would see the winners remain in the Championship division. It was 3-2 to England when Kelly Sibley won the crucial fifth match against Alice Abbat. Karina Le Fevre and Katie Parker were the other team members to send France to the Challenge Division.

Can England add some more W’s to these stats at OVO Arena Wembley? We’ll know in a few weeks!