The All England Open claims to be the world's oldest badminton tournament, and was held in various venues in the United Kingdom's capital London from 1899 until 1993.

It then moved to the Arena Birmingham in 1994, where it has remained ever since.

Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward expressed his continued pride at staging the All England Open.

"It’s a major coup for Birmingham to annually host the world's biggest and best badminton tournament, and following last summer's sensational Commonwealth Games, it's fantastic to be hosting another prestigious global sporting event," Ward said.

Denmark's Olympic and world champion Viktor Axelsen remains the player to beat in the men's singles.

He is the defending champion at the All England Open, and set to begin his quest for a third title against Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu.

Jonatan Christie of Indonesia is seeded second, his compatriot and Olympic bronze medallist Anthony Sinisuka Ginting third and Malaysia's Asian champion Lee Zii Jia fourth in a strong field.

Women's singles top seed Akane Yamaguchi, the back-to-back world champion, is also looking to defend her crown in Birmingham.

She is due to start against European Championships bronze medallist Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist An Se-young of South Korea, silver medallist Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei and gold medallist Chen Yufei of China add to a star-studded line-up.

Tai has won the All England Open three times, while Chen lifted the trophy in 2019.

Axelsen and Yamaguchi were victorious at the opening BWF World Tour Super 1000 event of the season, beating Japan's Kodai Naraoka and An in their respective finals at the Malaysia Open.

Men's, women's and mixed doubles competition is also scheduled at the All England Open.

Defending champion in the men's doubles Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia triumphed at the Malaysia Open playing with Fajar Alfian, and they are the top seeds in Birmingham.

China's women's doubles Olympic silver medallists Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are the top seeds after their Malaysia Open victory, while defending champions Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan are second seeds.

Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino of Japan are seeking their third consecutive mixed doubles title at the All England Open, but lost to China's top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the final of the Malaysia Open.

The All England Open is due to run until Sunday (March 19).

There are four scheduled Super 1000 events on this season's BWF World Tour, the remaining two due to be held in Indonesia and China.